La Vuelta 2021 – Stage 14 [FULL STAGE]

August 28, 2021

La Vuelta 2021 – Stage 14 – Don Benito – Pico Villuercas : 165,7 km

As the final Grand Tour of the year, the Vuelta a España is seen by many as a last chance saloon for those riders who have failed to hit their seasonal objectives. In reality the race is much more than that, often surpassing the other two three-week races in terms of action and edge-of-your-seat entertainment. This is a race with the steepest summit finishes in professional cycling, the anything-can-happen transitional stages, the unlikeliest breakaway victories and the most fiercely fought GC battles seen anywhere on the racing calendar. If you ever thought the Vuelta was inferior, think again. This year’s route is typical of La Vuelta, with mountainous stages in the Spanish Pyrenees and rugged Basque Country peppered throughout the race. Can the defending champion, take a third successive title and score a historic hattrick? Or will we see a new victor emerge?

Romain Bardet (Team DSM) finally got the stage win he had searched so hard for at the Vuelta a España, winning atop the 14.7km Pico Villuercas in the depth of the central Extremadura region.

The Frenchman was part of an 18-rider breakaway and then chased down the attacks and went clear himself in the final kilometres of the climb to the finish.

Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) emerged to finish 44 seconds behind Bardet, with Australia’s Jay Vine (Alpecin-Fenix) third despite crashing at speed mid-stage after contact with his team car.

Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) made some sense of his presence at the Vuelta by going on the attack and finishing fourth at 1:12.

The overall contenders were happy for the breakaway to open a 10-minute lead during the stage and then Jumbo-Visma controlled their rivals and hurt Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) in the final kilometres of the Pico Villuercas.

Miguel Angel Lopez (Movistar) edged clear in the final three kilometres but Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) closed him down near the line and distanced Eiking.

Only Enric Mas (Movistar), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) were able to stay with Roglič. Eiking finished 20 seconds down on them but kept the leader’s red jersey for another day.

Bardet knew that the other riders in the breakaway would race against him but he was able to land his attacks at the right moment and then Herrada and Vine and unable to come back to him.

The Frenchman has finished on the Tour de France podium twice but had not won a stage in a Grand Tour since 2017. He moved to Team DSM in 2021 to find new motivation and opted to miss the Tour and ride the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España. He finished seventh in Italy but a crash on stage 5 ended his overall hopes in Spain.

“It’s been a long wait. It means a lot. I’ve been second two many times,” Bardet said.

“Today I went full gas to be in the good break. I know that taking the polka-dot jersey it’d be a double victory. It’s fantastic.”

“I had a hard time catching the other guys in front of me because I had the feeling that no one really wanted to commit in the break. I think we played it smart with my sports director and he told me exactly when to attack on the steepest part of the climb and go for it as if the finish was there in front of me. I opened a good gap and made it to the finish.”

Team DSM have had a disappointing season but have now won three stages at the Vuelta, with Michael Storer taking two.

“Everyone is tired but the spirit is so high in the team, we’ve had three stage wins and a podium, so the morale is high,” Bardet said.

“We’re all focused and I’m so happy to be part of a good group of guys. We’re enjoying ourselves and trying to do our best for the team. It’s an amazing Vuelta.”

How it unfolded

The riders were happy that temperatures were ‘only’ 28C at the start in Don Benito as they faced another hot and mountainous day in the saddle as they continued to cross the barren, near-desert, Extremadura region.

The 14.7km Pico Villuercas mountain finish was always going to inspire a breakaway attempt and so create a race within the race, as the adventurers chased glory, the overall contenders watched each other and Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) tried to defend the leader’s red jersey.

The break formed soon after the flag drop to signal the start of the 165.7km stage.

18 riders were in the move, including real contenders like Bardet, Vine and Pidcock, while the likes of Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) was there for more illogical reasons.

