Liepiņš in 142nd place in the seventh stage of Vuelta a Espana; victory is won by Michael Woods / Article / LSM.lv

Latvian cyclist Emīls Liepiņš took 142nd place on Tuesday in the seventh stage of the multi-day bicycle ride “Vuelta a Espana”, where the victory was celebrated by Canadian Michael Woods, but the honor of the overall leader was defended by Ecuadorian Richard Karapass.

On Tuesday, cyclists covered a 159.7-kilometer-long mountain section in the Pyrenees with two first-class climbs.

In the group of five riders, the representative of “EF Pro Cycling” Woods proved to be the most resilient in the end, four seconds ahead of the Spaniard Omar Frail from the “Astana” team and Alehandro Valverdi from the “Movistar” team.

For Woods, it was the second victory in this race, winning the first in 2018.

“It was a special day, and it was great to race in the Basque Country,” said the 34-year-old winner of the stage.

“I ran away from the group with these four guys, they drove very hard. And I felt bad because with Valverdi in the group I just couldn’t promote the rebound because we had the team leader Brit Hugh Card and we just couldn’t let Valverd further back. to Card in the overall standings.

“So I could sit a little downwind. Then I was a little lucky, I still had the strength, and I won.”

Woods, who will move to the Israel Start-Up Nation in 2021, broke his leg earlier this year, but successfully returned to the race, winning the Tirreno-Adriatico stage in September and continuing with equal success in Spain.

Liepiņš ranked 142nd among 163 competitors, losing 16 minutes and 58 seconds to the winner of the stage.

Carapass (“Ineos Grenadiers”) leads the overall standings, who is 18 seconds ahead of Kartia and another two seconds ahead of Irish Deniel Martin (“Israel Start-Up Nation”), but Slovenian Primožs Rogličs (“Team Jumbo-Visma”) lose by half a minute. . Liepiņš is less than an hour and 17 minutes behind and can be found in position 102.

Jay McCarthy (“Bora – Hansgrohe”) withdrew from the race due to an accident and was taken to an ambulance on a stretcher.

Frenchman Dorian Goden (“Ag2R-La Mondiale”), who won the Paris-Camembert race a few weeks ago, withdrew from the group in the second climb, but was captured by a group of persecutors led by Movistar 25 kilometers before the finish.

After that, five riders went to the attack with Woods as the initiator, who in the end also shared the podium among themselves.

Valverde started the break attempt six kilometers before the finish, but failed to gain a significant advantage, but in the last kilometer Woods did not allow Frail to win.

On Wednesday, cyclists will have to cover 164 kilometers with one second and one first category ascent to the finish.

The Spanish tour will finish on November 8 in Madrid. The first six days of the race overlapped with this year’s Giro d’Italia.

This year, the first three stages of “Vuelta a Espana” were planned in the Netherlands, but due to a national pandemic, the prestigious cycling competition was refused. As a result, Vuelta a Espana will have only 18 stages this year, instead of 21.

For Liepiņš, this is his debut in one of the big tours. The main goal of “Trek – Segafredo” in this Spanish tour is to fight for victories in certain stages. Despite the fact that the tour has been shortened to 18 stages, there will be quite a few challenges in the 47 categorized climbs and several mountain finishes. Sprinters will have the opportunity to compete for victories in at least four stages, including the last stage with a finish in Madrid.

Mateo Mosketti is mentioned as the main contender for the team’s victories in the sprint, but he still regains his physical shape after the injury at the beginning of the season, so the second option is Liepiņš, who is the last draw for the Italian. It was at the beginning of the season that the Dobel player made his debut for the Trek – Segafredo team and helped Mosket win two cycling races in Spain and finished in the top ten.

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