It has almost become a daily fact. The Vuelta a Espana has been ruthless. After the time trial stage, which for some riders may have been treated more as an extension of the rest day, the peloton once again faced a super challenging day of racing.

Weary bodies, worn down by nearly three weeks of racing have not been spared either by the heat of by the difficulty of this eighteenth stage on the Spanish roads. But in this contest for the most resistant, Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) proved the most efficient. A member of the day’s breakaway, which also included Vicente Reynes and Simon Pellaud on behalf of IAM Cycling, the Irish rider slipped away from his companions to try his luck with 23 kilometers to go. Finally, with Haimar Zulbeldia (Trek Factory) on his wheel, Roche did not hold back and instead hammered out his top effort in the final meters. 

And though the day’s victory was played out between these two men, another battle took place a little further back in the pack. Tom Dumoulin (Giant Alpecin) confirmed his status as the man to beat at this Vuelta, by exercising the strength to control multiple attacks from Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Fabio Aru (Astana). The general classification contenders hung out their flags today, and the struggle for superiority will continue until Madrid with no possibility of a truce. Meanwhile, Dumoulin can look forward to new attacks starting again on Friday since he is still wearing red.

Simon Pellaud was all smiles before getting onto the IAM Cycling team bus after the stage. With a curved back and straight legs, the young neo-pro held nothing back on his ride from Roa to Riaza. Having come to this Vuelta to gain experience, the Swiss rider knows that in order to learn, one must endure some tough and demanding times too. 

“Getting into this escape was just a little victory for me at this Tour of Spain,” Pellaud, who was a Swiss champion as a Junior, shyly admitted. “This is a new experience for me, and more importantly, it was in a grand tour. My main goal remains to make it to Madrid on Sunday. But in my head, I always had the desire from the start of the race to be in a breakaway. So now I can say that my purely personal goal has been met. Obviously I am still not at the level to play for a win when I am in groups like this; I just don’t have the ability at the moment.”

But to help with his education, the 22 year old Pellaud had an excellent teacher at his side in the form of his teammate Vicente Reynes. The Spaniard is accustomed to this type of effort, and himself had ambitions to cross the line with his arms raised:

“I knew from the start that a victory would be complicated considering the type of course, but I had to try,” Reynes explained. “The repetition of the climbs and then the final climb at the end, unfortunately, proved to be too much for me today. The pace was just too fast. Now I am thinking of trying to win the race into Madrid, and if the next stages go well, why not also try to produce a winning sprint there.”

Such optimism and willingness to keep fighting is what defines the Swiss professional team. This is a point that Eddy Seigneur, directeur sportif along with Mario Chiesa, always returns to.

“We have the heart to win a stage still at the end of this third week,” Seigneur explained. “The team is always aggressive, but that little hint of luck is still avoiding us. However, we have riders who will find the next stages interesting for their strengths, and this is a point that I always keep in mind.

"Vicente Reynes rode well but was up against climbers who were just too strong for him like Roche or a pure climber like Zubeldia. And then I am very happy with the attitude that Simon Pellaud has because I think he has learned many useful things today, things that will serve him well for the rest of his career. It is better to be ahead of a race and have fun. That is much preferable to be at the back of the race struggling to finish in time.”