Stage 15 of Vuelta 2021. It was a long stage (197.5km). Rafal Majka (UAE) rode 87km all by himself to take his first win in four years. Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo) and Chris Hamilton (DSM) came in second and third respectively. Intermarché-Wanty rode on the front of the peloton. Odd Christian Eiking stays in red. GC top 10 changes not. Rest day tomorrow.
As the Vuelta a Espana headed into the mountains before Monday’s rest day, Stage 14 proved to be one of the dullest days of mountain racing that I have witnessed in some time. Starting with 75km to go, I found myself pondering why I’d agreed to watch this Vuelta again. Eventually, Romain ‘Bedhead’ Bardet reminded why we all turn on the telly and watch these men pedal their cranks. Positioning himself for success in the day’s breakaway, the Team (B)DSM rider kept his powder dry until the final climb, spanking the bibs off of all others with an attack with 6km to go. Left in his wake of dominance, Jesus Herrada of the submissive Cofidis Team, finished second on the day. The cruelty of Herrada is nothing to be forgotten as he rudely outsprinted Alpecin’s Jay Vine, who had bravely recovered after crashing into a team car.
Stage 13, the longest of this year’s Vuelta, came down to a messy, chaotic sprint and a beautiful win by Deceuninck QuickStep’s Florian Senechal. The Frenchman gave it everything to deny Matteo Trentin (UAE-Team Emirates) after teammate, and red hot favourite for victory, Fabio Jakobsen found himself out of position on the run to the line. The red jersey stays on the shoulders of Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) and everyone else remains as they were on the GC, prior to the climbing action this weekend.