La Vuelta Ciclista a España

For the third day in a row, a T-Rex Quick-Step rider joined the breakaway, and for the third consecutive time, the group made it to the finish. After William Junior Lecerf animated the stage to Baiona and James Knox the one finishing in Padron, now it was Mauri Vansevenant who attacked from the gun and booked a place in the leading group of a day that took them atop Manzaneda.

Mauri showed his trademark fighting spirit and huge determination in the breakaway which enjoyed a ten-minute maximum advantage by the time it arrived at the bottom of the last climb, making a return at the race for the first time since 2011. There, the Belgian accelerated with more than 12 kilometers to go, but the others came back. Attacks kept coming, and before taking on the steepest part of the ascent, Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma) went clear and remained in the lead until the finish, where he took the win.

Vansevenant still had something left for one more important effort, and the 25-year-old managed to drop some of his companions en route to sixth at the summit for his second top ten finish of this Vuelta, after the one in Yunquera, last week.

“I felt good the whole day and joined the breakaway because I sensed there was a chance for a group to go until the finish. We had a good gap, but on the last climb I began feeling it would be difficult for me, because I was almost empty. Even so, I did my best and wasn’t that far from the podium. I am pretty content with this result and motivated to continue helping the team and Mikel until the end of the race”, said Mauri after the stage.

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images