Vuelta a Espana 2015 Stage 19

photo @ La Vuelta

Alexis Gougeard (AG2R) claimed the biggest win of his career, after soloing to victory in today’s stage 19 of the  Vuelta a Espana in Avila.

Meanwhile, Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida) took second place, at 40 seconds back, followed by Maxime Monfort of Lotto-Soudal in third.

For race leader, Tom Dumoulin, the Giant-Alpecin rider  extended his overall lead, after attacking out of the small group of GC during the steep cobble climb in closing kilometers.

Fabio Aru followed,however, the Italian rider was unable to catch his arch rival – losing another three seconds to Dumoulin.

The Astana rider is now six seconds down in second place, with Joaquim Rodriguez third at 1:24 back.

Race Highlights

The day’s breakaway group got underway early on in today’s stage, with 24 riders from 18 different teams going clear.

With the peloton reluctant to chase, the breakaway’s advantage swell to a massive 15+ minutes at one point.  

From there, a series of attacks got underway amongst the breakaway group, the first of which, came from Tiago Machado (Katusha).

However, both Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Leonardo Duque (Team Colombia) were quick to bridge their way to the Portuguese rider, with Gougeard subsequently launch his own attack.  

Meanwhile, Machado joined forces with Maxime Monfort (Lotto-Soudal), Andry Amador (Movistar) and Amael Moinard (BMC Racing) in pursuit of the Ag2r rider. 

Back in the peloton, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) decided to attack his GC rivals in hopes of improving his overall standing.

However, back up front, Gougeard continued to press on alone, with his advantage growing to 30 seconds as the 3 kilometer to-go banner approached.

From there, Gougeard would eventually go on to claim the stage victory, while all eyes turned back to the peloton, where Valverde continued to attack – splitting the group momentarily on a rapid descent.

But, as the Spanish rider continued to lead, as they hit the final cobbled section during the closing 5 kilometers, Giant-Alpecin managed to hunt him down, as they looked to set up Dumoulin to make gains.

Their tactic proved effective, as they were able to open up a small gap on Aru – increasing Tom ‘s overall lead to on the Italian rider to six seconds.

Stage 19 Results
FRA 1 GOUGEARD, Alexis (AG2R LA MONDIALE) 4:19:20
POR 2 SANTOS SIMOES OLIVEIRA, Nelson Filipe (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 40
BEL 3 MONFORT, Maxime (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 44
CRC 4 AMADOR BAKKAZAKOVA, Andrey (MOVISTAR)
POR 5 MACHADO, Tiago (KATUSHA)
FRA 6 MOINARD, Amaël (BMC RACING)
COL 7 DUARTE AREVALO, Fabio Andres (COLOMBIA) + 53
ESP 8 ARROYO DURAN, David (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) + 1:03
GER 9 KNEES, Christian (SKY) + 1:17
ESP 10 VENTOSO ALBERDI, Francisco José (MOVISTAR)
USA 11 KING, Benjamin (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 1:30
BEL 12 VAN DER SANDE, Tosh (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 1:45
ERI 13 BERHANE, Natnael (MTN – QHUBEKA)
RUS 14 VORGANOV, Eduard (KATUSHA)
ESP 15 IRIZAR ARANBURU, Markel (TREK FACTORY RACING)
FRA 16 ENGOULVENT, Jimmy (EUROPCAR) + 1:54
FRA 17 BOUET, Maxime (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 1:58
RUS 18 BRUTT, Pavel (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 2:08
FRA 19 LEMOINE, Cyril (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) + 2:11
COL 20 DUQUE, Leonardo Fabio (COLOMBIA) + 2:36
FRA 21 DELAGE, Mickael (FDJ) + 5:34
COL 22 VALENCIA, Juan Pablo (COLOMBIA) + 5:39
FRA 23 COPPEL, Jerome (IAM CYCLING) + 5:42
POR 24 VILELA, Ricardo (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) + 5:56
NED 25 DUMOULIN, Tom (GIANT – ALPECIN) + 16:18
ESP 26 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (KATUSHA)
ITA 27 POZZOVIVO, Domenico (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 16:21
ITA 28 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA)
ESP 29 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 16:27
FRA 30 JEANDESBOZ, Fabrice (EUROPCAR)
RSA 31 MEINTJES, Louis (MTN – QHUBEKA)
ESP 32 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY)
POL 33 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF – SAXO)
COL 34 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR)
BEL 35 DE CLERCQ, Bart (LOTTO SOUDAL)
ESP 36 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquim (KATUSHA)
COL 37 CHAVES RUBIO, Johan Esteban (ORICA GreenEDGE)
POR 38 CARDOSO, Andre Fernando S. Martins (CANNONDALE – GARMIN) + 16:46
ITA 39 ROSA, Diego (ASTANA)
ITA 40 CATALDO, Dario (ASTANA) + 17:10

General Classification after Stage 19
NED 1 DUMOULIN, Tom (GIANT – ALPECIN) 78:20:51
ITA 2 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) + 6
ESP 3 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquim (KATUSHA) + 1:24
POL 4 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 2:31
COL 5 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) + 3:02
ESP 6 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 3:24
COL 7 CHAVES RUBIO, Johan Esteban (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 3:39
ESP 8 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (KATUSHA) + 3:46
ESP 9 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) + 4:19
RSA 10 MEINTJES, Louis (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 7:00