The 18 were Clément Champoussin, Nicolas Prodhomme (AG2R-Citroën), Jay Vine (Alpecin-Fenix), Jan Tratnik (Bahrain Victorious), Dani Navarro (Burgos-BH), Aritz Bagües (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Jens Keukeleire (EF Education-Nippo), Xabier Mikel Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Arnaud Démare, Kevin Geniets (Groupama-FDJ), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Sep Vanmarcke (Israel Start-Up Nation), Matt Holmes (Lotto Soudal), Andrey Zeits (Team BikeExchange), Romain Bardet (Team DSM), Dylan Sunderland (Team Qhubeka NextHash) and Ryan Gibbons (UAE Team Emirates).

There were no overall threats in the attack and so the peloton soon let them go but Bardet was targeting Damiano Caruso’s mountain’s jersey, with Tratnik there to try to limit his points scoring.

After 30km the 18 riders lead the peloton by 4:00, with Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux leading the line and honouring race leadership. The gap reached 7:40 with 120km to go as the flat roads changed to climbs.

The 7.7km Puerto Berzocana was the first categorised of the stage and Bardet was first to top to close the gap on Caruso to just one point.

The steeper Puerto Collado de Ballesteros came soon after but the break stayed together because there was 65km and a long valley road to ride. Bardet was again first to the summit, scoring ten points and so moving past Caruso and into the blue polka-dot jersey. However, he wisely waited for his fellow adventurers and they dived down the descent together. The peloton pulled back a minute on the climb but their gap slipped to 10:00 minutes, meaning the overall contenders were not interested in the stage victory.

The unity in the 18-rider break ended with 50km to go on a series of short climbs. Holmes went first and Prodhomme and Navarro joined him up front only for the Briton to puncture and slip back. They worked well together and pushed their lead out to a minute with 30km to go.

The pace was high on the climbs and descents and Navarro and Vanmarcke crashed out on a curve as the break came back together.

Prodhomme was ahead and went deep, managing to open a gap of a minute as the 14.7km Pico Villuercas began. He looked on a charge for a moment but then Bardet set off in pursuit with 12km to go. Others closed down Bardet, including Vine, who had fought back from his high-speed crash at 35km to go but looked battered and bruised.

Pidcock, Champoussin and Herrada were part of the chase as Zeits made a solo effort to cross to Prodhomme but then Bardet attacked from behind and caught them both with six kilometres to go.

He did not look back, giving his all on a solo ride to a well-deserved victory.

The peloton was not as aggressive behind, with Jumbo-Visma controlling the peloton for much of the day and on the last climb.

Cofidis tried to drop Eiking on the second half of the climb in an attempt to put Guillaume Martin in the race lead but the Norwegian fought to limit his losses and managed to get back onto the tail of the select GC group.

Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) tried an attack but Jumbo-Visma closed him down. Lopez tried a move and got a gap with three kilometres to go but Roglič surged after him, again showing who is in charge of the 2021 Vuelta a España.

