It's stage six of the Vuelta a España, and the heavy favourite for overall victory has given up the race lead voluntarily, in the hope that it means less demands, less pressure, for at least a couple of days. The plan is to claim it back later in the race, whenever suits, and win in Madrid.
At last year's Vuelta, Ben O'Connor, then riding for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, took the red jersey from Primož Roglič after winning stage six, and would hold onto the race lead for almost two weeks, not losing it until stage 19, back to Roglič.
It was a reasonably close-run thing; while Roglič ended up beating O'Connor by 2:36, it took double digits of stages to claw that time back, and it was not a comfortable race for Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe or their Slovenian leader.
This year, Torstein Træen of Bahrain Victorious finished second on stage six behind Jay Vine, and therefore claimed the lead from Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike. It's a risky move, not one without pitfalls; there is no guarantee that the Dane will see the race lead again. However, it was one Vingegaard and his team seemed comfortable with.
"I think it was good, we managed the start well to not let any too dangerous guys get in the break. We were really happy to give the jersey away," Visma-Lease a Bike's Matteo Jorgenson told Cyclingnews on Thursday.
"We wanted to keep it to around five minutes. I have a lot of respect for Torstein and Bruno Armirail, but I think we have it under control as far as the GC [general classification]. It will be for sure difficult to take back that time, but this whole race will be difficult."
"I think the stage was OK," Vingegaard echoed to TV2 Denmark. "It was a bit difficult to beat the competitors today. We tried, and then of course we lost the leader's jersey, but we didn't ride to keep it, so it's fine for us."
Torstein Træen is not Ben O'Connor. This might seem like a simple statement, but it's not only that they are different people, but that they represent different situations. Træen did not come into this race as a GC hopeful, and while he is a more than able climber, this Vuelta is so relentlessly hard that there should be ample time for Vingegaard and the other GC hopefuls to claw back that time.
After stage six of the 2024 race, O'Connor, who had previously finished in the top 10 at the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta, led Roglič by 4:51. After stage six of this year's race, Træen, who has never finished in the top 10 of a Grand Tour, has 2:33 on Vingegaard.
Of course, it is not just Træen, but three others in front of Vingegaard thanks to their time in the breakaway on Thursday – Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana) and Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step). Træen and Fortunato have top 10s on GC at WorldTour races, but never at a three-week event, and should not represent a threat for red. That's the idea, anyway.
Vingegaard, or one of the eight other GC riders who are within 30 seconds of him, could claim the race lead as early as Friday's stage six, another summit finish on a category-one climb after more than 4,000 metres of climbing. There are six more summit finishes at this race, so there will be opportunities.
That's not to say it's Vingegaard's race to lose – or win – just that it was he who was in the overall lead before Thursday, and it was his or his team's idea to lend it to another. This race could still be won by a handful of riders, from João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), or even one of the breakaway riders themselves, although this seems unlikely. One person it won't be is Almeida's teammate Juan Ayuso, who lost over 10 minutes on Thursday.
Lending the jersey this time, however, does not seem like the risky plan that it was 12 months ago after stage six. I'll be eating my words if Træen becomes the first Norwegian to win the Vuelta in a fortnight's time.
