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September 2, 2022
La Vuelta 2022 – Stage 13 – Ronda – Montilla : 168,4 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.
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September 2, 2022
La Vuelta 2022 – Stage 13 – Ronda – Montilla : 168,4 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. While the last three editions of La Vuelta may have been dominated by a single rider, the racing is almost always dramatic and the battle for the red jersey regularly rages until the last few days of the race. The main reason for this is the race’s route, with its truly unpredictable parcours and its anything-can-happen transitional stages. The overall standings are ever-changing, largely due to the fact that the organisers throw in mountainous stages and steep summit finishes throughout the race, rather than solely in the final week.
Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) took a punchy sprint win in Montilla on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España and beat Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) into second place after chasing down a long sprint from Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates), who settled for third.
Major teams jostled for position on the shallow climb to Montilla. Movistar, Ineos Grenadiers and Bora-Hansgrohe all played their part on the front coming into the last 2km, before Bahrain Victorious moved to position Fred Wright into the frame leading into the final 1km in the hopes of finally securing his elusive stage win.
An explosive move from Jumbo-Visma led the pack into the final right-hand turn 800m from the finish, perhaps eyeing a marginal time gain for Primož Roglič, but it quickly developed into a finish for the Vuelta’s stronger sprinters.
Trek-Segafredo played their hand perfectly, depositing Pedersen at the front of the pack just as Ackermann made an early attack for the line. Pedersen stayed on his wheel, though, before attacking within the final 300m and stretching out a considerable margin on the German sprinter, who was also leapfrogged by Coquard in the closing metres of the stage.
“The boys did really good today, and everyone was focused the whole day,” Pedersen said following the stage. “I’m just happy that I can finally get the win and give the boys back all the work they did so far. So it’s really nice, all of us.”
Indeed, Trek-Segafredo spent most of the day in control of a three-man break containing Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), and Joan Bou (Euskaltel-Euskadi), which stretched out only a maximum three minutes on the hilly stage from Ronda to Montilla.
Coming into the final, Trek had to work hard to get Pedersen into contention on the nervous uphill finish.
“You know Alex [Kirsh] he delivered me in the last corner so there was still like 800 metres to go,” said Pedersen. “So it was perfect that they made a good hot tempo and Pascal jumped early and I jumped with him.
“But it was a long long sprint to follow Ackerman, it was a 330m sprint today,” he added.
It marks the first sprint win for Trek-Segafredo, and a big goal ticked off their Vuelta campaign alongside what now seems to be a certain win in the green jersey competition.
“We came here for a stage win and now we have one, and we will keep fighting for one more,” Pedersen said. “It would have been nice to have Sam [Bennett] here to keep fighting for the jersey, but we will keep fighting for the stages and see how it goes.”
His win on stage 13 stretches out Pedersen’s already considerable lead in the green jersey sprint competition, and he now sits a full 151 points ahead of second place Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates).
How it unfolded
The peloton rolled out of the sunny Andalucian mountaintop city of Ronda with 147 riders. It is a field heavily impacted by COVID-19 positives, which have caused 23 abandons so far in the race.
Attacks came thick and fast as soon as the lengthy 20-minute neutral zone came to an end.
Within a few minutes, a three-man break of Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), and Joan Bou (Euskaltel-Euskadi) managed to break the elastic with the main field. Within 5km of racing, they had already pulled out a one-minute gap on the peloton on a shallow climb out of Ronda. They were quickly established as the relatively fuss-free breakaway of the day.
Trek-Segafredo, BikeExchange-Jayco, and Cofidis worked at the head of the peloton, while the course took the riders down a lengthy descent to Campillos, from a non-classified summit just below 1,000 metres in elevation, over a 20km stretch of road.
The breakaway trio rode well together but the peloton gave them little breathing space, with the gap spreading to around 2:40 at its widest point in the first 90km.
It was a quick opening few hours too, with the breakaway averaging 43 kph over the first two hours of racing.
Trek-Segafredo continued to work on the front, keeping control for their green jersey leader Mads Pedersen, assisted by Cofidis – working for Bryan Coquard – and BikeExchange-Jayco keeping Kaden Groves in contention. Aside from that steady chase, against a backdrop of snaking roads in the striking scenery of Andalucia, the stage offered little in the way of activity and nothing in the way of tactically significant developments.
As the race passed the 100km mark, the breakaway managed to establish a slightly larger gap, pulling out the margin to over three minutes – a gap the breakaway held entering the final 50km.
Moving into its final hour, though, the teams began to grow animated in expectation of a sprint finish, and when the race hit the 20km to go mark the gap to the breakaway had been brought down to 35 seconds, and it was clear that the brave trio out front would not be competing for the win into Montilla.
A hilly final
The approach to Montilla was interrupted by a late intermediate sprint with 14.6km remaining, which also boasted bonus seconds. It would make for valuable points in the green jersey sprint competition, but could also play a role in the GC standings if there was to be a split in the peloton. So the peloton formed an anxiously-ordered chase featuring most of the major teams.
Likely knowing they had no hopes of coming into Montilla in the lead, the breakaway burnt out its final efforts to reach the intermediate sprint ahead of the peloton, with Bou and Okamika leading over the sprint in the shadow of the main pack, 12 seconds behind.