Results :
1 Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM 4:20:36
2 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis 0:00:44
3 Jay Vine (Aus) Alpecin-Fenix
4 Thomas Pidcock (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:01:12
5 Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:01:14
6 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal 0:01:16
7 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Team BikeExchange 0:01:19
8 Kévin Geniets (Lux) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:46
9 Nicolas Prodhomme (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:02:04
10 Jan Tratnik (Slo) Bahrain Victorious 0:02:15
11 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:26
12 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:02:43
13 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) Qhubeka NextHash 0:04:02
14 Aritz Bagües Kalparsoro (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:05:39
15 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:10:03
16 Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Movistar Team 0:10:25
17 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 0:10:29
18 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team
19 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
20 Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious
21 Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:10:41
22 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:10:42
23 Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorious
24 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech 0:10:45
25 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
26 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
27 Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma
28 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis
29 David de la Cruz (Spa) UAE Team Emirates
30 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:10:49
31 Juan Pedro Lopez Perez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:10:54
32 Rein Taaramäe (Est) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:11:16
33 Jefferson Cepeda Ortiz (Ecu) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:11:27
34 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:11:40
35 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
36 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:11:54
37 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
38 Alvaro Cuadros Morata (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:12:05
39 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Ineos Grenadiers 0:12:24
40 Sam Oomen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
41 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
42 Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:12:37
43 Rafal Majka (Pol) UAE Team Emirates
44 Carlos Verona Quintanilla (Spa) Movistar Team
45 Jan Hirt (Cze) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:12:43
46 Joan Bou Company (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:12:53
47 Gotzon Martin Sanz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
48 Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Burgos-BH
49 Sergio Henao Montoya (Col) Qhubeka NextHash
50 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) EF Education-Nippo 0:13:31
51 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:13:49
52 Steff Cras (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:13:53
53 Simone Petilli (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:14:39
54 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain Victorious 0:15:10
55 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Cofidis 0:15:20
56 Koen Bouwman (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:15:39
57 Mikaël Cherel (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:16:32
58 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech
59 Ben Zwiehoff (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
60 Joe Dombrowski (USA) UAE Team Emirates 0:16:36
61 Oier Lazkano Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:16:55
62 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:17:10
63 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:17:33
64 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers
65 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:18:25
66 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team DSM 0:20:16
67 Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain Victorious
68 Anthony Roux (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:20:54
69 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:21:16
70 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Bahrain Victorious
71 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
72 Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis
73 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team DSM 0:22:51
74 Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spa) Team BikeExchange
75 Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
76 Robert Gesink (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
77 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
78 Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
79 Floris De Tier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 0:23:15
80 Xabier Mikel Azparren Irurzun (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:24:07
81 Mikel Iturria Segurola (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
82 Patrick Gamper (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
83 Ander Okamika Bengoetxea (Spa) Burgos-BH
84 Sander Armée (Bel) Qhubeka NextHash
85 Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
86 Guy Niv (Isr) Israel Start-up Nation
87 Yuriy Natarov (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech
88 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech
89 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team
90 Fernando Barceló Aragon (Spa) Cofidis
91 Diego Camargo Pineda (Col) EF Education-Nippo
92 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain Victorious
93 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team 0:24:22
94 Wesley Kreder (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
95 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Israel Start-up Nation 0:24:26
96 Stan Dewulf (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team 0:25:04
97 Anton Palzer (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:25:08
98 Jetse Bol (Ned) Burgos-BH 0:25:17
99 Thymen Arensman (Ned) Team DSM
100 Pelayo Sanchez Mayo (Spa) Burgos-BH
101 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education-Nippo
102 Chad Haga (USA) Team DSM
103 Eddy Fine (Fra) Cofidis
104 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix
105 Fabio Aru (Ita) Qhubeka NextHash
106 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers
107 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
108 Tobias Ludvigsson (Swe) Groupama-FDJ
109 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Team BikeExchange
110 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Team BikeExchange
111 James Piccoli (Can) Israel Start-up Nation
112 Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned) Groupama-FDJ
113 Olivier Le Gac (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
114 Jhonatan Narvaez Prado (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers
115 Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Education-Nippo
116 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
117 Andreas Kron (Den) Lotto Soudal
118 Florian Vermeersch (Bel) Lotto Soudal
119 Antonio Jesus Soto Guirao (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
120 Clement Venturini (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
121 Quinn Simmons (USA) Trek-Segafredo
122 Nathan Van Hooydonck (Bel) Jumbo-Visma
123 Damien Touze (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:25:28
124 Rui Oliveira (Por) UAE Team Emirates 0:27:06
125 Matteo Trentin (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:29:16
126 Damien Howson (Aus) Team BikeExchange
127 Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
128 Piet Allegaert (Bel) Cofidis
129 Magnus Cort (Den) EF Education-Nippo 0:29:29
130 Alex Kirsch (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:29:34
131 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team BikeExchange
132 Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:30:14
133 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep
134 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Alpecin-Fenix 0:30:16
135 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:34:01
136 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
137 Florian Senechal (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
138 Riccardo Minali (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
139 Robert Stannard (Aus) Team BikeExchange
140 Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team DSM
141 Bert Van Lerberghe (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
142 Itamar Einhorn (Isr) Israel Start-up Nation
143 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Education-Nippo
144 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
145 Maxim Van Gils (Bel) Lotto Soudal
146 Sylvain Moniquet (Bel) Lotto Soudal
147 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Qhubeka NextHash
148 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
149 Andrea Bagioli (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
150 Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team BikeExchange
151 Edward Planckaert (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
152 Josef Cerny (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
153 Diego Rubio Hernandez (Spa) Burgos-BH
154 Nico Denz (Ger) Team DSM
155 Carlos Canal Blanco (Spa) Burgos-BH
156 Sebastian Berwick (Aus) Israel Start-up Nation
157 Connor Brown (NZl) Qhubeka NextHash
158 Michael Storer (Aus) Team DSM
159 Dimitri Claeys (Bel) Qhubeka NextHash
160 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
161 Alexander Krieger (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix
162 Martin Laas (Est) Bora-Hansgrohe
163 Jordi Meeus (Bel) Bora-Hansgrohe
164 Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
DNF Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers

