Cycling: Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) was more than two minutes behind. Meanwhile, the competition should take the French a little more seriously. On the 15th stage of the Vuelta a Espana he secured the day's victory and improved slightly in the overall standings. Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) confidently defended the red jersey. Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) also presented himself strongly.
Astana chases 12 breakaways
Today's 15th stage of the Vuelta a Espana leads up to the lakes of Covadonga. The mountainous profile was tackled by a dozen riders ahead of the peloton: Beside BenKing (Dimension Data) who already have the 4st stage and the 9st stage won, were too Ivan Garcia (Bahrain Merida), Nicholas Roche (BMC), Imanol Erviti (movistar), Pierre Roland (EF Education), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Sky), Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) and Nick Schultz (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) are the only drivers of their teams in the top group. George Bennett and Danny Van Poppel (LottoNL-Jumbo), as well as Build Mollema and Fabio Fellina (Trek-Segafredo) made sure their teams were outnumbered. In foggy Asturias, Ben King and Bauke Mollema in particular fought for points in the mountains classification. However, the white jersey with the blue dots should Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) keep. Meanwhile, Team Astana did the tracking work in the peloton.
Emanuel Buchmann cannot follow
Around 4.000 meters of altitude had to be covered today on the 178,2 kilometer route from Ribera de Arriba to Lagos de Covadonga. Before the final ascent of the honor category, the Mirador del Fito had to be mastered twice. The 12,0 kilometer long and 7,2 percent steep mountain finish took breakaways Ivan Garcia attacked first but the Spaniard, like all his peers, ended up being caught by the favourites. Meanwhile, some well-known professionals could not follow the Astana train, including wilco kelderman (Sunweb), Emmanuel Buchman (Bora-hansgrohe) and Tony gallopin (AG2R). By the first attack of Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) other pros got into trouble, but towards the end the mountain got a little easier. Attacks followed Simon yates (Mitchelton Scott), Enric Mas Nicolau (Quick-Step Floors) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ). However, only the Frenchman was able to break away, as the competition was stalking him.
Thibaut Pinot wins stages in all three grand tours
Behind Thibaut Pinot there were repeated attacks and attempts by his pursuers to stand. As a result, above all Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) suspended several times. But the two succeeded – in contrast to Rigoberto Urán (EF Education) – to reconnect. But Thibaut Pinot was no longer to be reached. After his stage victories in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, he was now able to celebrate at the Vuelta a Espana. became second in stage Miguel Angel Lopez, who was not able to convert the preparatory work of his teammates into a win, but managed to gain at least a few seconds on some competitors in the overall standings. He was followed by the remaining favorites, who had not yet been definitively distanced. The German Emmanuel Buchman was left behind relatively early, but at the end of the day in ninth place, he lost only 93 seconds to the day's winner. He is thus still in a strong tenth place in the overall standings.
Lagos de Covadonga no fue la que defined la CG de esta Vuelta, ahora todo queda en manos de la CRI y de cómo trate a los nuestros.
Ultima semana, la definitiva.#LaVuelta18 pic.twitter.com/HgPZwpUk0f
— Nicolás Borrás C. (@BorrasNicolas) September 9, 2018
Leave a Comment