La Vuelta ciclista a España 2019 Stage 10 (ITT) Jurançon - Pau 36.2 km
GC Top 10 after stage 9 1 Quintana Nairo Movistar Team 2 Roglič Primož Team Jumbo-Visma +0:06 3 López Miguel Ángel Astana Pro Team +0:17 4 Valverde Alejandro Movistar Team +0:20 5 Pogačar Tadej UAE-Team Emirates +1:42 6 Hagen Carl Fredrik Lotto Soudal +1:46 7 Edet Nicolas Cofidis +2:21 8 Majka Rafał BORA - hansgrohe +3:22 9 Kelderman Wilco Team Sunweb +3:53 10 Teuns Dylan Bahrain Merida +4:46
Happenings: Sunday stage was short and full of dramatic events. Astana and Jumbo-Pissma both had two riders in breakaway with intention to carry their captains later. This plan worked smoothly for Lopez when he attacked with 18 km to go. Not so much for Roglic due to Pissma's general incompetence. Esteban Chaves paid dearly for being a manlet when he had mechanical and had to ride his taller teammates' bikes. Just as cabeza de carrera was close to much anticipated gravel section all hell broke lose with heavy rain, hail and thunderstorm. While we were in the dark with no direct feed, Higuita crashed Lopez and Shimano motors claimed another victim in Roglic. Despite that Roglic managed to bridge his rivals and distance them all except Quintana. Marc Soler was riding solo in the front and maybe could win the stage, but was recalled by movistar DS to wait and carry Quintana, to his visible displeasure. Quintana bridged to Soler with Pogocar on his wheel and it was young Slovenian who took the stage in the end. Roglic finished just 25 seconds from stage winner and now sits comfortably in the second place of GC with only 6 seconds behind leader Quintana. It's unlikely that Quintana could hold it today and we will see new leader by the end of the stage. Can't recall the last time leader jersey changed hands this frequently.
There were also problems with afterstage transfer. First, it was a real hustle to get off the mountain due huge queues to cable cars. Then, there was big car accident on the highway, so some teams checked into hotels only by 5 am. Good thing it was rest day.
