Vuelta a España stage 19: Mads Pedersen proves best again in bunch sprint

Mads Pedersen scooped his third stage win of this year’s Vuelta a España from a big bunch sprint on Friday’s stage 19 to Talavera de la Reina.

The Dane beat British rider Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) and Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to the line, further adding to his points in the green jersey competition.

Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma) were fourth and fifth, with the general classification contenders also in that bunch. Overall leader Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) maintains his red jersey and realistically only has Saturday’s penultimate stage to worry about before taking his first grand tour win.

He will begin that stage with 2:07 over Enric Mas (Movistar Team) and 5:14 on Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates).

Friday’s twin-mountain stage featured a three-man breakaway by the American Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost), and Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), who went away after about eight kilometers. They built a lead of almost four minutes, with another American Lawson Craddock (BikeExchange-Jayco) trying unsuccessfully to bridge across.

The trio was ultimately hauled back with 49km remaining, after which the sprinters’ teams worked to keep things together. Pedersen’s Trek-Segafredo did the bulk of the work and their faith was rewarded when he proved best in the finale.

He was glowing in praise for his Trek-Segafredo squad. “It was definitely really hard to control the bunch today, but the team were so impressive,” he said. “Everyone was so dedicated and working really hard. When the three guys went with McNulty it was not an easy break. So we rode really hard to close them as fast as possible.

“Man, everyone on this team was just so, so impressive today. I am really thankful to the boys today. It is definitely a win for them. Without them today, there was no chance I could have sprinted here at the end.”

The party looked under threat when Groupama FDJ’s Miles Scotson launched a huge attack inside the final kilometer. He opened a decent gap but Trek-Segafredo didn’t panic and gradually drew him back in.

“When Miles Scotson attacked, I still had Antonio Tiberi in front of me,” Pedersen explained. “He looks skinny, but he is a powerful little guy. So I was pretty sure he could keep him within a distance where I could still pass Miles in the sprint.

How it played out

Stage 19 of the Vuelta a España started and finished in the city of Talavera de la Reina. Totaling 138.3 kilometers, the stage comprised two laps of a large circuit taking in the Puerto del Piélago climb.

The category two ascent was just 9.3 km in length and 5.6 percent average gradient, making it difficult for any would-be attackers to try to gain time on race leader Remco Evenepoel. A further complication was the long distance from the top of the mountain to the finish, with 42.2 largely downhill kilometers taking the riders to the line.

Riders started firing off attacks immediately and after a 16-rider group went clear and were then hauled back, three others clipped away. Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost), and Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH) had 12 seconds after 10km of racing, quickly gained 1:50, and edged the gap further upwards.

Lawson Craddock (BikeExchange-Jayco) made a huge effort to get across and had closed to within 35 seconds of the leaders by the top of the first ascent of the Puerto del Piélago, 30.5km after the start, but was eventually brought back in with 75km remaining.

Okamika took the top points at the intermediate sprint at Hinojosa de San Vicente (km 81.7), with Caicedo second and McNulty third. The Bahrain-Victorious led bunch was drawing ever closer and those three were reeled in with 49km remaining.

Building towards a big bunch sprint

The anticipated salvo of attacks amongst the GC riders didn’t happen, with king of the mountains Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) leading Gregor Mühlberger and Enric Mas (both Movistar Team) over the summit. There appeared to be an acceptance that the day would go down to a bunch sprint and the Trek-Segafredo team of Mads Pedersen and the Bahrain-Victorious squad of Fred Wright was working to keep the speed high and fend off any attacks.

Trek-Segafredo continued to do the bulk of the work towards the finish, with Kenny Elissonde, in particular, impressing with his efforts. The other teams started to cluster near the front with just over 5km to go, Jumbo-Visma leading them into the final kilometer.

However, Trek-Segfredo still had more to give and swept forward again for Pedersen. Miles Scotson (Groupama FDJ) launched an early jump but was hauled back, with Pedersen then turning on the jets and holding off Wright for win number three.

He further added to his points total in the green jersey competition but had already done enough to win that classification prior to the stage start. His attention will now turn to the final stage in Madrid, but he feels the pressure is already off.

“Three wins is way more than we came here for,” he said. “That is of course super, super nice. Tomorrow we just have to finish the day, and then we will see in Madrid how it goes. But no matter what, I think we can be happy with these three weeks in Spain.”

Evenepoel is also close to celebrating but needs to maintain his concentration and fend off any surprises on Saturday’s big decider atop the Puerto de Navacerrada.

Final kilometer