Sunday, September 7th, 15th stage: A Veiga/Vegadeo > Monforte de Lemos
Frustrated in the early sprints of La Vuelta 25, Mads Pedersen made the breakaway on day 15 and claimed victory in Monforte de Lemos. The Danish star was accompanied by four Lidl-Trek teammates — Bernard, Ciccone, Ghebreigzabhier, and Verona — in a 47-man group. After surviving the early ascents of the day, he took matters into his own hands in the final 35 kilometres, first catching Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step), and then getting the better of Orluis Aular and Marco Frigo in the final sprint. This is his fourth success in La Vuelta, the first since stage 19 of the 2022 edition. Prior to this, Lidl-Trek had scored nine top-3 results without claiming victory – a streak eventually broken by their Danish star. His compatriot Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) safely navigated the stage, taking La Roja into the second rest day. The road to Monforte de Lemos resulted in one change in the overall top 10, with Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quick-Step) moving into 9th place through the breakaway.
After two brutal mountain top finishes, the peloton of La Vuelta 25 face a rolling stage from A Veiga/Vegado and Monforte de Lemos. Will attackers or sprinters rule on the eve of the second rest day?
A massive battle for a 47-man breakaway
Attackers sure give it their all to shake up the peloton with a brutal uphill start. Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) sets off from the start and rapidly opens a gap of over a minute. Behind him, a flurry of attacks leads to the emergence of a 47-man breakaway.
Jay Vine is up there, chasing the KOM points over the Alto de Garganta (cat. 1, km 16.5) and the Alto de Barbeitos (km 54.7). He’s joined by Ivo Oliveira, aiming to continue UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s extraordinary winning streak.
Mads Pedersen is also up there with four Lidl-Trek teammates (Bernard, Ciccone, Ghebreigzabhier, Verona), as well as Orluis Aular (Movistar), Nico Denz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Magnus Sheffield, Egan Bernal, Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla), Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL)…
Soudal Quick-Step’s Junior Lecerf is the best of them on GC (13th, +18’57’’), ahead of Ciccone (16th, +25’29’’), and Egan Bernal (18th, +29’13’’).
Pedersen rules the break
Vine and Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step) set off ahead of the second summit of the day and continue their effort on the valley. Into the last 60 kilometres, they are 3 minutes ahead of their breakaway rivals, while the gap to the bunch keeps on increasing, well over 10 minutes.
The chase group explodes on an uphill section with 32 kilometres to go. Pedersen leads the charge with Buitrago and Bernal. They’re joined by Aular, Sheffield, Dunbar and Marco Frigo (Israel Premier Tech). This group bridges the gap to the lead duo with 7 km to go.
Attacks fly in the finale, but Pedersen manages to control everything. Frigo opens up the sprint, Sheffield goes down in the final turn… And Pedersen powers to his 4th La Vuelta stage win, his fifth Grand Tour victory of the year.
Led by Bahrain Victorious, the peloton finish with a gap of 13’31’’. Lecerf is 9th overall, a handful of seconds behind Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Stage 15
- Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) 4h02’13”
- Orluis Aular (Movistar Team) +0’00”
- Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) +0’00”
GC
- Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) 57h35’33”
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG) +48”
- Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) +2’38”
