PREVIEW

Friday afternoon had arrived, and riders were gearing up for for stage 13 - an additional exciting battle in this year’s La Vuelta. Race organizer Unipublic had chosen a 176-kilometer route from Lugo, which would feature one Category Three climb, two Category Two climbs, and culminate with a challenging finale on the Puerto de Ancares (Category One), which featured incline percentages of up to fifteen percent.

Riders arrived in the town of Lugo in northwestern Spain for the start of stage 13 of Vuelta a Espana 2024 already exhausted from the tough challenges of recent stages. 

While Primoz Roglic (Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe), Enric Mas (Movistar Team), Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), Richard Carapaz, and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos-Grenadiers) had all shown great form in recent stages. Despite their efforts, Decathlon-AG2R’s Ben O’Connor was still possessing the race lead and would be wearing the renowned red jersey again in today’s stage. 

Jonathan Lastra (Cofidis Team) and Welay Hagos Berhe (Team Jayco-Alula) did not show up for the start of stage 13. Reasons were unknown, but a Covid-19 epidemy was again spreading though the professional cycling peloton and many riders, caravan members, media journalists, and VIPs were doing too little to protect other humans.

HOW THE STAGE UNFOLDED

It did not take long after the official start of stage 13 was given, for riders to launch breakaway attempts from the front of the peloton.

Marc Soler was again among the riders who were eager to join a breakaway. The strong and courageous Spaniard showed great initiative as did several other riders.

A large front group had formed when the riders reached the first climb of the day - the Alto Campo de Arbre (Category Three). The group featured several well-known riders, and it did not take long before they had fought their way to a significant time advantage.

The front group featured Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates), Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Kim Heiduk (Ineos-Grenadiers), Kasper Asgreen (T-Rex-Soudal-QuickStep), Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Luca Vergallito (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Michael Woods (PremierTech), Dylan Teuns (PremierTech), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto-Dstny), Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula), Simon Guglielmi (Arkea B & B Hotels), Mathis Le Berre (Arkea B & B Hotels), Gijs Leemreize (DSM-Firmenich), Enzo Leijnse (DSM-Firmenich), Julius van den Berg (DSM-Firmenich), Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Nicolas Vinokourov, Mikel Bizkarra of the Euskaltel-Euskadi rolling oranges, and Kern Pharma’s Felix Jose Parra, who was likely inspired and animated by his teammate’s victory in yesterday’s stage.

Following the first climb and with 120 kilometers remaining of today’s stage, the group had a lead of more than six minutes over the chasing main peloton, which was spearheaded by riders from Decathlon-AG2R in support of their race leader Ben O’Connor. 

The front group approached the Alto O Portel climb (Category Two) with an admirable lead of more than nine minutes. But the greatest obstacles in the stage were yet to come.

Wout van Aert was the first rider to reach the top of the Alto O Portelo. He was followed by Marc Soler and Jay Vine. The trio had formed a small gap to the other participants in the front group before the fast descent that now awaited the riders.

With 85 kilometers remaining, the front group had been reduced to twenty-three riders. At this point they had a time advantage of more than twelve minutes over the main peloton, which was still led by riders from Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale in support of race leader Ben O’Connor. A battle between Australian O’Connor and the other general classification favorites was still expected to evolve on the final climb to the finish line.

Campenaerts, van Aert, Schmid, and Guglielmi left the other riders in the breakaway behind. Guglielmi, however, found it too hard and had to fall back to the chasers. The front trio had a twenty second advantage over the chasers with forty kilometers left.

Vine, McNulty, Soler, and Woods bridged to the front quartet. Other riders joined as well. New attacks were launched.

The front riders were now approaching the penultimate climb of today’s stage 13 – the Puerto de Lumeras (Category Two). Twenty-eight kilometers remained.

Vine attacked solo on the Puerto de Lumeras, but was reeled in. Van Aert, Vine, McNulty, Soler, Oomen, Woods, Schmid, and Leemreize were now in the front group.

Soler attacked solo two kilometers from the top of Puerto de Lumeras. Soler thought he would be first to reach the top of the climb, but Wout van Aert flew past him shortly before the peak and Soler resigned.

Movistar had moved to the front to set a fast pace and reduce the advantage of the front group in support of team captain Enric Mas. The race leaders further up the road, however, were now seventeen minutes ahead.

McNulty and Vine crashed on the fast descent. McNulty even flew across the roadside barriers and landed in the trees on the mountainside below him. Vine got back on his bike, but McNulty was being checked for fractures and concussion.

 The breakaway riders were now approaching the final climb of the day, which would take the riders to the finish line on roads which would reach incline percentages of up to fifteen percent. Meanwhile, the general classification favorites in the main peloton were gearing up and preparing for a battle royale on the final climb. The climb was expected to have significant effect on the general classification standings.

Woods and Schmid left the other breakaway compatriots behind, and later Woods dropped Schmid. Canadian national champion Michael Woods was now solo in front and increasing his odds of taking an additional stage victory in a Grand Tour.

Woods had built a lead of approximately thirty seconds when two kilometers of the steep climb remained. Schmid was chasing solo, while Soler was further back.

Meanwhile, the main peloton was spearheaded by riders from EF Education-EasyPost, Soudal-QuickStep, and Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe.

Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe riders moved to the front of the main peloton for their team captain Primoz Roglic.

While Woods entered the final kilometer on his way to an impressive stage victory, the general classification leaders were gearing up for a battle in the final kilometers.

Michael Woods crossed the finish line solo as winner of stage 13 of Vuelta a Espana 2024. Mauro Schmid was next to reach the finish, while Marc Soler completed the stage podium.

While the breakaway riders had crossed the finish line, the main classification favorites were launching their attacks further back. Primoz Roglic attacked solo, and no other rider proved able to follow the Slovenian rider. 

Other general classification favorites such as Enric Mas, Mikel Landa, Richard Carapaz, Mattias Skjelmose, and Carlos Rodriguez were doing their best to minimize their time loss to Roglic.

GC leader Ben O’Connor was dropped and had lost more than a minute. While a battle royale was taking place between the other GC favorites, it was a crisis royale for O’Connor. 

Primoz Roglic continued solo up the road and was the first of the general classification favorites to reach the finish line. Richard Carapaz was also having a fine day in the saddle and was possibly riding on the irritation that had built up inside him following being forced off the road by O’Connor’s teammate the day before yesterday. Carapaz reached the finish.

Ben O’Connor crossed the finish line almost two minutes behind Roglic and his lead in the general classification was thereby significantly reduced. O’Connor now leads La Vuelta a Espana 2024 by 01:21 minutes over Primoz Roglic. Enric Mas is third in the GC (03:01), while Richard Carapaz is tailing closely behind, 03:13 minutes behind. Mikel Landa is fifth, while Carlos Rodriguez is sixth.

“I was pretty cooked, and I wasn’t going anywhere today,” Ben O’Connor told Roadcycling.com after the finish. “To be honest I was already dropped when Roglic attacked. I’ll do my best to try to recover before tomorrow. In Granada I was feeling sweet, but today I had nothing. I’ll enjoy another day in the red jersey tomorrow.” 

Riders in the Vuelta peloton will continue in mountainous terrain in Saturday’s stage 14 of La Vuelta a Espana 2024. A long 200.5-kilometer stage from Villafranco del Bierzo to Villablino features the Category Three Puerto de Cerredo mid-stage and culminates with the Category One Puerto de Leitariegos climb, before a descent to the finish line.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for additional coverage from Vuelta a Espana 2024.

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