Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) soloed to victory during the 19th La Vuelta a Espana stage after attacking in the final 5km’s of the stage.
John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) won the select bunch sprint for 2nd ahead of Fillipo Pozzato (Lampre-Merida). There was only 56 riders in the front group today but Sergio Pardilla made sure he was one of them, crossing the line in 26th place.
The early racing saw multiple attacks once again with both Jay Thomson and Jaco Venter represented in separate moves. Both of which were brought back before the gaps reached more than a minute. Eventually 3 riders went clear, Wout Poels (Omega Pharma Quickstep), Laurent Mangel (FDJ.fr) and Pim Ligthart (Lotto-Belisol). As in the 17th stage, Giant-Shimano kept the break on a short leash, hoping to set the stage up for Degenkolb. Our South African climber Jacques Janse van Rensburg took a tumble around the 60km mark but thankfully it was nothing too serious.
The escapees were reeled in before the final cat 2 climb which peaked with 15km to go. At the base of the final descent Hansen made his move and by that stage, Giant had used up all their workers and there were very few riders still left in contention after the hard climb. Hansen held his 10″ gap to take a good victory.
Tomorrows Stage Profile Overview
Stage 20 – Santa Estebo de Ribas do Sil › Puerto de Ancares, 185.7km
