Stage 15 kicks off the last week of the Vuelta and the bad news for the riders is not that they have to go into Andorra but that it is probably the hardest stage they have faced so far. The finishing climb to Cortals d’Encamp is not as tough as the prior finishing climbs but what comes before it is harder and at 218k it is the longest stage of the race. The worse news for the rider is it kicks off a series of 4 very hard stages with the Mountain TT tomorrow and two intensely mountainous stages on Stages 17 and 18. But they can worry about that later.
In addition to an HC climb at the finish they face a a Cat 4, a Cat 3, two Cat 2’s and a Cat 1. The latter 4 coming in quick succession before a long ride across the valley to the finishing climb. The big guns should fight it out on the final climb but any rider who is dropped before that will be looking at serious time losses.
The big three top the leader board. Tenorio dominated the first mountain stage, Taaramäe the second. Is it Madrazo’s turn today?
The stage sees a lot of interest in the breakaway with many riders going of the front. Highest placed is De la Cruz, who is 12th on the GC. He is currently in E7 along with Sosa and Petelin. Currently 19 riders off the front.
A 19-rider break it is. With 18k gone they have a 3-minute gap. De la Cruz the highest on GC, he is 9’46 behind. Festina serious today as he has two teammates with him. He is also joined by 16th, 17th, 18th and 20th in the GC. Madouas representing Puma again is wearing the White Jersey, also second in the KOM. A lot of points today so that jersey is definitely in play. Sequera, who is currently 6th, is the best placed rider other than Madouas in the break. But today could be a platform for a top climber to launch a bid, particularly if the break stays away.
The full breakaway list: Carboni (16th) De la Cruz (12th) Ioannidis Spanopoulos Keinath Sequera (20th) Nesset (17th) Sosa Tolhoek Koshevoy Roman Petelin Reis Quintana McKenna Prado Madouas (18th) Novikov Higuita
The first climb is a little Cat 4 appetizer. Madouas takes it ahead of Tolhoek and Higuita. The lead is 6’09.
140k to go and the break is on the 2nd climb, the Cat 3 Pujada de L’Ascensió, 8.3k at 3.8%. The lead got over 7 minutes but teams of the second-tier leaders like FarFetch, Zwift and cycleYorkshire have been working and it is back to 6’20. They don’t want De la Cruz too far ahead.
Madouas wins again at the top. Tolhoek takes 2nd ahead of Koshevoy. Madouas is now just 3 points behind his teammate.
The break rolls through the sprint point in Solsona with a 5’57 lead and 112k to go. From here it gets serious, they have 7.5k of gentle uphill to where they begin the first of the three closely packed climbs. King Power and Tinkoff contributing the to chase in the pack now, as a result their riders are taking it easy in the breakaway.
105k to go and the breakaway starts the Cat 2 Coll de Jou. There is a short descent in the middle so the organizers have kindly broken out the statistics for us. Part 1 is 9k at 5.8%, Part 2, is steeper, 2.8k at 7.4%.
98k to go for the peloton, they have eased off on the climb and the lead is 7’11. A few riders have been dropped from the peloton. Ahead the breakaway is still intact and have completed the first prat of the Coll de Jou.
1.3k to the top and Generali duo of Sequera and Keinath attack. Madouas following. Behind Evonik have begun to chase.
Sequera takes 10 points. Madouas settles for 3rd and 6 points. He is in the virtual lead with 72 points, Sequera up to 3rd on 48.
After a short descent the break starts the Cat 1 Coll de Port, 8.9k at 7.7%. Only Spanopoulos was unable to rejoin after the last climb, he is at 49 seconds. The Evonik-led peloton with 90 riders at 4’52.
6.3k to climb for the peloton and Furdi and Kangert on the front as Gazelle up the pace. The lead is down to 4’24. Up front Reis has been dropped.
4k to the top for the break and Madouas is dropped along with Sosa. Madouas has done well on the early climbs, probably logical for him to save his energy now, as he can’t beat the big guns on climbs like this. McKenna also dropped.
1.4k to go and Carboni attacks. Only De la Cruz, Sequera, Novikov and Higuita can stay with him. Keinath and Nesset the last ones dropped. The former has been working for Sequera but surprising to see the Greig rider dropped. The lead over the peloton is up over 5 minutes again.
