There's that Vuelta victory! Pedersen finishes off fine Lidl-Trek teamwork with authority in typical transition stage

It was climbing from the very start on Sunday, as the riders immediately took on the Puerto a Garganta, a first-category ascent. That climb set the stage for an intense battle to form the day’s breakaway, with many riders active at the front. Pedersen, for example, went on the attack, along with Jay Vine (UAE Emirates-XRG) and Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL), among others.

The early part of the stage was far from flat, and the stronger climbers tried to shed the faster riders on the second and final climb of the day. On the Alto de Barbeitos, Vine and Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step) broke away together. The pair crested the climb with just over half a minute on the 45 chasers, but with still more than 100 kilometers to go, the race was far from over.

The peloton didn’t seem too bothered by the situation, although Jasper Philipsen did attempt a chase. The Belgian rider from Alpecin-Deceuninck tried to bridge across along with teammate Gal Glivar, Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek), and three other riders, but the effort ultimately proved to be in vain. The pack then essentially took a rest day, allowing the breakaway riders to gain nearly ten minutes.

What initially appeared to be a relatively quiet day—by Vuelta standards—was once again disrupted by a protest incident. As the riders passed, a demonstrator jumped out of the forest and stumbled onto the road. Javier Romo had to swerve to avoid him and crashed, but the Movistar rider was fortunately able to continue.

The leading duo gradually began to lose time, and their chances of holding on for the win started to fade. It was mainly Lidl-Trek doing the heavy lifting in the chase for Pedersen, although the Dane himself helped drive the pace on a gently rising section of the course.

With eight kilometers to go, the group of seven caught the front duo, bringing an end to the long two-man breakaway of Vervaeke and Vine, who had ridden more than 100 kilometers ahead of the main chasing group together.