Friday, September 5th, 13th stage: Cabezón de la Sal > L’Angliru
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike) had to settle for second on Friday, despite setting his sights on conquering L’Angliru with La Roja on his shoulders – an achievement that would have made him the first leader of La Vuelta to win atop the iconic ascent. His overall lead was never under threat, but he was also unable to distance Joao Almeida, who set the pace in the final six kilometres and dropped everyone except for Vingegaard. Almeida is the ninth different winner at L’Angliru from ten La Vuelta finishes atop this climb. This is also his first stage victory in the Spanish Grand Tour. The duo have emerged as the main contenders for La Roja heading into Madrid. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) remains third overall, but now trails by 2’18’’.
The mighty L’Angliru looms on the horizon for the peloton of La Vuelta 25, facing 202.7 km of racing from Cabezon de la Sal, with two cat.-1 ascents prior to a brutal uphill finish. The long flat start to the stage inspires early attackers, although most riders expect a GC showdown up one of the most iconic climbs in professional cycling.
A 25-man breakaway
It’s a very fast start, with a flurry of attacks. Jonas Vingegaard’s Visma-Lease a Bike try to control the formation of the breakaway, and the peloton momentarily splits, with Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) among the riders off the back.
After almost 20 kilometres of battle, the Austrian climber returns to the bunch, and 24 attackers emerge at the front with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) on the move again, with Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Jefferson Cepeda (Movistar), Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal Quick Step), Bob Jungels (Ineos Grenadiers), Rémi Cavagna (Groupama-FDJ), Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA)…
Several riders set off in pursuit, but only one manages to come across: birthday boy Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who turns 29 and makes it to the front at km 52.
Early wear and tear
Jonas Vingegaard’s teammates control the gap to a maximum of 3’40’’ at the bottom of the first climb of the day, Alto de la Mozqueta, to be summited with 49.1 km to go. The breakaway explodes on the ascent. Nico Vinokurov (XDS Astana) goes first, followed by Bob Jungels, Antonio Tiberi, Gianmarco Garofoli and Jefferson Cepeda. Mads Pedersen gets back to them on the downhill. Q36.5 set the pace on the ascent, maintaining a gap of 3’40’’.
Tiberi suffers a puncture on the downhill. Pedersen goes first at the intermediate sprint (La Vega, km 175), ahead of the climb up Alto del Cordal. At the top (km 181.6), Vinokurov goes first again, with Jungels and Cepeda in his wake. Tiberi doesn’t succeed in chasing them down, and he crashes on the following downhill.
Almeida doesn’t look back
At the bottom of the final climb, UAE Team Emirates-XRG drive the chase 2’20’’ behind the lead trio, that soon becomes a duo, as Cepeda is dropped. Jungels goes solo with 7 km to go, but he’s reeled in just before the last 5 kilometres. At that point, Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) sets his own pace, with only Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) on his wheel.
The quatuor turns into a duo as Kuss and Hindley are distanced with 4.5 km to go. Almeida sets a strong pace, with Vingegaard keeping up with him. The Portuguese never relinquishes the first position and eventually takes his first La Vuelta stage win, ahead of Vingegaard. Hindley completes the podium on the day with a gap of 28’’, ahead of Kuss (+30’’), Gall (+52’’), Pellizzari (+1’11’’) and Tom Pidcock (+1’16’’).
Stage 13
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG) 4h54’15”
- Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) +0’00”
- Jai Hindley (Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe) +0’28”
GC
- Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) 49h30’54”
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG) +0’46”
- Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) +2’18”
