November 4/20 19:02 pm - La Vuelta ciclista a Espana: Stage 14, Woods 2nd

Posted by Editoress on 11/4/20
 

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) claimed a second stage win on the roads of Spain after a demanding day in Galicia. The Belgian puncheur, winner of stage 5 in Sabiñanigo, featured in a very strong breakaway group that emerged after some 50km of breakaways. The uphill finish in Ourense saw Wellens dominate experts such as Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling) and Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck-Quick Step). The GC contenders finished together and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) retained La Roja.

There wasn’t much room for doubt at the start of stage 14 in Lugo: many riders hinted that this was a day for the breakaway and many of them attacked from the gun, initiating a massive battle in the first two hours of racing. GC contenders such as Wout Poels (Bahrain-McLaren) and Felix Grossschartner (BORA-hansgrohe) featured in early moves. A group of 26 riders briefly rode away from the bunch at km 29 but the battle for the breakaway was ongoing after they covered 49.1km in the first hour of racing.

Astana, BORA-hansgrohe and Total Direct Energie try to control the break
At that moment, Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers), Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling), Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) and Marc Soler (Movistar) were riding away from the bunch with a 30s lead. Thymen Arensman (Sunweb) and Pierre Luc Périchon (Cofidis) joined them at km 53 to form the breakaway of the day. Astana drove the bunch, BORA-hansgrohe helped them, but the gap increased to a maximum of 5:30 at km 98.

The attackers worked together well over the first categorised climbs of the day, the cat-3 Alto de Escairon (km 112.7) and Alto de Guitara (km 142.8),  maintaining a gap of around 5 minutes. Astana and BORA-hansgrohe gave up on the chase but Total Direct Energie took over with 60km to go and quickly brought the gap down with a very hard pace in the bunch.

Woods and Stybar try, Wellens doesn't miss
The attackers’ lead was down to 2:05 by the bottom of the last categorised climb of the day, the Alto de Abelaira (cat-3). Michael Woods accelerated inside the last 3km of ascent. Only Pierre Luc Périchon was unable to bridge the gap to the Canadian climber. The peloton didn’t manage to reduce the gap on this climb and quickly give up on the decent.

Zdenek Stybar upped the ante on a downhill section with 14km to go. Mar Soler followed him and Tim Wellens quickly bridged the gap… But Michael Woods, Dylan van Baarle and Thymen Arensman got back just ahead of the final uphill kilometre, with an average gradient of 6%! Soler tried to anticipate the sprint but Wellens timed his move at under 500m. Woods tried but on the final turn went wide and couldn't match Wellens’s acceleration to the finish. The GC contenders finished together and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) retains La Roja.

Results from the 14th stage in Spain