MADRID, 16 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Dutch cyclist Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorius) won this Saturday in the twentieth and penultimate stage of La Vuelta, held over 208 kilometers between the Madrid towns of Manzanares El Real and Guadarrama, while the American Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) He is the virtual winner of the Spanish round by defending the red jersey.
In the longest stage of the edition, with ten scoring climbs and more than 4,000 meters of accumulated elevation gain, Kuss and his teammates and rivals in the general classification, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard and the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), entered together at the finish line more than ten minutes (10:37) behind the winner of the day, who took the final sprint ahead of the Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), winner of the mountain, and the Spanish Pelayo Sánchez (Burgos- BH).
With this, the North American is guaranteed to climb to the top of the podium this Sunday in Madrid, after his Jumbo-Visma colleagues did not attack him in the last few days; Vingegaard, current champion of the Spanish round, is only 17 seconds behind, while Roglic, triple winner of La Vuelta, is 1:08 behind.
Jumbo-Visma controlled a final stage in which a breakaway of up to 31 riders was formed -among which were Evenepoel, Marc Soler, (UAE Team Emirates), Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers), Poels, Rui Costa (Intermarché) Wanty-Gobert) or Romain Bardet (DSM-firmenich) – in the descent of the first of the ten climbs of the day, the Collado del Portazgo.
The escapees had a maximum margin of 11 minutes over the peloton in the last 50 kilometers, just before climbing the last two obstacles of the day: Puerto de la Cruz Verde and Alto de San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Before, in Alto de Santa María de la Alameda, Soudal Quick-Step neutralized an escape attempt in the breakaway.
It was in the last port when the candidates were reduced to five: Evenepoel, Poels, the Belgian Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Dstny), the Spanish Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) and Pelayo Sánchez, and in a long sprint he managed to win to thwart the Evenepoel’s fourth stage win.
The 2023 Vuelta will end this Sunday with the dispute of the twenty-first stage, which will start at the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela and will run through an urban circuit that will cover 101.5 kilometers to the finish line in the Paisaje de la Luz.
–CLASSIFICATIONS.
-Stage.
1. Wout Poels (NED/Bahrain Victorius) 4:59:29.
2. Remco Evenepoel (BEL/Soudal Quick-Step) size
3. PELAYO SANCHEZ (ESP/Burgos-BH) mt
4. Lennert van Eetvelt (BEL/Lotto Dstny) mt
5. MARC SOLER (ESP/UAE Team Emirates) a 4.
-General.
1. Sepp Kuss (USA/Jumbo-Visma) 74:23:42.
2. Jonas Vingegaard (DIN/Jumbo-Visma) a 17.
3. Primoz Roglic (SVN/Jumbo-Visma) 1:08.
4. JOHN AYUSO (ESP/UAE Team Emirates) 3:4
5. MIKEL LANDA (ESP/Bahrain Victorious) 4:03.
2023-09-16 15:27:06
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