Jonas Vingegaard tamed the Tourmalet to win stage 13 of the Vuelta a Espana, on a dramatic day which noticed final 12 months’s winner Remco Evenepoel’s problem wither in the Pyrenees on Friday.
The stage, which started in Formigal and ended at the iconic Col du Tourmalet, featured three different climbs earlier than the ultimate ascent to the end. The relentless climbing and downhill racing took its toll on many, together with final 12 months’s winner Evenepoel, who now finds himself out of competition.
It was the Jumbo-Visma which managed the stage, with Sepp Kuss in the crimson jersey, Primoz Roglic and Vingegaard all in the main group on the ultimate climb, earlier than Vingegaard made his telling break eight kilometres from the end.
“I’m just so happy and I couldn’t choose a better day; today is my daughter’s birthday and I wanted to win for her so badly today,” Vingegaard stated. “Our plan was to see if we could take some time on our opponents today. That happened and I’m just so proud to do it today and do it for my daughter.”
A smiling Kuss held onto the chief’s crimson jersey with a courageous experience to complete runner-up forward of Roglic in a Jumbo-Visma 1-2-3.
“I’ve done the Tourmalet a few times, and it’s quite long, but to be honest, it’s a bit overhyped,” Kuss had stated on Thursday, and the American seemed comfy all through.
On the second climb to Col d’Aubisque, each Evenepoel and Joao Almeida have been dropped. By the time they hit the subsequent ascent, Evenepoel was over two minutes adrift of the leaders, and it solely received worse from there.
At the begin of the stage, Kuss had a 26-second lead over Marc Soler however Roglic is now in second place, one minute 37 seconds behind with Vingegaard simply seven seconds additional adrift in third place.
After his win, Vingegaard, who now has the finest climber’s polka dot jersey, was requested whether or not the 1-2-3 end had been Jumbo-Visma’s plan for the stage.
“That’s even better than the plan,” the Dane replied.
For Evenepoel, this 12 months’s Vuelta problem is already over. The Belgian trailed in over 27 minutes behind the stage winner.
Saturday’s stage 14 is one other mountain stage, a 156.5 kilometre experience from Sauveterre-de-Bearn to Larra-Belagua.
⚔️ A battle unfolds in the Pyrenees.
🐝 An exhibition from Jumbo-Visma, 1-2-3 on stage & GC.
🤍 Remco drops out of the GC struggle.📽️ Re-live the MOVIE from stage 1⃣3⃣!
#LaVuelta23 pic.twitter.com/9vccmZ1e0Z— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 8, 2023
