Wout Van Aert wins the stage in Granada after a massive escape

After searching for it so much, he found it. Wout Van Aert, the great agitator of the race, a rooster by nature and a fighter by conviction, took the stage victory, a sprint that had hardly any history because only Paret-Peintre, a good climber and lowered sprinter, was measured. So after playing a bit of cat and mouse, the Belgian left his signature. Now I expect you to attack; Now I show you the wheel; Now I take off and if that's the case, we'll see you at the finish line. Laurel for Van Aert and for Visma, who already has four stage wins, three for Brennan - he was also in the battle - and this one for the green jersey, from whom the best is always expected and who rarely disappoints.

After the mountains, the Vuelta took a day off, at least mountaineering, goodbye to the ice axe, and the stage through Granada, where the sun and heat gave no respite, suggested the final sprint. Although it was also a terrain with traps, broken, with three friendly ports, none of them colossus, an invitation to escape. And, Movistar condescending because it is not there to govern the race but to defend Mas's leadership, that is how it happened.

The multicolored snake emerged from Almuñécar, a place that mixes the Roman with the Phoenician bathed by the sea, an idyllic postcard. But there was no time to savor the surroundings because there was a rush to get off the ground, to leave the peloton in the rearview mirror. Thus, attacks and attempts soon took place, in the end massive and successful because there were 42 runners who split the peloton in two. Movistar was not worried, because for one day it could take off its overalls because the teams with sprinters had to do the chopping work. But there was no reply and everything would be decided ahead, thanks to a breakaway that did not slow down and that, having reached the Alto del Legionario, with four minutes of difference and having made the selection of the best, he already knew that victory would be in his legs and wheels.

Once they had overcome the next cliff, the last one, a few of them mixed up again and the attacks followed one another, everyone excited to open a gap and reduce the odds in the sprint.