Simon Yates has won the sixth stage in the Vuelta a Espana. The Briton rode away in the final and made it solo. Zdenek finished 17th. “I hoped for a better result in this stage, but it didn’t happen. In the end my legs were empty.”
A group of 11 riders went early in the attack. “It was difficult to chase down such a big group. Luckily BMC did a lot of work and in the final it all came back together. It was a hard final with a few climbs, but on paper only one climb of second category.”
“Orica took full risk in the downhill and the peloton split completely. Luckily I was in the front and I could stay there until the end of the stage. But I suffered a lot on the climb of second category. On the other climbs the big favorites went into the attack.”
And that killed Zdenek. “I didn’t have any energy left for the sprint. Yates took the victory. Congrats to him. I was hoping for a good result in this stage, but it didn’t happen. But the Vuelta is still long and I try to keep the spirit and go for it. But now I’ll have to recover first.”