Vuelta a España Stage 15: Van Aert in Complete Control for Second Win in Three Days

Wout Van Aert confirmed his current stomping form with another stage win in the Vuelta a España, following up his triumph on stage 14 with victory in a five man sprint into Córdoba Sunday.

The Belgian was calm and confident in the finale, easily containing surges by Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) and Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), and then marking Nys when he launched the sprint. He waited, then blasted past and hit the line ahead of Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana Team), Nys, Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Leknessund.

The next riders were almost a minute back, with the GC contenders 2:44 behind. Overnight leader Enric Mas (Movistar Team) retained his 2:06 advantage over Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) with Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) a further four seconds back.

The stage was shortened due to high temperatures, leading to aggressive racing from the off. Leknessund was the sole survivor of the day’s big breakaway which went clear after around 10km of racing, attacking 39km from the finish, and then being joined first by Debruyne, then by Van Aert and Romelle, and after that by Nys.

Van Aert tried to go solo 19km from the end but when that didn’t work, he marked the attacks by others. He was fully in control from there to the line and has further extended his big lead in the points classification.

He also won in Córdoba two years ago and joked about that in the post-race interview.

“Maybe I should never come back because I can’t remain unbeaten here,” he laughed. “But maybe I come for holidays.

“We tried to surprise the bunch. We took control the whole day and we were still there with a few strong guys to help us. But I knew people would not expect that we would chose to attack. I smelled the moment at the intermediate sprint. And with Matthew [Brennan] behind, there was no risk at all to give it a try, because we always had a good option in the bunch. That was how I like to race.”

A tense tactical battle in sweltering conditions

Stage 15 of the Vuelta a España was cut from its original distance of 189.7km to 110.2km due to concerns over heat, with temperatures forecast to hit 40 degrees.

The attacks still fired from the drop of the flag, with numerous riders trying to go clear. Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ United) surged after 10km and was joined by ten others, including Leknessund.

They were 1’05 ahead after 22km of racing and Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) managed to bridge to them. Fabian Weiss (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Xabier Mikel Azparen (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) pushed ahead on the climb of Puerto Artafi, and were then joined by Rueben Thompson (Lotto-Intermarché) and Leknessund. The peloton reeled in the rest of the break.

Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Deceuninck) attacked from the peloton with 41km remaining, while Leknessund went solo two kilometers later. Debruyne caught him 33km from the line.

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Alessandro Romelle (XDS Astana) then bridged two kilometers later, with Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) doing likewise 1km after that.

Van Aert looks back to his best and tried to get clear 19km from the end. He was closely marked but was well in control, joining Nys and Debruyne when the former attacked 3.2 from the line. and was marked by Debruyne, but Van Aert brought the other two up.

Leknessund was next to try with 2.5km left but, once again, Van Aert cancelled this out.

He led into the final kilometer and easily contained Leknessund when he gave a tentative surge. Nys made his own move inside 250 to go and Van Aert calmly bided his time in the slipstream before blasting past.

“It was a bit difficult,” he said of the finale. “My Belgian companions [Nys and Debruyne] were really strong. They helped a lot, and so did Romele from Astana. But I think Leknessund gambled a bit for his teammate that was in the back. We kind of expected an attack from him. It started up quite late so in the last few kilometres I just wanted to keep it together and to make sure it was a sprint.”