October 21, 2020
Marc Soler claims long-awaited La Vuelta stage win
Catalan allrounder crowns excellent job from Blues at home in Navarra stage through San Miguel de Aralar, notches up first triumph post-pandemic for Telefónica-backed squad.
Leaving behind challenging times for both the Movistar Team and the entire cycling family, Marc Soler brought the Blues a smile back to their faces with a success full of talent and team-work on day two of the 2020 La Vuelta, a 151km route from the team’s home city Pamplona to Lekunberri with three categorized climbs, including the final ascent to San Miguel de Aralar (Cat-1).
Using their knowledge of the terrain ahead, and with Tim Wellens (LTS) leading solo by almost seven minutes with about 60km from the end, the Movistar Team picked up the pace at the top of the Alto de Urbasa (Cat-3), with Jorge Arcas leading the group, and anticipated a crosswind attempt which split the peloton into several pieces.
The pressure by Erviti, Oliveira and Rojas reduced the main group to about 70 riders and ruined the breakaway’s chances, its last survivors being caught at the foot of San Miguel de Aralar, 25km before the end. At the climb, Carlos Verona kept a hard pace and further reduced the size of a peloton where Marc Soler set the adequate rhythm to leave only the main favourites behind him: an eight-man group, with three Movistar Team riders (including Valverde y Mas), which the Catalan momentarily dropped back from near the top.
Marc took advantage from a stop in the leading group in the beginning of the downhill and attacked as soon as he bridged back. It was soon clear no one would ever get back to the Vilanova native, who scored his second victory of 2020 -the first one obtained in Mallorca, back in February- and opened the Movistar Team’s account in this year’s La Vuelta. Behind at the GC group, Enric Mas climbed up to fifth overall, with Alejandro Valverde, just ahead of his young team-mate at the finish (5th), sits just outside a top-ten now completed by a brilliant Soler.
QUOTES:
Marc Soler: “I’m so happy with this victory. We were racing at home, we were so motivated to be riding in Navarra, next to the team’s headquarters, and together with our sports directors, we had already planned before the start we wanted to give it a try from the top of Urbasa. We started pulling there and everything simply went perfect from that moment on. Arcas, Imanol, Nelson and Rojillas always kept the pace high on the flat, then Carlos put on a really good performance from the bottom of the climb, and I tried to pick it up from that. I struggled a bit into the final meters of the climb because I had worked so hard, but as I saw that they were slowing down into the descent and I was coming back, I took advantage from the fact that I was maybe at 2x speed from them, I tried to pass them without anyone getting to my wheel – and I went on to the finish. We were so excited and willing to do well here – we actually did a recon of this very stage in the weekend, just before travelling to Irún. It’s my first ever victory in a Grand Tour and I’m so, so happy. This team already deserved some reward after so many efforts and such a difficult season. I can only thank the team for their support and everyone who has been by my side in these months.”
It’s a stage we approached with a lot of ambitions. We had decided from the start that we’d pull from the Alto de Urbasa and everything went well. Carlos [Verona] started the climb with a strong pace and I kept pushing after him. When I lost contact over the top… they wanted me to come back to help Valverde and Mas but I was twice as fast and I didn’t brake until the line.”
Stage
1 MARC SOLER 177 MOVISTAR TEAM 03H 47′ 04” – B : 10” –
2 PRIMOŽ ROGLIC 1 TEAM JUMBO – VISMA 03H 47′ 23” + 00H 00′ 19” B : 6” –
3 DANIEL MARTIN 181 ISRAEL START-UP NATION 03H 47′ 23” + 00H 00′ 19” B : 4” –
4 RICHARD CARAPAZ 72 INEOS GRENADIERS 03H 47′ 23” + 00H 00′ 19” – –
5 ALEJANDRO VALVERDE 171 MOVISTAR TEAM 03H 47′ 23” + 00H 00′ 19” – –
6 ENRIC MAS 174 MOVISTAR TEAM 03H 47′ 23” + 00H 00′ 19” – –
7 JHOAN ESTEBAN CHAVES 81 MITCHELTON – SCOTT 03H 47′ 23” + 00H 00′ 19” – –
8 HUGH JOHN CARTHY 102 EF PRO CYCLING 03H 47′ 23” + 00H 00′ 19” – –
9 SEPP KUSS 6 TEAM JUMBO – VISMA 03H 47′ 23” + 00H 00′ 19” – –
10 GEORGE BENNETT 2 TEAM JUMBO – VISMA 03H 47′ 23” + 00H 00′ 19” – –
GC
1 PRIMOŽ ROGLIC 1 TEAM JUMBO – VISMA 08H 09′ 41” – B : 16” –
2 DANIEL MARTIN 181 ISRAEL START-UP NATION 08H 09′ 50” + 00H 00′ 09” B : 8” –
3 RICHARD CARAPAZ 72 INEOS GRENADIERS 08H 09′ 52” + 00H 00′ 11” B : 6” –
4 JHOAN ESTEBAN CHAVES 81 MITCHELTON – SCOTT 08H 09′ 58” + 00H 00′ 17” – –
5 ENRIC MAS 174 MOVISTAR TEAM 08H 09′ 58” + 00H 00′ 17” – –
6 HUGH JOHN CARTHY 102 EF PRO CYCLING 08H 10′ 01” + 00H 00′ 20” – –
7 SEPP KUSS 6 TEAM JUMBO – VISMA 08H 10′ 07” + 00H 00′ 26” – –
8 GEORGE BENNETT 2 TEAM JUMBO – VISMA 08H 10′ 37” + 00H 00′ 56” – –
9 FELIX GROSSSCHARTNER 63 BORA – HANSGROHE 08H 10′ 40” + 00H 00′ 59” – –
10 MARC SOLER 177 MOVISTAR TEAM 08H 10′ 45” + 00H 01′ 04” B : 10” –
