When Pavel Sivakov stood on the Vuelta a España sign-on podium on Tuesday to receive his award for the previous stage's most combative rider, it was a timely reminder of how UAE Team Emirates-XRG now have no choice following Tadej Pogačar's abandon but to switch objectives completely from the GC to stage wins.
Once again, Sivakov and Kevin Vermaercke, both in the breakaways on stage 9, were extremely active in the late moves that materialized on stage 10, too, as riders tested Cofidis and Visma-Lease a Bike's willingness to try and keep things under control for a bunch sprint.
