Van Aert doubles up at Vuelta with masterful display in heat-shortened stage

Wout van Aert thundered to victory in a five-man sprint on stage 15 of the Vuelta a España in Córdoba after a short but intense day of racing in Andalusia.

The Visma | Lease a Bike rider beat Alessandro Romele (XDS-Astana) and Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) to the line to claim his second victory of this Vuelta and his second win in Córdoba, having already triumphed there on the race’s last visit two years ago.

Van Aert had sparked the winning move by bridging across to earlier attackers Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility) and Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) with 32km remaining, bringing Romele and Nys with him.

The green jersey always looked in control of the situation on the undulating run towards Córdoba, and he was generous in his efforts to ensure the leading quintet held off the chasers. The unity of the move began to fragment in the final 3km, when Nys and Leknessund made attempts to forge clear, but Van Aert shut down each move swiftly.

Leknessund went again with 2km to go, but Van Aert, inevitably, was on hand to snuff it out, and he tracked the Norwegian again when he jumped inside the final kilometre. Nys opened his sprint from distance with 300m to go, but Van Aert was ready for that effort, parking himself on his compatriot’s wheel before cruising past him to claim the spoils and further cement his lead in the points classification.

Enric Mas (Movistar) finished safely in the peloton to retain the red jersey of race leader. The Spaniard reaches the second and final rest day of the Vuelta with a lead of 2:06 on Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and 2:10 on Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

The application of the extreme weather protocol meant that stage 15 was cut to just over 100km in length and the reduced distance made for an aggressive start to proceedings in Palma del Río. 

After a flurry of early attacks, a group of eleven riders succeeded in forging clear, while Visma | Lease a Bike took up a controlling interest in the peloton on behalf of Wout van Aert and Matthew Brennan.

Frederik Wandahl (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Ivo Oliveira (UAE Emirates-XRG), Xabier Mikel Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5), Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ United), Ethan Hayter (Soudal Quick-Step), Andreas Leknessund (Uno-X Mobility), Rudy Porter (Jayco AlUla), Alastair Mackellar (EF Education-EasyPost), Fabian Weiss (Tudor), Reuben Thompson (Lotto-Intermarché) and Gijs Leemreize (Picnic-PostNL) quickly built a lead of a minute but they were allowed no further leeway.

Georg Steinhauser (EF) managed to bridge across to the break with a dogged effort on the category 3 Puerto de la Forestal, but a coalition between Visma and Cofidis meant the gap was just 45 seconds as they entered the final 50km. UAE Team Emirates-XRG joined the front of the peloton as the terrain grew more rugged, and that added impetus saw the break’s lead contract.

The break fragmented ahead of the Puerto Artafi, with Weiss, Azparren, Thompson and Leknessund beginning the climb with a small lead over their erstwhile companions and 30 seconds on the Visma-led bunch, where the red jersey Mas was sitting vigilantly towards the front.

Leknessund would eventually force his way clear alone 2km from the top of the Artafi, with Azparren the last man to stick with him. Back in the peloton, meanwhile, Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) was among those distanced and in difficulty, with the pace, the gradient and the heat all exacting a toll.

The race took on a new guise over the top of the Artafi, when Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) attacked in pursuit of Leknessund. The Belgian made it across with 35km to go, but the front group swelled to five riders soon afterwards, when Van Aert, Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek), and Alessandro Romele (XDS-Astana) bridged up to the front.

The quintet entered the final 30km with 25 seconds in hand on a reduced peloton, and there were further splits to come. With 26km to go, a strong chase group featuring Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla), Stefan Küng (Tudor) and Kevin Vermaerke (UAE) clipped off the front of the bunch, but they were now almost a minute behind Van Aert et al and struggling to get back in contention.

Van Aert looked in total control of the front group at this point, calmly pinning back Debruyne when his compatriot briefly sallied clear with 25km to go. 

He made a point, too, of pushing on the pace on a couple of unclassified kickers in a bid to shake off some of his companions. He didn’t manage it, but his efforts did put further daylight between the break and the chasers as they dropped towards the finish in Córdoba.