photo credits @ La Vuelta
The opening stage winner of this year’s Vuelta a España once again raised his arm in victory today, as Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) delivered another impressive sprint to get the better of Elia Viviani (Lotto) and Ethan Vernon (Israel Premier Tech) in Zaragoza.
Race Highlights
Three riders set off as the soon as the flag dropped, with Sergio Samitier (Cofidis) quickly being joined at the front by two other Spanish attackers Joan Bou (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and José Luis Faura (Burgos-Burpellet-BH).
However, despite opening up a maximum advantage of 4:10 after 20 kilometers of racing, the trio didn’t pose a threat to overall race leader Torstein Træen’s La Roja, who held a gap of of almost 9 minutes over the escapees.
Samitier later claimed the bonus points at the first intermediate sprint, while less than 2 minutes behind, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) grabbed 13 points in the sprint amongst the peloton.
From there, Bou and Samitier upped the ante as the peloton closed in on them along the streets of Zaragoza. As they entered the final 23.4-km loop around the finishing town, they dropped Faura, who was rapidly reeled in by the bunch, while his two former breakaway companions later suffered the same fate with 17 km to go.
Tensions then rose ahead of a fast paced finale, with Viviani’s Lotto taking the helm inside the last kilometer.
But, nobody could fend off Philipsen during the final meters, with the Belgian rider taking his fifth Vuelta stage win, the second in this edition, and his fifteenth Grand Tour victory.
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