General Classification after Stage 14 :
1 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 55:03:17
2 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 0:00:54
3 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 0:01:36
4 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:11
5 Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Col) Movistar Team 0:03:04
6 Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious 0:03:35
7 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:04:21
8 Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 0:04:49
9 Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo-Visma 0:04:59
10 Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:05:31
11 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech 0:06:04
12 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:06:16
13 Gino Mäder (Swi) Bahrain Victorious 0:06:47
14 Louis Meintjes (RSA) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:07:07
15 David de la Cruz (Spa) UAE Team Emirates 0:07:11
16 Juan Pedro Lopez Perez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:10:08
17 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:16:24
18 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:18:40
19 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:19:58
20 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Cofidis 0:26:29
21 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:26:53
22 Rafal Majka (Pol) UAE Team Emirates 0:29:30
23 Carlos Verona Quintanilla (Spa) Movistar Team 0:29:54
24 Clément Champoussin (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:36:04
25 Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM 0:38:27
26 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 0:39:05
27 Sam Oomen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 0:39:46
28 Steff Cras (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:40:42
29 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:43:10
30 Andrey Zeits (Kaz) Team BikeExchange 0:44:17
31 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:45:27
32 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team DSM 0:45:59
33 Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:47:28
34 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Bahrain Victorious 0:47:43
35 Sergio Henao Montoya (Col) Qhubeka NextHash 0:48:18
36 Jefferson Cepeda Ortiz (Ecu) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:49:00
37 Fabio Aru (Ita) Qhubeka NextHash 0:50:00
38 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis 0:51:37
39 Simone Petilli (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 0:54:23
40 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:54:27
41 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:55:49
42 Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spa) Team BikeExchange 0:56:49
43 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:57:18
44 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:58:35
45 Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain Victorious 1:02:16
46 Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1:02:24
47 Gotzon Martin Sanz (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1:02:25
48 Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers 1:03:41
49 Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 1:04:32
50 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Team BikeExchange 1:05:38
51 Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 1:06:01
52 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 1:07:51
53 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 1:09:38
54 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Ineos Grenadiers 1:09:46
55 Mikaël Cherel (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 1:14:06
56 James Piccoli (Can) Israel Start-up Nation 1:17:49
57 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) EF Education-Nippo 1:18:54
58 Jan Hirt (Cze) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 1:20:43
59 Andreas Kron (Den) Lotto Soudal 1:21:07
60 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain Victorious 1:21:14
61 Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1:22:52
62 Michael Storer (Aus) Team DSM 1:23:35
63 Nicolas Prodhomme (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team