Sunday, September 6th, 15th stage: Palma del Río > Cordoba
Cordoba and the number two stand hand in hand for Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) after the Belgian superstar powered to victory in the Andalusian town on stage 15 of La Vuelta 26. Two years ago, that was also where he took his second win in the Spanish Grand Tour, in a reduced bunch sprint. This time, he attacked to claim his second victory in La Vuelta 26. Only four rivals could follow the green jersey wearer in a relentless stage. But none could match his final kick to the line. Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana) finished second ahead of Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek). Enric Mas (Movistar) finished safely in the peloton and retained La Roja ahead of the final week of this edition.
The route of stage 15 was modified following the activation of the high temperature protocol after a meeting with representatives of the Commissaires’ Panel, the teams, the riders and La Vuelta management, taking into account all the considerations raised by the different parties and the weather conditions forecast for today.
The new route is 110.2 km long from Palma del Rio (a new stage La Vuelta stage town) to Cordoba (where Magnus Cort and Wout van Aert have already won). The start and the finish are flat, but the middle section is packed with climbing for the attackers to try and upset the field.
A battle at every turn
As expected, the pace is relentless from the get going. Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ United) attacks as soon as the flag drops. The Frenchman tries again and again until he finds his opening at km 9.
Ten riders join him to make the break before the day’s hills: Frederik Wandahl (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Ivo Oliveira (UAE Emirates-XRG), Xabier Mikel Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5), Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Rudy Porter (Jayco AlUla), Alastair Mackellar (EF Education-EasyPost), Fabian Weiss (Tudor), Reuben Thompson (Lotto-Intermarché), Gijs Leemreize (Picnic-PostNL).
Bryan Coquard’s Cofidis and Visma-Lease a Bike – for Matthew Brennan or Wout van Aert? – set the pace in the bunch. The gap never gets higher than 1’17’’ at km 20.
More attacks on rolling terrain
With such a tight situation, Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) attacks on the first categorised climb of the day, the Puerto de la Forestal (cat. 3, summit at km 34.5). The German climber makes it a 12-man lead group 70 kilometres from the line.
More attackers push the pace on the rolling terrain leading to the second categorised climb of the day, the Puerto Artafi (cat. 3, km 73.6). Bruno Armirail (Visma-Lease a Bike) sets a strong pace in the bunch to cover their moves while the breakaway explodes.
As the race reaches the summit, Andreas Leknessund has dropped his breakaway companions. Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) is less than ten seconds behind the Norwegian winner of stage 7 (Aramon Valdelinares). And the gap to the bunch is down to 20 seconds.
Van Aert masters Cordoba
Leknessund and Debruyne get together ahead of the intermediate sprint (km 78.9). Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana) takes third place ahead of Wout van Aert, who keeps pushing. The chase duo rapidly catch the lead duo. Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) senses the danger and also bridges the gap.
Indeed, the five attackers make the difference while the pace drops in the peloton. Counter-attackers try to react. But they fail to get closer than 45 seconds behind the leaders, who start attacking each other as they enter Cordoba.
Thibau Nys kicks with 3 kilometres to go. Then Andreas Leknessund counter-attacks. But Van Aert is vigilant and strong. The Belgian superstar controls the situation until he powers to his second stage win in La Vuelta 26, and his second stage win in Cordoba. Alessandro Covi (Jayco AlUla) is the fastest of the chasers (+58’’). Enric Mas (Movistar) and the peloton cross the line with a gap of 2’44’’ on the eve of the second and final rest day.
Stage 15
- Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) 2h35’00”
- Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana) +0’00”
- Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) +0’00”
GC
- Enric Mas (Movistar) 52h05’56”
- Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) +02’06”
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +02’10”
