Rodriguez moves sixth at La Vuelta

Carlos Rodriguez moved up to sixth overall after a thrilling stage of La Vuelta a Espana. 

The INEOS Grenadiers worked well together to keep Carlos Rodriguez safe in the group of favourites and helped gain time on his near rivals on an undulating Basque country terrain. 

Rodriguez retained his lead in the best young rider classification, with three stages remaining of the race. 

There was a fierce battle to get into the breakaway, with Jhonatan Narvaez and Kim Heiduk eventually making a 42-rider group which only formed after a tough 50 kilometres of racing. 

The duo helped the breakaway build a strong advantage over the peloton, with Oscar Rodriguez and Brandon Rivera supporting Carlos Rodriguez in the bunch. 

As the race reached the toughest categorised climb of the day, the GC group went clear, with Carlos Rodriguez well-placed. As the category one climb continued, there was a split in the group. 

This saw Carlos Rodriguez and the other race leaders gain time over a number of rivals including Mikel Landa (T-Rex-Quick-Step) before descending and maintaining the gap. 

Heiduk and Narvaez then came back from the break to help pace the group and extend the advantage which saw Carlos Rodriguez move up to sixth overall with three stages remaining. 

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Carlos Rodriguez

"We knew that Herrera was a hard climb and it could be a good day for someone to try, so we were prepared for an attack and it happened in the end.

"I managed to survive and then there were teams interested because Landa was dropped. It was easy to understand each other and collaborate until the finish to have a gap on him.

"Obviously, he’s a big rival and if we can distance him it’s good for us. You never know what can happen. Mikel Landa has been one of the best climbers in this race and today he was dropped on a climb so you never know what can happen in a third week. It has been some really tough stages so we can expect everything.”