Fabio Aru’s (Astana) devastating late attack on Saturday’s summit finish of Alto Campoo at the Vuelta a Espana allowed the Italian to gain time on his most dangerous GC rival, Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) but it did not have the desired effect on several other key favourites.
When Aru’s Astana troops upped the pace in the final five kilometres of the interminably long Alto Campoo climb, with Mikel Landa playing a key role it initially looked like a re-run of Aru’s powerful mountain attack in Andorra where he soloed to second in the Cortals d’Encamp stage and the top spot overall.
On the plus side, four kilometers later when the Italian crossed the line in ninth place behind stage winner Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing) he had gained 19 seconds on Dumoulin, who flagged slightly on the tougher slopes of the climb.
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However, Nairo Quintana’s ability first to stick to Aru’s back wheel and then to break away close to the summit, gaining nine seconds on the Italian, was an unexpected, and not so welcome, development for the Astana camp. Neither was the way that Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) closed the gap on the Italian, sheering away in the dense mist at the Campoo summit and finally gaining a second on the race leader.
The Movistar rider’s return to top form following two days of illness in Andorra is not wholly troubling for Aru, given Quintana is still three minutes down overall - too far to threaten Aru's lead for now. And unlike Dumoulin, Rodriguez is no time trial specialist either.
But the impression that Aru gave on the Alto Campoo was that whilst he may be gaining the upper hand on Dumoulin, his domination in the mountains - at least on steady climbs like Alto Campoo - is not as strong as at the start of the week.
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