Van Aert admission hands Buitrago major boost in Vuelta KOM battle

Santiago Buitrago received the answer he had been hoping for on Thursday evening.

Wout van Aert, his closest rival in the Vuelta a España mountains classification, has decided he will not spend the final mountain stages chasing the polka dot jersey.

“I don’t think it is possible to win the mountains jersey,” Van Aert told Het Nieuwsblad after finishing fifth in Thursday’s time trial. “Buitrago has shown that he is really strong on the hard climbs. I would rather focus on Sunday’s stage.”

Only a week ago, Van Aert was still considering a serious push for the mountains jersey.

After collecting points on the road to Calar Alto, the Visma | Lease a Bike rider deliberately kept his options open. He had taken maximum points on the first three classified climbs that day and suggested the mountains jersey could become a genuine objective once the race entered its decisive phase.

“The biggest points are still to come,” he said at the time. “Maybe in the final stages I will really go for it. We will see how realistic it is by then.”

Those biggest points have now arrived. Van Aert, however, no longer appears interested in chasing them.

Buitrago had certainly been treating Van Aert as a genuine threat. Earlier in the race, the Colombian revealed that he had even approached the Belgian himself.

“It is true that I asked Wout on Wednesday not to attack,” Buitrago told HLN. “For me, Wout is the biggest rival. I am happy that I managed to increase my advantage a little.”

At the time, Van Aert looked like a genuine threat. He was steadily picking up points and keeping the mountains jersey within reach. But with the final mountain stages approaching, the Belgian has now dropped out of the fight.

Buitrago leads the classification with 69 points, 29 clear of Van Aert. Enric Mas sits third on 24, followed by Andreas Leknessund on 23 and Lorenzo Fortunato on 21.

It leaves Buitrago in a strong position, although there are still enough points available in the mountains to keep the contest open.

Friday and Saturday still offer 73 points in total, with 53 of those coming on the penultimate stage alone.

That keeps Mas in the picture despite his 45 point deficit. The Spaniard may not need to target the jersey directly either. If the GC battle opens up early on the final climbs, he could collect mountain points simply by racing for red.

Leknessund and Fortunato remain within mathematical reach as well, although both would likely need to spend significant time in the breakaway and hope Buitrago scores little.

Van Aert stepping aside therefore makes Buitrago’s task considerably easier. But with two major mountain stages left, the classification is not settled yet.