Discover the Stage 6 highlights
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DeportesTranscripción
00:00Czech sprinter Pavel Bitner announced himself to the world yesterday by taking his first
00:12Grand Tour stage win ahead of Wout van Aert and Caden Groves.
00:17But today isn't one for the fast men.
00:19With almost 4,000 metres of climbing, the baroudeur and the breakaway specialists will
00:23be licking their lips, although there could also be a bit of GC action, depending on how
00:28the day unfolds.
00:30Do you guys intend to defend the red jersey today?
00:33It depends on the breakaway.
00:34I think we will not kill the team on this stage because we have to manage our energies
00:39for the whole water.
00:41But it all depends on how the race will be in the first kilometres.
00:46Vismalisa Bike lost a bit of ground on stage four, but Keon Uterbroecks says there are
00:50better days ahead for him and Sepp Kuss.
00:53If we feel good then we also need to go for it, but I think in the situation we are now,
01:00our goal is to hang on as long as possible and we know that we normally become better
01:05during the three weeks, so yeah, that needs to give confidence for Madrid.
01:11João Almeida is the best placed UAE rider, but Adam Yates is also hoping to hit back
01:17after a difficult start to this Vuelta.
01:19It's been hot and I've struggled a little bit with the heat, especially stage four.
01:24I lost a little bit of time, but yeah, it's not too much.
01:28I'm still in the fight.
01:29Yeah, OK, maybe I'm a little bit behind, but it's still a long race.
01:35There's every chance the breakaway will fight for stage honours today and Carlos Verona
01:39is one of a host of riders who's hoping to be up there.
01:43Today, like a lot of people, I'll try to be in the breakaway.
01:48This is a stage where it could go all the way and we've got a bit of freedom to try
01:51different options.
01:53So I'll try to be up there, but it's going to be tough because so many riders are interested
01:57and the terrain's not super hard.
01:59It's going to be a question of luck.
02:02185km on the menu today between Jerez de la Frontera and Junqueira.
02:12There is bound to be an aggressive start and it might not be until the first climb after
02:1660km, the Cap Juan Puerta del Boyar, that a breakaway actually forms.
02:21With almost 15km at 5.5%, it will certainly thin out the peloton.
02:26There are then three Cap 3 climbs to tackle in the final 60km, including an uphill hike
02:31to the finish line.
02:34Well, as expected, there was a wild start to the stage with lots of attacking in the
02:42early kilometres.
02:44Unfortunately, that was before the live pictures had started.
02:47Still, it took a long time for the breakaway to get the green light from the peloton.
02:53Finally, with just under 100km to go, a group of 13 riders eked out a small gap.
03:00Plenty of strong names in there, including the Australian duo of Ben O'Connor and Jay
03:04Vine.
03:05There was also Florian Lipovitz, a team-mate of Primoz Roglic.
03:09The main bunch seemed happy enough with that and the gap slowly eased out to over two minutes.
03:14Mauri van Severnent was also in the front group, along with Chris Harper, Palaio Sanchez,
03:24Heiss Lehmreiser and Cristian Rodriguez.
03:28Smart tactics from Red Bull brought a hands-grower to get Lipovitz into the move, because the
03:32young German was the highest placed on GC at the front.
03:36He could potentially end up taking the red jersey from his team-mate Roglic.
03:40That would also force other teams to chase in the peloton.
03:46Bahrain Victorious eventually decided to take up the reins on behalf of their white jersey,
03:50Antonio Tiberi, but by this time the gap had swelled out to over five minutes.
03:56The idea wasn't necessarily to catch the breakaway, but at least keep them at a respectable distance.
04:02The leaders approaching the intermediate sprint, where O'Connor had his eye on the six bonus
04:07They put him level on time with Lipovitz and in the frame for the red jersey.
04:16The front group would end up being shattered on the day's second climb, the Puerto del
04:20Viento, as O'Connor and Lehmreiser attacked.
04:25The Aussie was clearly having a very good day.
04:28He and the young Dutchman quickly built a lead of 45 seconds on their nearest chasers.
04:33Marco Frigo and Erko Baradei, who were joined by Peleo Sanchez.
04:41The Lipovitz group was now over a minute back, with the peloton still at around five minutes.
04:46Roglic was apparently OK with losing the red jersey today.
04:51Still, UAE Team Emirates and Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe didn't want to give O'Connor too
04:56much time, so they began to pace a bit harder.
04:59The leaders embarking on the penultimate climb and two would soon become one.
05:06It's Ben O'Connor who has decided to leave his breakaway companion, his Lehmreiser, behind.
05:13O'Connor absolutely hammering his way through the final part of this stage, with shades
05:17of his victory in Tignes at the Tour de France in 2021.
05:21He now led the peloton by over six minutes and was set to take a huge overall lead.
05:28Further back, the remnants of the breakaway were chasing in vain, with Lipovitz also set
05:32to vault up the GC.
05:34Movistar were helping to chase in the bunch, but the damage was done.
05:38What a performance this was from Ben O'Connor.
05:43Here on the Alto de las Abejas, it's Ben O'Connor who stung the race.
05:47He stung his rivals and he's going to ride into the red jersey.
05:52He's going to take the red jersey, but along with that, he's going to join that elusive
05:56club of winning a stage in each and every Grand Tour.
06:01From the Tour de France to the Giro d'Italia, now La Vuelta a España, Ben O'Connor is the
06:07first rider from Decathlon Egyptois Le Mondial to wear the leader's jersey in La Vuelta.
06:19O'Connor completing his Grand Tour hat-trick in some style, with a crushing victory on
06:24this sixth stage.
06:25The Australian simply in a league of his own today, and he has given himself a superb
06:30opportunity to finish on the overall podium.
06:32He now leads La Vuelta by almost five minutes.
06:36I felt like I could win this stage from the start, so it's pretty special, you can just
06:41go out and crush it like that, I absolutely loved every moment.
06:45I was looking at the triple Grand Tour winners, and a list of guys have done it before this
06:51race started, so I'm proud of what my name there on that list, and I guess the red jersey
06:58as well, so it's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience maybe, so I'm going to enjoy every
07:03moment.
07:04That's a third win this season for O'Connor, who is off to Jayco Alula next year.
07:09Frigo was second at four minutes thirty-three, with Isaac del Toro leading in the GC group
07:14at six minutes thirty-one.
07:16So O'Connor leads Roglic by a whopping four minutes and fifty-one seconds overall, while
07:21Lipowicz climbs up to fourth.
07:23Adam Yates crashed however, and he finds himself over nine minutes off the pace.
07:29No change in the green jersey standings, with Wout van Aert still thirteen points clear
07:33of Caden Groves.
07:36Sylvain Monniquet holds onto the polka dot jersey, with Sanchez and O'Connor moving into
07:40the top six after their efforts today.
07:45We've also had a change in the youth classification, with Lipowicz now leading Tiberi by 11 seconds.
07:52Tomorrow we will have a punchy stage to Cordoba, with only one climb that comes late in the
07:56day.
07:57Join us for that on Friday, and thanks for watching.