Wout van Aert beat Valentin Paret-Peintre in a two-up sprint to win stage 13 of the Vuelta a España on Friday afternoon.
The pair were part of a mega breakaway that formed in the first part of the 192km stage and swelled at one point to 43 riders – more than a quarter of the entire peloton.
Into the finale, the group had whittle down to nine riders, including Van Aert, who charged ahead with 3.7km to go. Soudal Quick-Step‘s Paret-Peintre chased the Visma-Lease a Bike rider, swapping through turns, but could not match his speed down the finishing straight in Loja.
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“I had it a little bit in my mind [to attack when I did],” Van Aert said in his post-stage TV interview. “I saw the profile and I knew there was this last kicker coming into the village.
“This distance [ed. 3.7km out], a lot of the time, is when people start to think about the sprint. If you’re able to open up a gap, then they don’t want to close it for each other any more. It was close enough to the finish to be worth it.
“With Valentin, I had a nice companion. He gave me a few turns, and it was nice to battle to the line together.”
The victory marked Visma-Lease a Bike’s fourth at the race, the first three courtesy of Matthew Brennan, who closed down attacks in the finale to help set up his team-mate.
“He’s a superstar,” Brennan said of Van Aert after the stage. “I’m really happy that I could do my bit to get him the victory that he deserves in this race.”
The win notably came two years and a day after the Belgian abandoned his debut Vuelta following a crash on a descent that left him with a season-ending knee injury.
Enric Mas (Movistar) continues to lead the general classification by one minute and 45 seconds over Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).
How it happened
(Image credit: Getty Images)
With a category-one summit finish to come on Saturday, Friday’s lumpy stage 13 always looked destined for a breakaway. The organisers classified the stage as a “medium mountains” stage, with 3,400m elevation split over three ascents: a category-one followed by two category-twos.
A large breakaway formed on the first climb within the opening 30km of racing out of Alumuñecar. As other riders bridged across, the group then grew and grew, counting 43 at its most – one of the largest breakaways of the season.
Attacks then splintered the front pack until only nine riders remained, namely Van Aert and his 20-year-old team-mate Brennan. “Me and Matty in a group like that, we both have a chance,” Van Aert said afterwards. “But we’re also able to sacrifice it for each other.”
This time, having benefitted from the Belgian’s lead-outs earlier in the race, it was over to Brennan to turn helper.
The Briton latched onto four attacks in the final 8km – two by Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM) and two by Simon Dalby (Uno-X Mobility) – to keep Van Aert in contention, and give him space to counter. “To do that work today for him is sweeter than a win,” Brennan later said.
After crossing the line first, Van Aert capped his victory by pulling Brennan into a celebratory hug. The pair sit first and second in the points classification, which Van Aert leads by 65 points.
There were only minor changes to the general classification on the stage; Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) and Clément Berthet (Groupama-FDJ United) entered the top 10 at ninth and tenth.
