Philipsen completes hat-trick, Vingegaard extends Vuelta lead
A day for the sprinters at the Vuelta a España saw Jasper Philipsen collect his third win of the race, but a savvy Jonas Vingegaard added another four seconds to his advantage over João Almeida ahead of the grand finale on Bola del Mundo.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceunick) completed a hat-trick of victories on this Vuelta a España after he sprinted to win stage 19 in Guijuelo ahead of green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).
The rolling stage was destined to finish in a bunch sprint, but that didn’t prevent frissons among the general classification contenders. Red jersey Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) will carry a lead of 44 seconds over João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) into the decisive Bola del Mundo summit finish after he picked up four bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint in Salamanca.
Vingegaard was later briefly up the road in a group of five after Visma split the race in crosswinds, though the peloton came back together for the bunch finish in Guijuelo.
Ineos took up the reins from distance on behalf of Ben Turner, with impressive cameos from Egan Bernal and Filippo Ganna on the drag towards the final kilometre, but Philipsen’s Alpecin-Deceuninck guard again timed their effort to perfection, dropping the Belgian off at the head of the race in the finishing straight.
Philipsen’s pure speed won the day ahead of Pedersen’s raw power, while Orluis Aular (Movistar) took third ahead of Jenthe Biermans (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Turner.
With no classified climbs on the agenda, stage 18 from Rueda to Guijuelo was always likely to fall to the fast men, and there were unsurprisingly few riders willing to launch themselves onto the offensive in the opening kilometres.
Jakub Otruba (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) and Victor Guernalec (Arkéa - B&B Hotels) clipped up the road early on, and the peloton was happy to leave them to it as they quickly built a two-minute lead.
Guernalec clearly saw the endeavour as a futile one, and he dropped back to the bunch shortly afterwards, leaving Otruba with only the commissaires for company at the head of the race. They would give him a yellow card for adopting an illegal position on a descent, but he still had a minute in hand on the bunch as he came through the intermediate sprint at Salamanca with 57km to go.
Back in the peloton, Vingegaard was smart enough to sense the opportunity in the university town. He positioned himself at the front to snag the four bonus seconds on offer for second place in the sprint, while João Almeida and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad were conspicuous by their absence. It was an unconscionable lapse from a team that is supposedly in the business of trying to wrest the red jersey from Vingegaard.
Otruba was caught with a shade over 40km to go, where the exposed roads saw increasing competition for position, though the wind was not strong enough for Lidl-Trek to split the race and shed themselves of men like Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Visma | Lease a Bike tried again with 35km remaining, however, and they briefly managed to put Vingegaard up the road in a group of five riders. UAE were again caught out, but this time out, Almeida’s supporting guard stepped up to the mark and stitched the race back together.
A bunch sprint was inevitable from there, while Vingegaard and Almeida will fight it out on Bola del Mundo on Saturday with 44 seconds between them.
