Gall and Riccitello can't believe what they're experiencing on the monstrous Angliru: "Struggling just to get the pedals around"

There was no reason to underestimate Gall before the Vuelta, because in addition to his fifth place in the Tour, he also finished eighth in the Tour de France two years ago, with a stage victory. He is not a frequent winner, but there are often not many riders who are better than Gall on the climbs. That was again the case on the Angliru.

“I think this was the hardest climb I've ever done,” sighed the leader of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale at the top. “The gradients were really bizarre; it seemed like it would never end. It was the longest five kilometers, also because of the high pace set by UAE towards the final climb. Everyone suffered, and I gave everything I had until the finish line.”

In a brief statement, team manager Julien Jurdie expressed his pride in his team leader and team. “It's very satisfying to finish fifth on such a legendary stage. The Angliru climb has a mythical aura, with brutal gradients. The pace was incredibly high all day and the team did a perfect job to support Felix, allowing him to fully express himself on this climb for pure climbers.”

Gall let his legs do the talking. In his characteristic style, with his legs far out and his upper body shaking on the bike, he dropped his closest rivals from the top ten. "It's such a long climb that I chose to go at my own pace. It was like a time trial, where I didn't look at the others. It wasn't possible to keep up with Jonas and João (Vingegaard and Almeida, ed.) either."

On the Angliru, Gall was part of a chasing group with Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull) and Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) for most of the climb. The American was eventually dropped by both men. “I didn’t have super legs but I also didn’t have bad legs. Obviously, I hope there will be a day in the next 1.5 weeks where I have amazing legs, but I’m also happy with how I felt today. I just have to take it day by day and keep being there when it matters.”

Riccitello said in a statement from his team that he had been amazed by the Angliru. “I have never done a climb in a race that was anything like this one. It was pretty crazy.. On a climb that steep it’s really difficult to find a rhythm as you are struggling just to get the pedals around. This was really something I have never experienced in a race before.”