The Danish Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) won the thirteenth stage of the 78th Vuelta a Espana by gap, the queen stage of 135 kilometres, held almost entirely in France, which from Formigal Huesca the Magic led to the summit of the legendary Col du Tourmalet. To seal the total triumph of the yellow and black formation, the red jersey Sepp Kuss conquered the place of honor, 30″ from the winner of the Tour de France, preceding the third Vespa, as well as winner of the Giro d’Italia, Primoz Roglic, who arrived at 33″. The monopoly of the Dutch team is clearly highlighted by the new general classification in which the twenty-eight year old from Durango can boast a lead of 1’37” over Roglic and 1’44” over Vingegaard. The Spanish Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), fourth at 2’37”, and Enric Mas (Tram Movistar), fifth at 3’06”, lead the rest of the world, probably now cut off from the fight for victory. Madrid is still a long way off but, if the race ended with this ranking, Jumbo Visma would write history twice with an autarkic podium and, above all, by winning the three grand tours in the same year with three different champions.
In a short and intense stage like today’s, good morning began for the yellow and black squadron. After Romain Bardet (Team DSM Firmenech) had conquered the Puerto de Portalet, the third category climb at the summit of which the race entered France, the subsequent descent recorded a series of sprints which saw Welshman Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) particularly active , eager to give meaning to his presence in Spain. The Jumbo, however, held the reins of the race firmly, unexpectedly receiving the most coveted scalp. A couple of kilometers from the transit on the Col d’Aubisque, roughness of the category especial, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quickstep) was in crisis, the only one capable of giving the Dutch team a hard time in this first half of the Vuelta. The surrender of the Belgian champion, certified by a 27’05” delay at the finish, had the flavor of a final sentence on the fate of the race. Together with the young Flemish, the Portuguese Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) was also ahead, sixth in the standings at 2’16” from Kuss this morning at the start. Having definitively eliminated the number one opponent, the Jumbo maintained control of the operations by setting a hard but not impossible pace on the following Col de Spandelles, a first category GPM, where the Australian Michael Storer (Groupama FDJ) passed first, thus lapping what has already been done on the Aubisque by temporarily conquering the polka dot jersey of leader of the climbers’ classification.
With only 22 survivors, the vanguard platoon began the final climb 19 kilometers from the finish. Work continued on the sides of the Jumbo which, thanks to the work of Robert Gesink and Wilco Kelderman, halved the number of treads with minus nine to go. At this point, Vingegaard left. One sprint was enough to send Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) into a crisis, the last one in the standings to get in the way of the Dutch team’s total domination. Kuss and Roglic acted as stoppers thwarting the attempts of Ayuso and Mas to repel the Scandinavian’s attack. Then, in the last kilometre, first the American and then the Slovenian sprinted to consecrate one of the most dominant days by a single team in the history of major stage races with Vingegaard who, to the success of the day, added the conquest of the polka dot shirt.
Tomorrow will be the turn of the fourteenth stage, also with an uphill finish. There will be 156 kilometers from Sauveterre-de Béarn to Larra-Belagua, of which the first 110 will be in French territory. On paper, with an elevation gain of 3,500 metres, it should be no less tough than today’s stage with no less than three GPMs: the Col de la Houcére, category especial after 50 kilometres, the Puerto de Larrau, with double-digit gradients which will mark the return to Spain, and, finally, the slightly more affordable Puerto de Belagua, at the top of which the final banner will be placed. After what happened today, it is difficult to expect other twists. On the other hand, it is very probable that there will be a double race with a breakaway of non-ranking riders, who will play for the win of the day, and the group that will take its time.
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