Primoz Roglic will be back in the "normal" Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe jersey on Friday
Image: Keystone
The new Vuelta leader Ben O'Connor has already won a stage at the Tour de France
Image: Keystone
The start of the 6th Vuelta stage took place in a supermarket
Image: Keystone
The French supermarket chain has been the main sponsor of the Vuelta for twelve years
Image: Keystone
The peloton during stage 6
Image: Keystone
Primoz Roglic will be back in the "normal" Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe jersey on Friday
Image: Keystone
The new Vuelta leader Ben O'Connor has already won a stage at the Tour de France
Image: Keystone
The start of the 6th Vuelta stage took place in a supermarket
Image: Keystone
The French supermarket chain has been the main sponsor of the Vuelta for twelve years
Image: Keystone
The peloton during stage 6
Image: Keystone
The 6th stage of the Tour of Spain brings a change of leader. Australian Ben O'Connor replaces top favorite Primoz Roglic in the red overall leader's jersey as the outstanding stage winner.
The Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe team clearly had no interest in defending Roglic's position on the 185.5 km mountainous stage from Jerez de la Frontera to Yunquera and thus continuing to carry the burden of the race. The Slovenian, who is aiming for his fourth overall victory after 2019, 2020 and 2021, can obviously live well with O'Connor as the new leader.
Impressive solo ride
The Australian, who lives in Andorra, is no unknown quantity. In May, O'Connor finished the Giro d'Italia in fourth place overall, having already achieved this at the Tour de France in 2021. After his impressive solo ride through Andalusia in the heat, the 28-year-old from Team Decathlon AG2R now has a stage win in all three grand tours.
O'Connor came out of an original breakaway group of 30 riders. Around 30 km before the finish, he shook off his last companion on the second-to-last climb of the day and also remained in command on the 9 km long final climb up to the Puerto de Las Abejas. O'Connor reached the finish more than four and a half minutes ahead of the first chaser Marco Frigo from Italy, distancing the small field with Roglic and the other favorites by six and a half minutes. In the overall standings, the difference between O'Connor and the new overall runner-up Roglic is 4:51 minutes.
Stage start in the supermarket
The organizers had come up with something special for the start of stage 6. The race started in a branch of a French supermarket chain, which has been the main sponsor of the Vuelta for twelve years. In the early stages of the race, the two Swiss riders Stefan Küng and Mauro Schmid also tried to find shelter in a breakaway group, but without success.
Friday's 7th stage continues on hilly terrain towards the southwest. After 140 km, the pros pass the finish in Cordoba for the first time, with the Alto del 14% to conquer on the 40 km long additional loop. The mountain, which is named after its steepest ramp, will decide which sprinters are still in contention for the stage win.
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