David Gaudu returns the red jersey to Jonas Vingegaard after the team time trial won by UAE-XRG

The fourth stage smiled at the Emirati training, but less in the French and the Groupama-FDJ, which did not play the leading roles on Wednesday.

The mission seemed complicated. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) failed to keep the red jersey of which he had seized the day before. During the team time trial, disputed on the 5th stage on Wednesday August 27, his team only finished 9th place, 24 seconds from the UAE-XRG team, victorious in Figueres for this first day of race in Spain.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) takes the opportunity to recover his leader jersey, even if his team was beaten (2nd to 8 “). He has eight seconds ahead of three UAE-XRG runners: Juan Ayuso, Joao Almeida and Marc Soler. David Gaudu goes back to 6th position. He stays in the game, 16 seconds.

“We expected it (losing the red jersey). But it's only happiness since I put on this jersey. It is one of the most beautiful moments of my careerreacted Gaudu always smiling at the microphone of Eurosport. I have known lots of victories but it's another level. I gave everything. I did a lot of errors, but we do a little better than the 25-30 second window that Marc (Madiot imagined) “.

Two racing facts disrupted this team time trial. First, the fall at full speed of the Italian Matteo Sobero (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), which still wanted to complete the stage. But also the emergence of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, who came to hinder the progression of the Israel-Prime Tech team (19th on arrival, 54 seconds from the winner).

“Israel-Prime Tech condemns the dangerous acts of demonstrators on the 5th stage which have not only compromised the security of our runners, our staff, but also theirs. The team continues to work with the organizers as well as the competent authorities to ensure safety on the Vuelta and the other races”, wrote on his account x The training held by the Israeli billionaire Sylvan Adams, close to Benyamin Netanyahu.