Vuelta a Espana

Dainese Takes His Chance

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ĺscar, Friday, September 15th 2023

A huge roar and discret tears – Alberto Dainese (dsm-firmenich) took an emotional win on stage 19 of La Vuelta 23 as he sprinted to victory in Iscar, after 177.5km of racing from La Bañeza. On flat roads, four attackers set a very high pace (47.8km/h on average). But the peloton got back to them and set the sprint on the 2km final straight. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) went down with 1 kilometre to go and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) almost took the cake before his Italian compatriot sprinted past him right on the line. Dainese takes his 6th professional win, three of them in Grand Tours. On Saturday, the penultimate stage of La Vuelta 23 will take the riders into the hills around Madrid, with no less than ten categorised climbs to try and turn the race upside down

Always going to be a day for the fast-men of the bunch, Team dsm-firmenich positioned their finisher Alberto Dainese perfectly, who powered to the stage win in Íscar.

A controlled stage, the peloton always had the four rider breakaway under control and Team dsm-firmenich kept their proverbial powder dry for the final. Navigating some nervousness in the bunch, the team moved up well as a group, bringing fast finisher Dainese to the fore. Making sure they were in position around the last corner before the long final straight, the lead-out dropped off Dainese at the front. Opening up the afterburners, Dainese kicked hard and surged to the stage win in the sprint finale. Sitting up to celebrate as he crossed the line, it was a fine reward for Team dsm-firmenich after some great teamwork throughout the day.

“We did a super job,” explained an elated Dainese. “We looked back at the sprints that we did in the first few weeks, where we went wrong and what we can then do today, and we executed the plan perfectly. It was really unlucky to lose Sean and Max in the crash, but until that point they kept me in the perfect position and where we wanted to be. We knew it was a headwind in the finish so I let Ganna and a few of the other guys open it up early and then waited for my moment. I’m super happy to finish it off today. I really wanted to end the season and my time with the team in a good way; this feels really special because of that. I put a lot of pressure on it because it is one of the last sprints I’ll do, but it was great to take the win. I want to say thanks to the whole team; they did a great job today and this is for them.”

Stage 19

  1. Alberto Dainese (Team dsm-firmenich) in 3h42’09’’
  2. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) at 00’’
  3. Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-Easypost) at 00’’

GC

  1. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) in 69h14’04’’
  2. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) at 17’’
  3. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) at 1’08’’