Stage 6

The road

At the start

A start inside a supermarket

Roglič holds red with João Almeida at eight seconds and Enric Mas at thirty-two. Today's neutral rollout goes through the fruit and vegetable aisles of a Carrefour in Jerez de la Frontera — a first for the Vuelta — before the race climbs the Puerto del Boyar and three more passes to a new summit finish at Yunquera. The organisers expect a breakaway to decide it. So, quietly, does everyone with time to make up.

How it was won

1. 1141 km to go

   A vicious opening hour

   The stage detonates from the gun at nearly 49kph, a huge 33-rider move finally forming with O'Connor scrambling into it over the Puerto del Boyar.

2. 266 km to go

   O'Connor slips clear

   As the others snatch food in the feed zone, Ben O'Connor clips away with Leemreize and opens a commanding gap on the rest of the break, Red Bull happy to let the red jersey drift away.

3. 326 km to go

   Alone over the Puerto Martínez

   O'Connor drops his last companion on the penultimate climb and soloes on through the sun-baked hills, his virtual lead ballooning past six minutes.

4. 4At the line

   O'Connor storms into red

   O'Connor crosses in Yunquera 6:31 clear to seize the race lead by nearly five minutes and join the exclusive club of riders to win stages of all three Grand Tours.

The result