The professional cyclists had returned to flat terrain for stage 19 of La Vuelta a España 2023. The 177.1-kilometer route from La Baneza to Iscar was designed to appeal to sprinters in the peloton – and to breakaway hopefuls who were running out of opportunities with only three stages remaining of this year’s La Vuelta.

The general classification favorites and leaders were expected to allow for sprinters and attackers to fight for the stage victory, while they themselves relaxed their legs as much as possible after the tough mountain stages of recent days and before engaging in the final climbs of this year’s Vuelta that await the riders in Saturday’s stage 20.

HOW THE STAGE UNFOLDED

The hostilities started early in today’s stage 19. A four-man breakaway group was established after few kilometers of racing. The group featured Clement Davy (Groupama-FDJ), Paul Lapeira (AG2R-Citroen), Mathis Le Berre (Arkea-Samsic), and Michal Schlegel (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) - and it turned out to be the lasting breakaway group of the day. The group was, however, kept on a tight leash and they had a small 01:20 minute advantage with 100 kilometers left of the stage.

75 kilometers from the finish line the advantage of the front group was 01:40 minutes. The front group and the peloton were cruising through the flat terrain. The area is dominated by power-generating windmills because it is known for its strong winds.

With fifty kilometers left of today’s stage 19, the advantage of the front quartet had been reduced to 40 seconds. Twenty kilometers later it was down to 20 seconds. The Alpecin-Deceuninck team was still leading the main peloton in support of their sprinter Kaden Groves, who was also the favorite to take the victory in today’s stage.

The breakaway group was caught with 18 kilometers remaining and immediately thereafter Samuele Battistella launched a solo attack for Team Astana. He only managed to build an advantage of a few seconds and was caught after only a few kilometers.

Sprinter trains from Ineos-Grenadiers and Team Movistar moved to the front and set a fast pace to set up their sprinters for the final sprint across the finish line in Iscar, near Valladolid. Lidl-Trek riders joined the fun.

With 2.5 kilometers remaining Ineos-Grenadiers and Movistar were still in front. Alpecin-Deceuninck riders were lurking behind them. Geraint Thomas delivered a very powerful leadout effort in support of his teammates. EF Education-EasyPost moved to the front.

Bam! A crash occurred at the very front. The crash brought down stage favorite Kaden Groves and other riders.

Filippo Ganna launched his sprint and looked set to take a stage victory for his Ineos-Grenadiers team, but Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) passed the Italian rider in the final meter to take the stage victory. Ganna finished second while Marijn van den Berg took third for his EF Education-EasyPost team.

USA’s Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) remains general classification leader before the final two stages of this year’s Vuelta a Espana. Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) is seventeen seconds behind the American, while teammate Primoz Roglic is third, 01:08 minutes behind Kuss. Juan Ayuso is fourth for UAE Team Emirates, four minutes behind the leader, while Mikel Landa is fifth for Team Bahrain-Victorious.

Saturday’s stage 20 of La Vuelta a Espana 2023 is the penultimate stage and features no less than ten category 3 climbs on a 207.8-kilometer route from Manzanares El Real to Guadarrama. Look for the general classification favorites to battle it out in the final mountain stage of this year’s La Vuelta a Espana.

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