Red jersey Træen survives another test in the Vuelta: "At one point, I got help from two Jumbo guys"

On Sunday, Vingegaard completed the ninth stage of the Tour of Spain, which ran from Alfaro to the ski resort of Valdezcaray, in 4 hours, 32 minutes, and 10 seconds. That translates to a blistering average speed of just over 43 kilometers per hour, in a stage with more than 3,000 meters of climbing...

Træen took 1 minute and 46 seconds longer than Vingegaard and finished seventeenth in the day's results. More important to him than that: the 30-year-old Norwegian kept his leader's jersey and can therefore call himself the leader of the Vuelta on the rest day.

That's something he hadn't expected on Sunday. “At the end of the climb, I was thinking I will not be in the red jersey, so I’m obviously quite happy that I got some help and managed to hold on,” Træen said after the race to the organization. “I didn’t expect [Jonas Vingegaard] to be that fast.”

“He went really fast when he attacked,” Træen also seemed a little surprised by the duo attack by Vingaard and Jorgenson. “After that, it was just about surviving basically.” He succeeded, partly because Visma | Lease a Bike helped out in the chase.

And that while team leader Vingegaard rode solo in the lead. “At one point, I got help from two Jumbo guys, so it felt a bit like maybe they didn’t want Jonas to have the jersey yet,” Træen tried to explain that choice. In any case, the red jersey is safe, so what now? “Now I’m looking forward to the burger tonight,” said the Norwegian.