Sequera leaves his attack too late and has to settle for 4th place points, bringing him to 56. The top 3 slots go to Novikov, De la Cruz and Carboni.
The front 5 reach the base of the next climb, the Coll de Traba ( Cat 2, 8.2k at 4.8%). They have 1’48 over Keinath and Nesset and 5’26 over the peloton. The peloton is down to 40 riders with the most notable victim being Powless who is 47 seconds behind. His two main young rider rivals are still with the main chase group.
1.5k to go and De la Cruz attacks. Intxausti is leading the peloton 4’22 behind for Zwift.
Novikov comes around to take first place points followed by Carboni and Sequera.
53k for the peloton and 39k to the start of the final climb as they cross the the top of the Cat 2, 5’25 behind the leaders. Vlasov leading the peloton. Fellow young rider competitor Madouas has just been caught while Powless is almost 2 minutes behind and on his own, his hopes of winning White will take a big hit today.
The front four reach the Cortals d’Encamp and immediately Sequera attacks with Novikov on his wheel. Higuita was dropped right at the top of the last climb and was never able to rejoin. He and the rest of the original breakaway are back in the peloton which is at 2’56 with King Power doing a lot of chasing. The climb is 14.1k at an average of 7.1% but the first 5k are pretty flat and then the gradient steepens.
11k to climb, Sequera drops Novikov. The other two are about a minute behind, they don’t seem panicked, either they are playing the long game or figure there is no chance of stage win today so they are saving themselves. ISA-Hexacta has 3 riders on the front of the peloton.
Set up by his teammates Pinot attacks the peloton. He is 13 minutes down so the GC leaders won’t be worried.
8.6k to go and Taaramäe attacks. Still 42 riders in the chase group so he is taking a gamble here.
Up front De la Cruz has bridged over to Novikov and trails Sequera by 36 seconds.
7k for the Red Jersey he has 34 seconds on the chase group where Sosnitskiy and Aular are trying to bring him back.
1.4k later and the Red Jersey is at the front of the race. Aular has almost brought the peloton up to Pinot but the gap to Estonian has grown to 55 seconds. Aular will be gaining time in the White Jersey as Vlasov has been dropped and Madouas is in trouble.
4.2k to go for Taaramäe. Madrazo and Tenorio leading a 23-rider chase group at 1’04. All the riders in between are caught. Top 15 on GC are all in the chase group.
3.9k to go, 6th placed Cattaneo is dropped along with Kirsch (13th), De la Cruz (12th) and Mamykin (14th). Taaramäe’s lead is up to 1’21.
2k for the leader. Madrazo has reduced the lead to 1’04 and the chase group to 12.
1k banner for the Red Jersey but Madrazo is motoring and the lead is just 35 seconds. Haig has been dropped.
500 meters and Taaramäe has stabilized the gap. His closest competitor, Tenorio, has been dropped from the chase group.
The riders behind have started to sprint but with 200 meters to go Taaramäe feels confident enough to celebrate his second stage win.
As Taaramäe finishes Madrazo, Bennett, and Meintjes have broken clear of Carthy, Reis and Kritskiy.
After 218k Meintjes edges Madrazo by few inches for 2nd. Bennett 4th. They all finish 12 seconds behind.
On 36 seconds, Reis grabs 5th ahead of Carthy and Kritskiy.
Hirt 8th (0’54), Tenorio 9th (1’18) and Pinot 10th (1’37). Tenorio hangs on to 2nd in the GC but is now 2’14 behind Taaramäe and just 17 seconds ahead of Madrazo
Big loser on the day is Cattaneo who loses 3’52 to the winner and drops to 10th. While Meintjes moves up from 8th to 5th. Under 2 minutes separates 4th from 9th on the GC so a lot could still happen there.
Madouas has both the KOM and White Jersey. Taaramäe could be a threat to the KOM jersey as he is in 4th just 12 points behind the leader. While the KOM jersey is at risk Madouas could be a threat to hold White. He has a 3’37 lead over Aular but gained time on Powless and Vlasov. Fung holding on to 3rd for now.
Tinkoff have regained the teams lead by 5’40 as both Evonik and King Power had tough days.
After Stage 15 The GC position trends looks like this:
Vuelta a España 
