Longest stage with 230km today in the Vuelta in dreadful weather
After numerous attempts, a leading group formed after the first slope of the day, the Alto de San Amaro. Ten riders took off and again two-time stage winner Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) got away! The others, Nicholas Schultz and Robert Stannard (Mitchelton-Scott), Luis León Sánchez and Alex Aranburu (Astana), Robert Power and Mark Donovan (Sunweb), Mattia Cattaneo (Deceuninck Quick-Step), José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar) and Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) Another 3 made the leap: Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural) and Julien Simon (Total Direct Energie) The thirteen gathered more than five minutes, but then Bora-Hansgrohe began to chase in the peloton. When the lead narrowed to two minutes, some 54 km from the finish, Wellens had to let go at the final climb on the Alto de Padornelo, the peloton was within one minute. The signal for Cattaneo to abandon his companions. He increased his lead over the peloton, from which the Swiss Gino Mader (NTT) got away and jumped over the early leaders. After the top Bora-Hansgrohe start organising the chase again with success, Mader was caught again and Cattaneo was also there at 3.4 km from the finish for the effort. On an inclined finish, Jasper Philipsen was clearly the strongest, ahead of Pascal Ackermann and Jannik Steimle. The fifth professional victory for Jasper Philipsen and for now his best. Earlier this season he already won a stage in the Tour of the Limousin and the BinckBank Tour. Last year he won a stage in the Tour Down Under and two years ago, as a U23 neo-pro, a stage in the American Tour of Utah (Feature photo AFP)
(Top 10 stage 15) 1 Jasper Philipsen UAD 6:18:57
2 Pascal Ackermann BOH s/t
3 Jannik Steimle DQT s/t
4 Fred Wright TBM s/t
5 Dion Smith MTS s/t
6 Reinardt Janse van Rensburg NTT s/t
7 Magnus Cort EF1 s/t
8 Dorian Godon ALM s/t
9 Stan Dewulf LTS s/t
10 Michael Mørkøv DQT s/t
With 54 points left to win, Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) has a 55 point lead over second in the Mountain Competition Tim Wellens, he can no longer lose the blue polka dot jersey bar accidents, he can therefore crown himself mountain king in Madrid on Sunday (Photo @gettysport)
1 MARTIN Guillaume Cofidis, Solutions Crédits 89
2 WELLENS Tim Lotto Soudal 34
3 CARAPAZ Richard INEOS Grenadiers 30
4 KUSS Sepp Team Jumbo-Visma 27
5 ROGLIČ Primož Team Jumbo-Visma 24
6 CARTHY Hugh EF Pro Cycling 21
7 WOODS Michael EF Pro Cycling 21
8 MARTIN Dan Israel Start-Up Nation 20
9 VLASOV Aleksandr Astana Pro Team 18
10 SOLER Marc Movistar Team 18
(GC after stage 15) 1 Primož Roglic TJV 60:16:02
2 Richard Carapaz IGD +39″
3 Hugh Carthy EF1 +47″
4 Daniel Martin ISN +1:42″
5 Enric Mas MOV +3:23″
6 Wout Poels TBM +6:15″
7 Felix Großschartner BOH +7:14″
8 Alejandro Valverde MOV +8:39″
9 Aleksander Vlasov AST +8:48″
10 David De La Cruz UAD +9:23″
