Molard finished the stage in fourth place, four seconds behind the winner of the day, the Spaniard Marc Soler (UAE), and is now ahead of Roglic, winner the day before in Laguardia, by 4 minutes and 9 seconds in the general classification.
A huge performance for the French formation, which had placed two men in the breakaway of the day. Molard, flanked by his young British teammate Jake Stewart all day, passed the small bumps without difficulty.
“Today (Wednesday, editor’s note), we have no certainty, we will see what the Jumbo-Visma wants to do. There is little difference in general. Will they leave the jersey or not? We’ll see. In any case, we should be attentive, and stay offensive. There will surely be an opportunity,” Molard slipped at the start of the stage in Irun.
Stewart, 22, even tried to show off on the flat, about thirty kilometers from the finish, before being caught by the winner of the day, Marc Soler.
This is the second stage victory for the Catalan on the Vuelta, after his coronation on the 2nd stage of the Tour of Spain 2020 in Lekunberri, with forceps, ahead of Primoz Roglic.
Soler, who has just joined the UAE team after seven seasons with Movistar, has thus erased his bad day the day before, where he lost almost a quarter of an hour overall.
– Alaphilippe released –
“I prefer to be the Marc Soler of today and have a few days off like yesterday. But days like today more than compensate,” Soler reacted on the line.
“Honestly, I had to get into the breakaway. I tried after the first small climb, as they advised me in the car. And then I suffered, but I managed my strength well. “, blew the Catalan.
Soler joined the 18 men up front after halfway through the stage and dropped Stewart a kilometer from the top of the day’s final climb, the Vivero Pass. He then maintained a tiny lead of a few seconds over his pursuers until the finish.
The peloton never managed to catch the breakaways and finished five minutes and nine seconds behind Soler.
The double world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step), who gave up the goatee for the mustache, had a difficult day: in difficulty on the last climb of the Vivero, he finally finished the stage almost ten minutes after Soler .
On Thursday, the peloton will cross the Basque Country for the last time, with a mountain stage comprising a 2nd category pass (the Alisas pass) and two 1st category passes: the Collada de Brenes and the arrival at the top of the famous Pico Jano, who will be climbing for the first time on the Spanish loop.