Cycling: Furious finale at the Tour of Spain: Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) collapsed when Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida) won the stage, Fabio Aru (Astana) is about to win his first Grand Tour.
This year's Tour of Spain can hardly be surpassed in terms of drama! On the day before the grand finale in Madrid, the overall standings were once again shaken up. The last mountain stage led over 175 kilometers from San Lorenzo de El Escorial to Cercedilla. Four mountain classifications - all of them in the 1st category - were on the program. In the overall standings, the starting position was extremely exciting: leader Tom Dumoulin led by six seconds in front of Fabio Aru, but the gaps behind him weren't very big either.
A ten-man lead group formed early in the race, followed by another 29-strong group. Only behind followed the field with all the favorites. 120 kilometers before the finish, the Spaniard Ruben Plaza attacked - in July he was still a stage winner in Gap at the Tour de France. And with a smooth step and perfect race management, he managed the impossible: None of the pursuers - neither from the two breakaway groups that soon united, nor from the main field - was able to catch up to him as the race progressed. Plaza rode solo over three mountains and cheered exuberantly at the finish line for his impressive stage win. He saved 1:07 minutes ahead of José Goncalves (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA), who once again lost out in this Vuelta.
Exciting scenes also played out further back: the Astana and Katusha teams around captains Fabio Aru and Joaquím Rodriguez showed their full team strength. On the penultimate mountain of the day - the more than ten-kilometer-long Puerto de la Morcuera - it was the surprise third-place finisher of this year's Giro, Mikel Landa, who took over the pace work for his captain Aru and caused Tom Dumoulin trouble for the first time. The man in red fought his way back up, but he couldn't counter another increase in pace from Aru. Along with Mikel Nieve (Team Sky), Dumoulin fell behind, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) even further behind
In the descent of the penultimate mountain and in the approach to the last mountain, it almost looked as if Dumoulin could close the hole to Aru again. But while the Dutchman struggled alone, Aru was able to enlist the help of Landa and Luis Leon Sanchez also dropped back from the breakaway and provided leadership for his Astana team-mates. So the hole widened again and at eleven kilometers long Puerto de Cotos the exhausted Dumoulin was finally passed. With 7:30 minutes he reached the daily goal and not only lost the top position and leader's jersey, but even a place in the top five. A huge disappointment for Dumoulin but the Dutchman has put in a superb Tour of Spain and will be one of the hottest contenders for a three-week Tournament victory for years to come.
So while Dumoulin was out of the running, the remaining favorites were battling it out for overall victory and further spots on the podium. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) attacked big on the last hill. With Rafael Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) on his back wheel, the Colombian quickly punctured and Joaquím Rodriguez had serious concerns about his podium finish. While Quintana and Majka drove up the rest of the big group in front and reached the finish line 2:42 minutes behind the day's winner, Rodriguez fought for every second and pulled an Aru, who was also driving at the stop, with him. At the finish, the two had lost just under a minute to Quintana and Majka - not enough to lose their positions: Aru emotionally celebrated his first victory in a three-week tour when crossing the finish line, Rodriguez saved his second place in the overall standings a few seconds ahead of Majka, Quintana has to be content with the wood medal of fourth place overall.
The Tour of Spain ends tomorrow with a flat stage in Madrid. Aru will wear red again - the ninth change at the top of the standings during the race. One can already say: The Tour of Spain was a worthy conclusion to the 2015 GrandTour season.
Final result stage 20 Vuelta a España 2015
[easy table th=“0″]
1., Ruben Plaza, Lampre-Merida, 04:37:05
2nd,Jose Goncalves,Caja Rural-Seguros RGA,00:01:07
3.,Alessandro de Marchi,BMC Racing,00:01:08
4., Romain Sicard, Europcar, 00:01:29
5.,Amael Moinard,IAM Cycling,00:01:30
6. Carlos Verona, Etixx Quick Step, 00:01:30
7th,Sergio Luis Henao,Team Sky,00:01:30
8.,Kenny Elissonde,FDJ,00:01:35
9.,Matteo Montaguti,AG2R,00:01:43
10.,Moreno Moser,Cannondale-Garmin,00:02:45
[/easy table]