With 10km the breakaway was swept up while the peloton readied itself for the 5% hilly finish up to Montilla. The lead-out battle began, with the GC contenders pushed to the front of the peloton for safety, and the stage was set for a puncheur battle.
Results :
 took a punchy sprint win in Montilla on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España and beat Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) into second place after chasing down a long sprint from Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates), who settled for third.
Major teams jostled for position on the shallow climb to Montilla. Movistar, Ineos Grenadiers and Bora-Hansgrohe all played their part on the front coming into the last 2km, before Bahrain Victorious moved to position Fred Wright into the frame leading into the final 1km in the hopes of finally securing his elusive stage win.
An explosive move from Jumbo-Visma led the pack into the final right-hand turn 800m from the finish, perhaps eyeing a marginal time gain for Primož Roglič, but it quickly developed into a finish for the Vuelta’s stronger sprinters.
Trek-Segafredo played their hand perfectly, depositing Pedersen at the front of the pack just as Ackermann made an early attack for the line. Pedersen stayed on his wheel, though, before attacking within the final 300m and stretching out a considerable margin on the German sprinter, who was also leapfrogged by Coquard in the closing metres of the stage.
“The boys did really good today, and everyone was focused the whole day,” Pedersen said following the stage. “I'm just happy that I can finally get the win and give the boys back all the work they did so far. So it's really nice, all of us.”
Indeed, Trek-Segafredo spent most of the day in control of a three-man break containing Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), and Joan Bou (Euskaltel-Euskadi), which stretched out only a maximum three minutes on the hilly stage from Ronda to Montilla.
Coming into the final, Trek had to work hard to get Pedersen into contention on the nervous uphill finish.
“You know Alex [Kirsh] he delivered me in the last corner so there was still like 800 metres to go,” said Pedersen. “So it was perfect that they made a good hot tempo and Pascal jumped early and I jumped with him.
“But it was a long long sprint to follow Ackerman, it was a 330m sprint today,” he added.
It marks the first sprint win for Trek-Segafredo, and a big goal ticked off their Vuelta campaign alongside what now seems to be a certain win in the green jersey competition.
“We came here for a stage win and now we have one, and we will keep fighting for one more,” Pedersen said. “It would have been nice to have Sam [Bennett] here to keep fighting for the jersey, but we will keep fighting for the stages and see how it goes.”
His win on stage 13 stretches out Pedersen’s already considerable lead in the green jersey sprint competition, and he now sits a full 151 points ahead of second place Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates).
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
The peloton rolled out of the sunny Andalucian mountaintop city of Ronda with 147 riders. It is a field heavily impacted by COVID-19 positives, which have caused 23 abandons so far in the race.
Attacks came thick and fast as soon as the lengthy 20-minute neutral zone came to an end.
Within a few minutes, a three-man break of Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), and Joan Bou (Euskaltel-Euskadi) managed to break the elastic with the main field. Within 5km of racing, they had already pulled out a one-minute gap on the peloton on a shallow climb out of Ronda. They were quickly established as the relatively fuss-free breakaway of the day.
Trek-Segafredo, BikeExchange-Jayco, and Cofidis worked at the head of the peloton, while the course took the riders down a lengthy descent to Campillos, from a non-classified summit just below 1,000 metres in elevation, over a 20km stretch of road.
The breakaway trio rode well together but the peloton gave them little breathing space, with the gap spreading to around 2:40 at its widest point in the first 90km.
It was a quick opening few hours too, with the breakaway averaging 43 kph over the first two hours of racing.
Trek-Segafredo continued to work on the front, keeping control for their green jersey leader Mads Pedersen, assisted by Cofidis - working for Bryan Coquard - and BikeExchange-Jayco keeping Kaden Groves in contention. Aside from that steady chase, against a backdrop of snaking roads in the striking scenery of Andalucia, the stage offered little in the way of activity and nothing in the way of tactically significant developments.
As the race passed the 100km mark, the breakaway managed to establish a slightly larger gap, pulling out the margin to over three minutes - a gap the breakaway held entering the final 50km.
Moving into its final hour, though, the teams began to grow animated in expectation of a sprint finish, and when the race hit the 20km to go mark the gap to the breakaway had been brought down to 35 seconds, and it was clear that the brave trio out front would not be competing for the win into Montilla.
A hilly final
The approach to Montilla was interrupted by a late intermediate sprint with 14.6km remaining, which also boasted bonus seconds. It would make for valuable points in the green jersey sprint competition, but could also play a role in the GC standings if there was to be a split in the peloton. So the peloton formed an anxiously-ordered chase featuring most of the major teams.
Likely knowing they had no hopes of coming into Montilla in the lead, the breakaway burnt out its final efforts to reach the intermediate sprint ahead of the peloton, with Bou and Okamika leading over the sprint in the shadow of the main pack, 12 seconds behind.
With 10km the breakaway was swept up while the peloton readied itself for the 5% hilly finish up to Montilla. The lead-out battle began, with the GC contenders pushed to the front of the peloton for safety, and the stage was set for a puncheur battle.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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