Last Thursday at the summit finish of La Manzaneda when Kern Pharma's Pablo Castrillo managed to fend off the WorldTour teams to solo to Spain's first victory of the 2024 Vuelta a España, the 23-year-old Grand Tour debutant's ability to tear up the script and see off the giants of the sport could hardly fail to impress.
But - as it turned out - the increasingly rare magic of one of the lower budget teams defeating the top WorldTour squads in a Grand Tour didn't end at Manzaneda for Castrillo and Kern Pharma.
Instead, on the far more dramatic and much tougher scenario of a mist-enshrouded Cuitu Negru on Sunday, Castrillo once again managed to fend off two star names in the business, Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in a thrillingly drawn-out and hard-fought finale.
It could hardly have been closer, though, as Castrillo's early attack on the gravity-defying final slopes of Cuitu Negru was all but chased down by Vlasov on two occasions, with the Russian looking almost certain at times to come past the Spaniard to claim the win.
Instead, Castrillo dug deeper than ever to put some vital metres of foggy daylight between himself and the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider to cross the line 12 seconds ahead of his closest pursuer. In the process, Castrillo proved yet again that in this excitingly unpredictable Vuelta a España, rather than the top teams scooping up victories wherever they want, nothing can be taken for granted.
"I was already more than satisfied with just getting one stage, everything afterwards was a bonus. So to win in a stage like this, with such tough slopes that aren't at all favourable for a rider of my characteristics, is just incredible," Castrillo said afterwards.
"Vlasov got really close to me on the one easier section of this last steep part, but when I saw his face and how much he was suffering, I knew I had to hit out again and hope. I knew I had the chance to drop him."
Part of a daylong break that culminated in eight riders tackling the 18-kilometre ascent of Cuitu Negru ahead of a group of favourites led by T Rex-Soudal, the blistering pace set down by Sivakov led to the group shrinking to three by the foot of the final 'wall'. But despite seemingly hanging on by his coat-tails on the long grind up the first part of the Cuitu, when it came to the crunch moment of the climb, Castrillo said that he had one big advantage over his rivals.
"Today I was much more relaxed than at Manzaneda because I already had one stage win in the bag," he explained. "I'd watched the videos of my win there, too, and I saw how much I'd kept looking back when I was away on the climb." "This time I tried to attack more decisively and without worrying about what was going on behind me. I just tried to push the pedals as hard as possible, and I think that helped make a difference."
His strategy for one of the toughest three stages of this year's Vuelta had been simple, he said and his ambitions - given he knew that, unlike Manzaneda, Cuitu Negru had 'GC stage' written all over it - had been very limited.
"I just wanted to get in the break, and actually I didn't use too much energy to get across. I was already feeling relaxed because I'd got that win already and I knew that the GC guys could get back to us at any point."
"But in any case, I never thought could win on such a mythical finish against Sivakov or Vlasov. Just holding on against them for third would have been great."
"Manzaneda was already unreal," he concluded, "but this is a fucking dream."
Born in the easterly region of Aragon and with his most notable result before this year's Vuelta and his first two professional wins, a third place in the 2023 Vuelta a Langkawi, Castrillo also paid tribute to Aragon's most famous racer, 1999 Tour de France podium finisher and summit finish stage winner Fernando Escartín, as "an inspiration to us all."
"He's always been a huge reference point," Castrillo said about Escartín, now working as the route designer for the Vuelta a España. "He opened up the road for all of us in Aragon and even helped us get to the point where we can fight for the victory, like today."
Linked to Ineos Grenadiers for 2025, Castrillo was asked if he could one day dream of repeating his Vuelta victories in the Tour de France. But despite his by-now-established ability to break through glass ceilings and take on the top teams, the Kern Pharma racer said he was keeping his feet on the ground.
"For now, I'm not really thinking about the Tour," he said, "Because winning two stages in the Vuelta is already amazing enough."
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