Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 5:57 PM
The sixteenth stage of the Vuelta a España, with finish in Bejes, was won by Jonas Vingegaard. The Jumbo-Visma rider attacked early on the steep final climb and rode a minute away from the other classification men. Sepp Kuss is still in the lead in the general classification, but now sees his Danish teammate approaching within 29 seconds.
Short but sweet. That’s how you could describe the sixteenth stage of the Vuelta a España. This transition stage took the riders over a distance of only 120.5 kilometers from Liencres Playa to Bejes and had an explosive ending. A vicious and explosive final awaited in Bejes. This ‘wall’ of 4.8 kilometers had an average of 8.8%, but there were also regular outliers of 14 to 15%.
Well done to the punchers, but did we have to look mainly at the escapees for the stage victory? Or would the classification men fight it out for the day’s victory? The riders have raced in recent days under a sometimes fierce Spanish sun, but today the Vuelta peloton started the sixteenth stage in gray and rainy conditions. In fact, the drivers were ‘treated’ to a heavy rain shower during the first kilometers.
Ten riders on the attack, but INEOS Grenadiers are not involved
Ten riders were not deterred by the weather and opted for the open water. Green jersey wearer Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step), Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny), Romain Bardet, Max Poole (Team dsm-firmenich), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ), Paul Lapeira (AG2R Citroën ), Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost), Matteo Sobrero (Jayco AlUla) and Samuele Battistella (Astana Qazaqstan) quickly rode half a minute ahead of the peloton, but not everyone was satisfied with the situation.
Dutch champion Van Baarle again rode for miles at the head of the peloton – photo: Cor Vos
For example, INEOS Grenadiers had missed the battle and so the British formation decided to take the lead of the peloton, in the hope of catching up with the leading group with Bardet and Kron. Led by pace master Filippo Ganna and Geraint Thomas, the peloton hung on for a while at just over half a minute, but the British formation refused to budge and just under eighty kilometers from the finish the regrouping was a fact. This way everything could be done again, and other riders saw an opportunity to launch an attack.
Tireless Groves initiator of new leading group, Jumbo-Visma controls
In a very attractive opening phase, the riders had no time to catch their breath, and a moment of despair in the peloton awaited. Almost half the platoon tried to get away, but no one was given a safe conduct. A duo attack by Bardet and Mattia Cattaneo was thus nipped in the bud. Halfway through the stage there was still no leading group, but not long afterwards a breakaway of six drivers emerged. The seemingly tireless Groves was the great initiator.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter was joined by Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal Quick-Step), Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Nicolas Prodhomme (AG2R Citroën), Max Poole (Team dsm-firmenich) and Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). These six riders managed to achieve a maximum lead of one minute. The six attackers did not get much more, as Jumbo-Visma apparently had nefarious plans with Sepp Kuss, Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard.
The second flight was given some space, but was caught on time – photo: Cor Vos
Escapees are a bird for the cat
The Dutch formation – with Robert Gesink and Dylan van Baarle as mileage eaters on duty – still rode a very tight pace at the head of the peloton, and managed to keep the six leaders in line. In other words, the yellow and black men were interested in the stage victory, perhaps also to encourage teammate Nathan Van Hooydonck, who is currently being kept in an artificial coma after a serious traffic accident.
After the intermediate sprint in Unquera, just 27 kilometers from the finish, the leading group consisted of only five riders. After all, the loot had already been received for Groves. The Australian was the first to finish the intermediate sprint, taking the full number of points (twenty) and doing well for his green jersey. After winning the intermediate sprint, Groves was almost immediately released from the leading group, but Cattaneo, Poole, Van den Berg, Prodhomme and Nicolau wanted to start with a lead at the foot of the final climb at all costs.
Vingegaard throws the bat into the fowl’s cage
It turned out to be a close fight, because with ten kilometers to go the escapees were grabbed by the wrists. So we moved with a compact peloton to the last climb, where a first selection quickly took place. Led by the Hungarian champion Attila Valter, the group of favorites was thinned out to about twenty riders and this proved to be an impetus for Vingegaard to accelerate. The Tour winner threw all his cards on the table with four kilometers to climb and immediately opened up a nice gap.
And the Dane’s competitors? They mainly looked at each other and were apparently not prepared to pull each other’s chestnuts out of the fire. As a result, Vingegaard, who continued to drive at full speed, kept getting further ahead. However, one rider managed to keep Vingegaard in his sights, but it was not one of the usual names. It was Finn Fisher-Black, the promising New Zealander from UAE Emirates, who managed to keep pace for a long time. But completely closing the gap turned out to be just too much for the first pursuer.
Strange spectacle in the chasing group, Vingegaard solos to victory
In the meantime, we saw a strange spectacle in the chasing group, because not a single top player seemed willing to do the dirty work or launch an attack. This clearly played into the hands of Vingegaard, who started the last, very steep, kilometer with more than a minute’s lead. This turned out to be the signal for that other Jumbo-Visma star, Roglic, to accelerate. The Slovenian also seemed to be driving away from the rest and on his way to a 1-2 for Jumbo-Visma, but Enric Mas and Juan Ayuso drove to Roglic’s wheel again.
However, that was well behind Vingegaard, who managed to climb convincingly to his second stage victory in this Vuelta. The Dane not only achieved his second stage victory in Bejes, but also did excellent business in the battle for the overall victory. Vingegaard halves his deficit in the general classification. His teammate Sepp Kuss is still in the lead, but the difference with his teammate is now only 29 seconds.
2023-09-12 15:35:00
#Vuelta #JumboVisma #continues #dominate #Vuelta #Vingegaard #climbs #stage #victory
