Key Takeaways: Vuelta a España Stage 13
Breaking down how the Vuelta's Queen Stage, which dramatically shaped the race, was won and what it means for the future of the GC battle
Jonas Vingegaard won the Queen Stage of the 2023 Vuelta a España atop the famed Col du Tourmalet high in the Pyrenees mountains while his Jumbo-Visma teammates, Sepp Kuss, and Primož Roglič, came in for second and third shortly behind after attacking and dropping the rest of the overall contenders. Vingegaard won the stage by taking advantage of his Jumbo-Visma team’s numerical advantage in the lead group and attacking halfway up the final climb, which allowed his two teammates, Kuss and Roglič, to act as anchors on the group containing the remaining overall contenders, like Enric Mas and Juan Ayuso. Even though Vingegaard is still visibly lacking the form that he rode to his second consecutive Tour de France victory back in July, the ride was good enough to move him into third place overall and see his team occupy the top three GC spots.
Outside of Jumbo-Visma’s dominance, the big story of the day was the complete collapse of defending Vuelta champion Remco Evenepoel, who failed to hold the Jumbo-set pace on the first major climb, the Col d’Aubisque, and crossed the finish line over 27 minutes behind Vingegaard. The time loss, which certainly rules Evenepoel out of GC contention and may even see him abandon the race, took out Jumbo-Visma’s biggest GC challenge and has the potential to set up a historic podium sweep for the Dutch superteam.
Stage Top Five:
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo) +0
2) Sepp Kuss (Jumbo) +30
3) Primož Roglič (Jumbo) +33
4) Juan Ayuso (UAE) +38
5) Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora) +38
Key Stage GC Time Gaps:
Vingegaard +0
Kuss -38
Roglič -43
Ayuso -50
Uijtdebroeks -52
Mas -54
Landa -1’29
Vlasov -2’26
Almeida -7’01
Evenepoel -27’19
Current GC Top Ten:
1) Sepp Kuss (Jumbo) +0
2) Primož Roglič (Jumbo) +1’37
3) Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo) +1’44
4) Juan Ayuso (UAE) +2’37
5) Enric Mas (Movistar) +3’06
6) Marc Soler (UAE) +3’10
7) Mikel Landa (Bahrain) +4’12
8) Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora) +5’02
9) Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora) +5’30
10) João Almeida (UAE) +8’39
Stage 13 Race Notebook:
88km-to-go: As they near the top of the day’s first major climb, the Col d’Aubisque, Jumbo-Visma’s hard, steady pace has deterred any early breakaways and has kept the race altogether.
87.5km: While the pace isn’t absurdly high, it is just difficult enough to shake loose a few top-ten GC contenders like João Almeida and Lenny Martinez, as well as one of the main favorites for overall victory, Remco Evenepoel. While Evenepoel doesn’t have a great history of success on big mountain stages with multiple GC climbs, it is still a surprise to see him dropped so early.
84.3km: By the top of the climb, Evenepoel is over a minute behind the leaders. While he still has a chance to catch back on, he is clearly either physically empty or mentally shaken due to being dropped so early, and he essentially pulls the plug here and slow-pedals into the finish.
17.8km: Jumbo, still on the front, hits the base on the final climb, the Tourmalet, while the rest of the GC contenders wait for the coming attack behind.
8km: As soon as Jumbo’s last domestique, Wilco Kelderman, pulls off, Jonas Vingegaard attacks in an attempt to keep the pace high and force the others to work for his teammates behind. Juan Ayuso follows the initial move.
7.6km: After being reeled in, Vingegaard unleashes a second, harder attack. Enric Mas makes a big effort to follow, but he gets stuck in no-man’s land where he is close to Vingegaard but not close enough to get a draft. Meanwhile, the Jumbo duo of Roglic and Kuss sit on Ayuso’s wheel behind.
7.2km: Mas, unable to catch Vingegaard, is eventually forced to sit up, and wait for the Ayuso-led group behind. Vingegaard has now smartly set up a situation where he can essentially pace the GC group by being off-the-front, instead of on-the-front.
6.4km: With Vingegaard off the front, the rest of the GC contenders are stuck in a bad situation since Kuss and Roglič can sit on their wheel and force them to work, since Mas and Ayuso don’t want Vingegaard to ride clear and further distance them in the GC. And, if any attempts to attack to bridge up to Vingegaard, Kuss or Roglič will jump on their wheel and force them to either pull them to the front or sit up.
5.5km: We see this play out when Mas attacks in an attempt to bridge up to Vingegaard, and is closely, and easily, marked by Kuss.
4.1km: Interestingly, instead of sitting on his wheel, Kuss counter-attacks Mas. This is risky, since it increases the pace and pulls them closer to Vingegaard, and, at least in theory, puts Kuss at risk of being caught out by a counter-attack and being dropped.
3.4km: However, the move, while unorthodox, is effective since it creates a net-slowing of the pace and eventually neutralizes Mas, who sits up and allows the Ayuso-led group to reel them in. Roglič, who has opened his jersey, appears to be struggling slightly but still isn’t letting any gaps open up.
1.2km: With Vingegaard nearly a minute ahead, Kuss takes advantage of Mas letting a gap open up between him and the rest of the group, by attacking into the space and opening up a massive amount of speed to blow by the others. Unfortunately, this move is disrupted by a fan in the road, and Kuss is forced to brake.
1.1km: But, despite being forced to scrub his speed, Kuss re-opens his sprint, moves over slightly, and appears to almost fly away from the group.
Finish: Vingegaard holds on for an impressive stage win, and to move into third place overall, despite fading slightly in the final kilometers and appearing off his best Tour form.
Kuss/Roglič Finish: Behind, Kuss surges over the line in second, just 30 seconds back, meaning he made up nearly half a minute on Vingegaard in just a kilometer. Roglič, who has attacked and dropped the others off camera, proves he clearly wasn’t in trouble on the climb since he is closing incredibly fast and crosses the line just three seconds later.
Key Takeaways
1) Jonas Vingegaard’s winning ride highlights Jumbo-Visma’s aggressive, and smart, GC strategy on the stage
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