(Reuters) -Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG) held off Danish race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) at the top of the brutal summit finish of Angliru to win stage 13 of the Vuelta a Espana on Friday.
The top two in the general classification battled it out for the stage win, leaving the rest behind in the final five km. Almeida did all the work on the climb and stayed ahead of Vingegaard in the sprint to the line.
“This is a special one, I still don’t believe it,” Almeida said.
“I just put my pace from the bottom and I just did my bit the best I could. Jonas was always on my wheel, we were both on the limit and I was waiting for his attack anytime.”
Thanks to the bonus seconds for the stage win, Almeida closed the gap to the red jersey to 46 seconds, with Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) losing time but holding onto third overall, two minutes and 18 seconds off the leader.
Australian Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA Hansgrohe) finished third on the 202.7 km ride from Cabezon de la Sal to Alto de L’Angliru, 28 seconds behind the leading pair, just ahead of Vingegaard’s teammate Sepp Kuss.
Kuss, Vuelta winner in 2023, almost lost his red jersey on Angliru that year when teammates Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic left him behind, with Roglic edging out the Dane at the finish.
‘HARDEST CLIMB IN THE WORLD’
Vingegaard suffered a similar fate this time around, despite looking like he was just biding his time, tucked in behind Almeida as they suffered on the final twists and turns of the infamous climb, but his attack never came.
“I thought he was going to pass me on the finish line,” Almeida said.
“I took the last corner and then it’s hard to pass. I think this is the hardest climb in the world, its crazy, I’m really sore.”
Almeida’s pain gained him his first individual Vuelta stage win along with four seconds in the GC, and topping Angliru ahead of the race favourite may just give him the confidence he needs to go for the title.
“I still have a lot of time to make up,” Almeida said.
“He’s looking phenomenal so it’s gonna be a hard task but we never give up.”
Pidcock also never gave up, despite getting dropped by the leaders, and came in seventh, but the race does look set to be a fight between Vingegaard and Almeida.
Bob Jungels of Luxembourg (Ineos Grenadiers) put in a brave battle, part of a large breakaway group early in the stage, and the last man to be caught.
At the foot of Angliru, with Nicolya Vinokurov still alongside him, pro-Palestinian protesters delayed the pair’s progress before police cleared the small group from the road.
Junegles was left behind in the final seven km by the main GC contenders, and then it became a race between the top two.
Saturday’s stage 14 is a shorter 135.9km ride from Aviles with another summit finish at Alto de La Farrapona.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Andew Cawthorne)
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