Budding Italian star Giulio Pellizzari roared to a breakout victory at the Vuelta a España in the brutally steep finale at El Morredero on Wednesday.
The Vuelta's 17th stage was contested without problems with protesters, and the GC fight was back in the headlines.
The Vuelta's "Big 6" on GC of Jonas Vingegaard, João Almeida, Tom Pidcock, Jai Hindley and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammate Pellizzari, and American Matthew Riccitello hit 5km to go all together.
Pellizzari surged clear with 3.5km to go, putting pressure on Riccitello in the fight for the white jersey to give chase. Strong winds at the top and the presence of teammate Hindley gave the Italian an edge.
With the GC favorites watching each other, Pellizzari was opening up real estate despite a few surges from Riccitello.
At 1.5km to go, Pellizzari widened his gap to 35 seconds when Riccitello gave one last gasp.
Vingegaard and Almeida both seemed under-gassed, and there were no real attacks. The Dane crossed the line fourth, and squeezed two seconds out of Almeida.
"It was difficult to know if we were going to attack. It was a steady pace but Red Bull set a high pace and we were happy to ride the wheels," said Visma's Sepp Kuss. "Maybe Jonas didn't have his best day but we're still in red."
Riccitello ceded time in the race for the white jersey, but finished sixth to prove he's capable of climbing with the best deep into this Vuelta in what is a major confirmation for the 23-year-old from Arizona.
Pidcock also held tough to snatch the second-place time bonus and tighten his grip to 36 seconds to Hindley to defend third place.
Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson finished ninth and 10th, respectively, and Riccitello moved into seventh at 4:59 back.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), leading the green jersey, struggled early in the stage.
The stage was Vingegaard vs. Almeida for the red jersey. Pidcock vs. Hindley for third, and Pellizzari vs. Riccitello for the best white jersey.
Visma-Lease was intent on setting up Vingegaard for the win. Matteo Jorgenson took big-watt pulls to pace the group with 7km to go after the pace whittled down the GC group to 15 riders.
An early break was reeled in by the time the reduced GC bunch hit the start of the steepest part of the final climb. Despite threats of ongoing protests, the stage finale was contested without incident.
Felix Gall (Decathlon) was the first GC "big" to lose contact. The Austrian already struggled in Tuesday's reduced stage and risked slipping back further on the overall standings.
Remnants of recent forest fires marked the hillsides as the peloton ticked up the narrow, steep climb.
Hindley launched with about 6km to go, but Pidcock was pinned on his wheel. Almeida missed the split and was under pressure to close the gap. Riccitello was impressive to join the leading quartet with Vingegaard.
The Vuelta's "Big 6" of Vingegaard, Almeida, Pidcock, Hindley, Pellizzari, and Riccitello hit 5km to go all together. The race was on.