Wout VAN AERT. 10 with honors. He flies with explosive legs and powerful lightness. He attacks at 3700 meters flat, inspired like few others. Paret-Peintre responds in his own way, the only one able to hold his wheel, to tame him, as long as he can. But the Belgian feels he has everything to prevail: the astral conjunction is the right one. His head is light, his legs are powerful, his heart full of things that feel right. Wout is inspired, he feels he has everything in order, everything lined up and when champions of this caliber find themselves with all the "planets" aligned, it's best to just sit back and admire them. The worlds aren't far away, Wout's problem is that he'll have the number one adversary alongside him.

Valentin PARET-PEINTRE. 9. What can you say to him? Nothing. He does everything possible, against an opponent who is unmarked today.

Matthew BRENNAN. 8. His Visma Lease a Bike is super, and he can't be any less: he must complete the team work. Third overall, first of the chasing group. Exemplary.

Jarno WIDAR. 7.5. He races with brazen generosity, despite the 20 minutes accumulated so far. But what he's learning in this Vuelta and what he's showing are worth much more.

Vincenzo ALBANESE. 7.5. The 29-year-old from EF races today with extremely high competitive spirit. He tries multiple times, stays on the attack even with Van Aert for some stretches of road, even though the road is long. He fights, doesn't give up and today his 5th place finish is worth much more than what a fifth place would normally be worth. Excellent!

Mattias SKIELMOSE. 7. The 25-year-old from Lidl-Trek among the attackers is the man closest to Mas and today he enters the right breakaway: he gains a couple of minutes and more.

Filippo ZANA. 7. A full plate, I'll dig in. Group on the attack, strong and numerous. These are the men who create the day's breakaway, those who race their own race: for the stage. Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Wout van Aert, Bruno Armirail and Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike), Leo Bisiaux and Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM), David De la Cruz, Eddie Dunbar and Thomas Gloag (Pinarello Q36.5), Jack Haig, Axel Laurance (Netcompany INEOS), Pello Bilbao, Santiago Buitrago and Pau Miquel (Bahrain Victorious), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Clement Berthet, Guillaume Martin-Guyonnet and Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ United), Jan Hirt (NSN), Valentin Paret-Peintre and Filippo Zana (Soudal Quick-Step), Magnus Cort, Andreas Kron Simon Dalby and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Sylvain Moniquet and Sergio Samitier (Cofidis), Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), Will Barta, Stefan Küng and Larry Warbasse (Tudor), Lorenzo Fortunato and Cristian Rodriguez (XDS Astana), Jesus Herrada and Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet BH), Jarno Widar, Lars Craps and Reuben Thompson (Lotto Intermarché), Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL), Urko Berrade, Ivan Cobo and Iñigo Elosegui (Equipo Kern Pharma). These riders race a different Vuelta, they race a different race.

Enzo PALENI. 6.5. The 24-year-old from Groupama FDJ United is among the first to move, to attack, to break away with Domen Novak (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Fabio Van den Bossche (Soudal Quick-Step) and Asbjørn Hellemose (Jayco AlUla). They want to leave their mark, but there are many who want to do the same: a stage for attackers. And they attack.

Gregor MÜHLBERGER. 1.7. The Decathlon CMA CGM rider crashes and is forced to abandon the race. He doesn't crash alone, but he pays the highest price. Unlucky as few others. Pavel Sivakov (UAE Emirates XRG) doesn't fare any better: the Emirati team is left with four riders.