A stage as flat as a pancake, *they said*. A rare day for the sprinters at La Vuelta, *they said*. An easy day for Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep) to hold on to the Red Jersey, *they said*. An attack with 3km to go from Jumbo Visma’s Primoz “No Risk, No Glory” Roglic, *NOBODY said*.
Stage 16 of the 2022 Vuelta should have come with a health warning. From a Grand Tour with zilcho drama, to essentially the drama of seven seasons (may be exaggerating, may also not be) happening within the final 3km of today’s parcours. In a nutshell, all you need to know is that a sprinter, Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), did win the stage and there was no change to the overall standings… but that is only the tip of a very large iceberg. Let’s start at the very beginning 3km to go.
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