Basque rider Oscar Rodríguez of the Euskadi team took the surprise win in Stage 13 of the 2018 Vuelta a Espana, a career-changing win for the rider.
Stage 13 of the Vuelta a Espana took place in the Asturias region of Spain and dished out two Cat.1 climbs over its 174.8 kilometers. The intermediate climb was the Puerto de Tarna, while the stage finished with the La Camperona, an 8.8km climb with an average grade of 6.5 percent. The day would be one for climbers with strong legs as the final 2km had ramps approaching 15 percent.
Thirty riders made the break of the day including Benjamin King (DDD), Rafal Majka (BOH), Laurens De Plus (QST), Bauke Mollema (TFS), Sergio Henao (SKY), Gorka Izagirre (TBM), Cristián Rodríguez (CJR), Merhawi Kudus (DDD), Ilnur Zakarin (TKA), Dylan Teuns (BMC), Ben Gastauer (ALM), Jai Hindley (SUN), Eduard Prades (EUS), Edward Ravasi (UAD), Maxime Monfort (LTS), Fabio Felline (TFS), Thomas De Gendt (LTS), Bjorg Lambrecht (LTS), Jay Mccarthy (BOH), Óscar Rodríguez (EUS), Sander Armée (LTS), Joey Rosskopf (BMC), Jetse Bol (BBH), Jhonatan Restrepo (TKA), Imanol Erviti (MOV), Nicola Conci (TFS), Pieter Serry (QST), Alex Aranburu (CJR), Luis Ángel Maté (COF), Tosh Van Der Sande (LTS), Garikoitz Bravo (EUS) and Marcus Burghardt (BOH).
De Gendt, Mollema and King were first over Alto de la Madera to grab some KOM points. The peloton trailed the large break by 3 minutes with 140km to go.
King, with two stage wins under his belt in the 2018 race, was the best placed rider in the breakaway, trailing race leader Jesus Herrada by a little over 7 minutes. With 103km remaining, King was briefly leader on the road with a 7’15” lead over the peloton.
The gap peaked at more than nine minutes before Cofidis, Movistar and LottoNL-Jumbo started upping the pace in the chase.
De Gendt, King and Mate lead the break over the Puerto de Tarna, adding to their KOM totals. It was basically downhill from there until the climb to Camperona began.
As the climb to Camperona began in earnest, King’s Dimension Data teammates were at the front of the peloton while race leader Herrada looked to be struggling to stay with the pack.
Burghardt and Majka were leading on the final ramps of the climb, where the gradient hit 15%. The peloton still trailed the leaders by more than 3 minutes as the leaders were down to 3 km left to climb.
Not much later, Burghardt popped. Ben King moved back to the front. Majka was still riding strong as well.
Majka moved to the lead with King’s teammate Kudus dogging him with every pedal stroke.
Kudus dropped off but was replaced by Van Tuens, who just snuck past Majka. Oscar Rodríguez was quietly sneaking up from behind, however.
Rodríguez proceeded to go clear. No one expected this! As he approached the final 800m, the climb eased a little and he continued to stay off the front. Majka was still chasing, though.
Rodríguez zipped up his jersey and crossed the line victorious. It’s a huge win for a rider from the second-tier Euskadi team!
Stage 13 Brief Results:
- Oscar Rodríguez (EUS) at 4h17’05”
- Rafal Majka (BOH) at 19″
- Dylan Teuns (BMC) at 30″
- Bjorg Lambrecht (LTS) at 38″
- Laurens De Plus (QST) at 43″
- Merhawi Kudus (DDD) at 1’00”
- Ilnur Zakarin (TKA) at 1’12”
- Pieter Serry (QST) at 1’21”
- E. Ravasi (UAD) at 1’25”
- Benjamin King (DDD) at 1’27”
General Classification After Stage 13:
- Jesus Herrada (COF) at 54h 50’19”
- Simon Yates (MTS) at 1’42”
- Nairo Quintana (MOV) at 1’50”
- Alejandro Valverde (MOV) at 1’54”
- Miguel Angel Lopez (AST) at 2’23”
- Rigoberto Uran (EFD) at 2’33”
- Jon Izaguirre (TBM) at 2’35”
- Tony Gallopin (ALM) at 2’40”
- Steven Kruijswijk (TLJ) at 2’44”
- Emanual Buchmann (BOH) at 2’47”
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