cycling: Vuelta a Espana stage #14: Gesink wins insane race

Cycling: Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) won the 14th stage of the Vuelta a Espana. The Dutchman positioned himself in a 41-man breakaway early in the race and emerged as the best. Today's stage was made a particularly interesting race by the Orica-BikeExchange team. There were several drivers in the leading group, who were then used as a relay station for Simon Yates. As a result, the Briton improved to fourth place in the overall standings and his team-mate Esteban Chaves even finished third. Meanwhile, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) had a pitch-black day, losing nearly XNUMX minutes.

41 riders in the leading group

Today's 14th stage of the Vuelta a Espana was held exclusively on French soil. 196 kilometers had to be covered from Urdax-Dantxarinea up to the Col d'Aubisque. However, the greatest difficulty for the riders should not be the distance of this king's stage, but rather the numerous meters in altitude. There were three category 1 mountains in the way (Col Inharpu, Col du Soudet and Col de Marie-Blanque) before the ascent to the Col d'Aubisque had to be mastered with 16,5 kilometers to go. Apparently some riders wanted to tackle these obstacles with a big head start, as no fewer than 41 pros broke away fairly early and formed a huge lead group that, as expected, grew wider and wider en route to the finish.

Orica-BikeExchange and Movistar annoy Sky

The escape group included Bart De Clercq (Lotto Soudal), Pierre Rolland (Cannondale), Omar Fraile (Dimension Data), Mathias Frank (IAM), Sergio Pardilla (Caja Rural), David Lopez (Team Sky), Tejay Van Garderen (BMC), George Bennett and Robert Gesink (both Lotto NL Jumbo), Dario Cataldo (Astana), Kenny Elissonde and Alexandre Geniez (both FDJ), Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo), Jan Bakelants (Ag2r) and Egor Silin (Katusha). However, the action of the teams Movistar and Orica-BikeExchange attracted particular attention, because they sent several riders into the leading group and thus forced Team Sky to do the leading work in the main field all day. Ruben Fernandez, Daniel Moreno and Jose Joaquin Rojas (all Movistar) gave their captains Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana tactical opportunities, as did Simon Gerrans, Jens Keukeleire and Magnus Cort Nielsen (all Orica-BikeExchange) in turn their bosses Esteban Chaves and Simon Yates.

Omar Fraile vs. Kenny Elissonde for the mountain jersey

Of course, today was not just about winning the stage and a good place in the overall standings, but also about the mountain jersey. Two riders in particular dueled on the way: Fraile won the first two climbs ahead of Elissonde, but the Frenchman fought back in the third climb of the day. All the ups and downs decimated both the peloton and the leading group. With Bernard, Bakelants, De Clerq, Sillin, Gesink and Elissonde, six riders were able to break away from their fellow riders before the Col d'Aubisque. However, most of the drivers who were left behind were only around half a minute behind. Among them were three riders from Team Cannondale, who had to do most of the work as a result.

Simon Yates uses four relay stations

Team Orica-BikeExchange used the three riders in the lead group in a very different way than Team Cannondale. Jack Haig was the first to attack up the Col de Marie-Blanque, before Simon Yates also drove away from the field of favourites. He then let Haig pull him up the mountain and on the descent and the flat section to the foot of the Col d'Aubisque he was supported by his teammates Gerrans, Keukeleire and Cort Nielsen. This gave him a lead of around one and a half minutes over the group of favorites until the final climb, while he continued to reduce his gap to the leaders. There, Gesink and Bakelants were able to break away, followed by Gesink and Elissonde, before Silin was able to reconnect shortly before the finish line.

Chris Froome just can't be shaken off

In the field of favourites, the long-awaited duel between Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana then ensued. The Colombian attacked several times but was always caught by Team Sky. After noticing that team-mate Alejandro Valverde was no longer with him, he initially held back with further attacks, allowing Simon Yates' lead to increase further. But a few kilometers before the finish, he fired off a real attack fireworks. Eventually everyone got rid of them – except for Chris Froome. The Brit kept opening up gaps, but he was always able to close them while sitting down. At first, Contador was still able to keep up, but in the end he had to let the two best climbers in the world go. Esteban Chaves, on the other hand, attacked later and was left out as Froome and Quintana just looked at each other.

Gesink is finally celebrating another great success

So Froome and Quintana eliminated each other again at this vuelta and finished at the same time. Simon Yates was able to gain a little over a minute and thus position himself better in the overall standings. At the very front, however, was the beaming winner Robert Gesink. The Dutchman finally celebrated a great success after a long time. Plagued by many injuries, Gesink prevailed in the final sprint against Elissonde and Silin. But Frenchman Elissonde also had reason to be happy, because with this second place he took the lead in the mountains classification. Today, however, the greatest respect must be given to the Orica-BikeExchange team. With excellent team tactics, in which half the team was integrated, they catapulted Simon Yates to fourth place in the overall ranking and Esteban Chaves to third place. A brave showing from the Australian team who showed once again that cycling is a team sport.

Vuelta a Espana Stage #14 – The daily standings:

Vuelta a Espana Stage #14 – Overall standings: