It was an ambush hiding in plain sight, but nobody seemed to notice. EF Education-EasyPost slipped two riders into the 42-rider early breakaway on stage 18 of the Vuelta a España, but few paid much heed when James Shaw and Owain Doull quietly dropped out of the move and wheeled to a halt near the top of Puerto Herrera with 45km or so still to race.
"We had a little tea party on the KoM," Shaw joked when he reached the finish in Maeztu. "No, I don't think any cameras picked it up, but we were getting our glasses cleaned in the car and we were filling up on drinks for about three or four minutes – or maybe more, it felt like a lifetime. Every group that came over the climb, I said 'OK, this is it,' but then I'd see I had to wait for the next one."
Shaw and Doull were keeping vigil for their team leader Richard Carapaz, who was in the process of turning a transition stage into a day to change the Vuelta a España GC standings thanks to a rasping attack that splintered the peloton on the climb of Puerto Herrera.
Carapaz's fellow Ecuadorian Jefferson Cepeda had helped to tee up the move on the climb itself, while Shaw and Doull provided reinforcements when their leader crested the summit with only an elite cadre of podium contenders on his wheel.
Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) was already dropped by then, and he would lose more than three minutes by day's end. The addition of Shaw and Doull's impetus, meanwhile, saw the red jersey Ben O'Connor briefly distanced on the rippling plateau over the summit. O'Connor soon scrambled his way back up to the Carapaz group, but the entire offensive was a statement of intent from EF-EasyPost.
"I think the cat's out of the bag now, it's obvious we're here for Richie," Shaw said. "We're all in for Richie to come here and do the best result we can, and we want that to be a win."
As the Vuelta reaches its demanding final three days, Carapaz remains fourth overall, 1:46 off the red jersey and 1:41 behind second-placed Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). Aalthough Carapaz's aggression changed the nature of this stage, Landa was the only GC man shaken loose. Even so, Shaw was adamant that it had been a worthwhile endeavour, not least given how the effort will weigh on the legs from here to Madrid.
"You can't really see accumulative fatigue in other people, you don't know how other people are feeling. And over the top of the climb, O'Connor started to show a little bit of weakness," Shaw said.
"We knew this was a climb we could do a lot of damage on. We know the shape Richie is in. We obviously don't know the shape everybody else is in, but we said we'd roll the dice. That's essentially why Doull and myself were up the road. We went to the top of that climb and then pulled over. Like I said, there's no plan B: it's all-in for Richard."
Carapaz's adventurous move here certainly suggested that he is in little mood to race conservatively in search of a podium place. Having placed a narrow second at the Vuelta in the pandemic-delayed edition of 2020, the 31-year-old appears to be willing to take risks to win this race.
"We knew it was a very hard climb and we knew that we could make a selection," Carapaz said after coming home in the red jersey group, 6:40 down on the day's winner Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma).
"I think we've done it very well. The team was very good. We had two riders ahead, and we managed the climb very well with Cepeda. I'm very happy. We're getting better every day, and there's a lot in the Vuelta in the coming days to stay in the game."
Although Carapaz was overwhelmed by Jai Hindley at the last on the Marmolada on the 2022 Giro d'Italia, his Grand Tour challenges have tended to be built on his powers of endurance. While Roglič remains the logical favourite for this Vuelta, Carapaz will hope that the attritional nature of this Vuelta will play in his favour.
"Finally, the fatigue and all those efforts, in 40°C heat and in rain, are making themselves felt," Carapaz said. "There are two very hard days coming up, and I hope to stay up there. My condition is good. I've always done well in the third week, and I want to keep trying."
On Friday, the Vuelta faces into its penultimate summit finish on the Alto de Moncavillo, where he enjoyed a stirring duel with Roglič back in 2020. The Slovenian was first to the summit that day, but Carapaz did enough to retain the red jersey. He will surely look to be on the front foot again here.
"Tomorrow is very good and very hard," Carapaz said. "I have many good memories of Moncavillo, and I hope to improve them."
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