UAE can also lose: Steff Cras outsprints Marc Soler in stage 1 of the Tour of Asturias

The elevation gain will be significant this week, not just in the Austrian and Italian Alps; there will also be plenty of climbing in Spain over the coming days. That's because the Vuelta Asturias, a four-day stage race through the Spanish countryside, started there on Thursday. The big names are UAE Team Emirates—XRG and Movistar.

In the first stage of the Spanish stage race, six riders immediately attacked. The breakaway riders built up a nice lead, while the WorldTour teams – UAE Team Emirates - XRG, and Movistar – controlled the peloton. As a result, the leaders never really posed a threat.

With 70 kilometers to go, the six riders were the first to start the Alto del Fitu (7 kilometers at 8%), the day's decisive climb. On the tough climb, the UAE Team Emirates XRG riders dominated, thinning out the peloton to a group of about 50 riders. The leaders remained ahead.

Several attacks followed on the Alto de La Tonería, the last difficulty of the day. Its summit was 14 kilometers from the finish. The leaders were finally caught just before the 6.1-kilometer climb at an average gradient of 5.7%.

The favorites then showed themselves, as expected, on the final climb. Soler broke away with Cras, and Sergio Chumil (Burgos Burpellet BH) tried to close the gap shortly afterward. Cras and Soler sprinted for the stage win, with the Belgian faster than the Spaniard. Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) won the sprint for third place behind them.