Van Aert’s Visma, overwhelmed by a chaotic finish that Frenchman Tronchon takes to the sprint

The French Groupama cyclist, Bastien Tronchonhas surprised with a powerful finish to take the tenth stage of the Vuelta a España in a chaotic finale with constant and disorderly jumps that have dismasted the Visma team, which was preparing the end of the stage for Van Aert, only fourth, and they were not able to reach everything. Enric Mas continues to lead the overall standings with 1’18” over Roglic.

The stage after the first day of rest of this Vuelta a España, still under the shock of Tadej Pogacar’s abandonment and Enric Mas’s new role as leader, responded to the pattern of the typical transition day, waiting for days with a more decisive profile. An early breakout was expected, and it did not take long to form.

With only 15 kilometers covered, and after some small prior scuffle, the platoon turned a blind eye to the attempt of seven men, who began a long adventure, but always controlled by the large group.

That escape of seven contained two Spaniards with a modest profile, seekers of glory: Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos BH) and Iván Cobo /Kern Pharma). With them, Enzo Paleni (Groupama), Michel Gogl (Alpecin), Fredrik Dversnes (Uno X), Josh Sutterlin (Jayco) and Fabian Weiss (Tudor). They understood each other well, but the ‘settling’ in the peloton was not complete either, and the seven reached a maximum advantage of approximately two and a half minutes, never enough margin to dream of holding out until the end. Of course, the tailwind for much of the route helped propel the escape.

As kilometers burned, the platoon little by little activated the machinery. Increasingly stretched, and with the Visma team especially active, the advantage of those in front was reduced. At 60 km from the finish it was a minute and a half, and at 40, it was barely a minute.

With the peloton becoming more and more stretched, it was a matter of time before the breakaway ended. And although it was not what was expected, the escape managed to reach the last port, Alto de Socovos, 21 kilometers from the finish line. Shortly before, they began to attack each other, leaving four ahead: Paleni, Dversnes, Gogl and Iván Cobo, while they began the ascent to Socovos with just one minute left. A long pass for a ‘third’, nine kilometers, but with a low average slope, in which the large group reduced the differences with constant attacks and Enric Mas very attentive in the first positions as soon as he saw the difficulties of Oscar Onley, who was cut off at times.

Paleni, Dversnes, Gogl and Cobo won the crown with only 25 seconds ahead of the peloton, when there was a long descent ahead and 21 km to the finish line. Visma began to set a hunting pace in the last 16 kilometers, preparing for a finish with Van Aert in the service of Matthew Brennan. The first to resign was Cobo, caught 12 kilometers from the finish line. The breakaway was completely neutralized with 4 km to go when the combative Norwegian Dversnes finally gave up.

With 3 km to go, Calzoni jumped in and Brennan pulled from the peloton to close the gap, in a clear change of role with Van Aert on the Visma and an attentive Enric Más in the first positions. But the ending did not go as expected from Visma’s mouth. In the last kilometer, Azparren and Fedorov jumped by surprise, but were absorbed a few meters from the finish line by the powerful pedaling of Groupama Frenchman Bastien Tronchon, his third professional victory, beating Cort, Nys, Van Aert, Romele and Azparren.