Once again, the peloton faced a brutal day in the high mountains, with no less than 4,000 metres of climbing between Avilés and the summit finish at La Farrapona. Victor Campenaerts slipped into the day’s large breakaway, but on the first ascent he wisely decided to ease off and save his strength.

The escapees built up a lead of nearly six minutes, which proved enough for Marc Soler to claim the stage win. Just behind the Spaniard, the GC contenders went head-to-head in the closing kilometres. Vingegaard stood his ground, staying calm under pressure and responding sharply to a few probing attacks. He went on to sprint to second place, securing six bonus seconds and stretching his lead slightly over nearest rival João Almeida.

“I’m satisfied with how today went”, Vingegaard said afterwards. “As a team we handled the stage well. I’m happy I could grab some bonus seconds at the end. I waited for my moment, and it worked out perfectly. We put a lot of intensity into yesterday’s stage, so it’s good that today we were able to save the legs a little.”

The Dane elaborated further: “We pick our days when we want to go all-in for the stage victory. Yesterday was one of those days. João was stronger then, and he was the deserved winner. But overall we’re very pleased with how this Vuelta is going. We already have two stage wins, and things look good in the GC. Tomorrow we’ll need to stay sharp one more time before we can enjoy the rest day”, the race leader concluded.