In a thrilling end to a breathless breakaway fight at the Vuelta a España, Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla) outfoxed his fellow escapees with a perfectly-timed attack in the final kilometre to take victory on stage 11 in Padrón, his first at a Grand Tour.
A trio of Max Poole (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek) and Urko Berrade (Equipo Kern Pharma) led over the final climb, Puerto Cruxeiras, only to be caught with 1.5km to go by the remnants of what was a 38-man breakaway.
Berate tried one last attack in the final kilometre, as did Verona, but it was Dunbar’s with 650 metres to go that stuck on the right -hand side of the road, shooting out of the tiring bunch and holding off the chase behind from Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Poole behind who took second and third.
Behind, the GC fight burst into life up the brutally steep final climb which averaged 9% throughout its 2.8km, where Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) showed his hand and attacked race leader Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).
Initially only Enric Mas (Movistar) could follow but as the likes of Mikel landa (Soudal-QuickStep) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) made the junction to the Slovenian and Mas ahead, O’Connor was dropped, losing over 30 seconds to his closest rival in the final 8km downhill run for home.
The gap from O’Connor to Roglič to second now sits at 3:16 after a big day for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and the three-time Vuelta winner will have another chance to take more time back on stage 12 with the summit finish to Estacion De Montana De Manzaneda.
Dunbar had been due to ride for GC at this year's Vuelta but quickly realised in the heat of the first week that he didn't have the legs that had seen him take seventh at last year's Giro d'Italia, changing tack to chasing stages when racing resumed yesterday.
"I had a really bad start to the race, and I lost a lot of time. I came here to ride GC, and I learned pretty quick that, yeah, I probably didn't have the legs to do it. My preparation was really good here. So then it was kind of just reassess and go for a stage," said Dunbar in his winner's interview.
"Today came an opportunity that I didn't expect because I tried hard at the start to get in the break. I just thought that my legs were gone, and then all of a sudden the big group went and I thought me and Pippo [Zana] rode very well in the break, and we were really smart."
It's been a rough few years derailed by crashes and injuries to his collarbone, thumb and knee, leading him to be quite shocked at what he'd achieved, both crossing the line and speaking about it afterwards.
"I actually can't believe it. It's been a while since I've been in a scenario like this, if I'm honest, and I just used my experience," he said.
"I know on a finish like this, after a hard race, I can sprint but I knew I had to go long. So going with 600 to go, yeah, it's probably a bit long for a sprint, but that's what I had to do to win and, yeah, I can't believe it."
How it unfolded
Stage 11 kicked off from the Campus Tecnológico Cortizo in Padrón, with a 166.4km route perfectly suited for attacks, and that’s what came right from the flag drop at kilometre zero with Julius van den Berg (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) getting the action started.
He and many others tried throughout a thrilling and breathless opening hour across undulating roads, with Jonathan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) among the most active.
Few of the moves would get much separation with the vast majority of teams in the peloton interested in being represented and a real chance at the stage victory from the break on offer, however, it was Campenaerts who finally found the first real gap following the completion of the first climb to Puerto San Xusto.
The Belgian would gain around 30 seconds on his own but the action was far from done behind, with the peloton bubbling over on multiple occasions as attacks launched all over. As Campenaerts crossed the finish line for the first of three times in the lead, he had a slim advantage over a large chasing group.
It was a group that grew from eight to 15 to 30 and finally, 38 as they joined Campenaerts to form a powerful front pack that was more than strong enough to hold its own against the Decathlon AF2R La Mondiale-led peloton behind, who had locked up the main bunch with 95km to go.
With around 70 kilometres navigated at breakneck speed, the break of the day had formed, and it was massive: Steven Kruiswijk, Attila Valter (Visma-Lease a Bike), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Jhonatan Narváez, Brandon Rivera (Ineos Grenadiers), James Knox (T-Rex Quick-Step), Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek), Nico Denz, Patrick Gamper, Daniel Felipe Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Quinten Hermans, Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), George Bennett, Marco Frigo, Matthew Riccitello, Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech), Campenarts, Arjen Livyns, Eduardo Sepúlveda (Lotto-Dstny), Sven Erik Bystrom, Lorenzo Germani, Reuben Thompson (Groupama-FDJ), Carlos Canal, Pelayo Sanchez (Movistar), Fran Miholjevic (Bahrain Victorious), Eddie Dunbar, Filippo Zana (Jayco AlUla), Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Max Poole, Chris Hamilton, Gijs Leemreize (DSM-firmenich PostNL), Guillaume Martin, Ion Izagirre, Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Gianmarco Garofoli (Astana Qazaqtan), Urko Berrade, Ibon Ruiz (Kern Pharma) and Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel Euskadi).
It easily could’ve been another day where Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale could have kept things calm, however, there was a problem in the makeup of the break, as Bennett slipping in for IPT meant they had to keep the gap close, with the Kiwi starting the day 9:50 down on O’Connor.
Bennett’s team would do the majority of work in the break, especially over the second lap of the Puerto Aguasantas (5.6 km at 6.1%) climb, where after asking for assistance from behind, they were attacked and the group split.
At this point, they were already working to chase down a solo attacker Meurrisse, who had attacked with 90km to go on the first ascent of the same climb, but this wave of attacks and continued aggression in front would see his long solo adventure end 33km from the finish.
With the catch made, there were two climbs left to tackle, one uncategorised, the other a category 3, and IPT continued their pacing job on the front to maximise Bennett’s gain over those in the top 10.
But by this point, his lead meant he was starting to overtake riders in the top five whose teams were willing to help Decathlon pace, notably Movistar, keeping the lead of break down to 5:05 with 20km to go.
Campenaerts lit things up in the approach to the final climb, Puerto Cruxeiras (2.8 km at 9%), eventually pulling away in a small group that contained Verona, Berrade and Zana, who were the strongest once they hit the steep roads.
The bigger group of remaining escapees weren’t making much impression on the leading trio’s advantage up the climb, prompting Poole to jump on his own up to their wheels and replace Zana in the front as the Italian struggled in the final hundred metres.
Poole, Verona and Berrade completed much of the 7.8km downhill run to the line in front of those chasing and looked set to fight for the victory until Narvaez led the bunch back to form a huge group and set up a tactical finale.
The Ecuadorian champion would have been the favourite had the day come down to a sprint, however, he and his one teammate Rivera couldn’t hold in all the attacks as Dunbar slipped away and powered to the line for victory.
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