Max Poole fights to brilliant 2nd place after second Vuelta a España break in a row

Following on from Wednesday’s breakaway exploits where Team dsm-firmenich PostNL and Max Poole claimed third place on the stage, the team set out with the same goal of infiltrating the move and going for the stage win once again. This time the peloton would be faced with a rolling day in the saddle and a mountain-top finish at Estacion de Montaña de Manzaneda after 137 kilometres of racing.
Due to the short nature of the stage it was once again a fast start with lots of attacks, with the team rotating well to make sure they were always involved. Eventually, a strong and selective front group of ten escaped that included Poole and with no immediate GC threats their gap was allowed to balloon out to over ten minutes at one. It was clear that they would fight it out for the stage win but as they started the final climb the breakaway group was still together and things became tactical, as a flurry of attacks and moves followed.
When things regrouped once more, Castrillo would go on to make what would ultimately be the stage winning move as he built up a buffer of over 30 seconds on the second group, who all looked at each other to set the pace. Ineos, with two riders in the group, then began to set tempo and kept things steady before Poole attacked alongside Narvaez, as they quickly made it up to Schmid while Soler then joined them a few hundred metres later. Despite Poole trying to keep things going, the cooperation in the group wasn’t great and out front Castrillo kept riding a solid and steady tempo – around 30 seconds ahead. Inside the flamme rouge Poole used one of the steeper sections to create distance between himself and the rest of the group, setting off in pursuit of Castrillo but he would run out of road in the end, crossing the line for a valiant second place finish; just eight seconds in arrears of the stage winner.
After the stage Poole said: “We gave it a good go again today. Ineos had two guys in the break so I think it’s normal that everyone looked at them to close the gap in the final but in the end Castrillo was strong and he held on. I just went all-out to the line in the final 800 metres but it wasn’t enough. You have to race the final and go with what you think in that moment, and maybe take some risks. I also didn’t want to attack on the flatter section with guys in my wheel and pull them along. Immediately after the stage there are always going to be these feelings of disappointment, but maybe I can soak it in later and be pleased with it, to have the podium places from the past days. Yet, to come so close two days in a row is pretty tough, but I’m feeling better this week so hopefully we can get other chances in the rest of the race.”
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Phil West continued: “We set off with the goal of being in the break as we have to take our chances when we can for the rest of the race. Again the guys showed some good teamwork and we ended up being in quite a select group with Max which was a really good situation for us. Coming towards the final climb we knew that we had to make our move, but it was about trying to time it right, as the climb wasn’t really steep. Castrillo went at a time that felt like it was a bit early as there were still quite a few guys there and Ineos were pulling because they had two riders, but credits to him as he rode well and held on. Max was really strong on the final climb but we just ran out of road in the end to make the catch, but that’s just racing at times. I think we can be super happy with another podium and also the teamwork the guys showed, so it’s a nice day and we can look forward to what’s coming next.”