Vuelta a España stage 11 Live – Hilly route could ignite a GC battle in Galicia

DSM-Firmenich PostNL’s Julius van den Berg is the first to make an attack but he’s swiftly reeled in.

And the official start is given. We’re racing!

While we wait for the flag drop, here’s how yesterday’s stage unfolded.

Vuelta a España: Wout van Aert solidifies green jersey with stage 10 victory

Here’s stage 11 getting underway moments ago…

It means that there are 156 riders, out of an original 176, left in the race.

We’ve had three casualties this morning ahead of the stage start.

Both Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) have tested positive for COVID-19.

Whilst Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty) abandoned the race due to knee pain from his crash on stage 9.

There’s 5.8km of neutralised road before the flag is dropped.

The riders have gone for their unofficial start for stage 11.

We might’ve predicted it being a day for the breakaway or the GC men, but don’t write off Wout van Aert making it a fourth, and a back-to-back, stage win in Padrón later if he manages to keep pace on the climbs.

These fans certainly aren’t doubting him!

The riders have already been through the sign-on and team presentation this morning so are preparing for the neutralised start.

Padrón has already hosted two Vuelta stages, both time trials in 1993 and in 2021.

The latter was the final stage of that year’s Grand Tour.

Today’s stage starts and finishes in the concello of Padrón, with 166.5km of hilly racing in between.

The parcours make this just as much a day for the breakaway as the GC favourites (if they fancy it!) so we’re expecting it to be a lively one! 

Hola and welcome to Cycling News’ live coverage of stage 11 of La Vuelta a España!