Thibaut Pinot of the Groupama FDJ team took the win in Stage 19 of the 2018 Vuelta a Espana, but race leader Simon Yates finished just 5 seconds later, and bested a challenge from his GC rivals to solidify his lead in the race’s final days.
Stage 19, a 154.4 km ride from Lleida to Andorra only had 1 major climb, but it came at the end of the stage and took riders above 2000m – the highest elevation in this year’s race. Andorra is race leader Simon Yates’ second home, so it was safe to assume that he was familiar with the roads in the area.
It took nearly 40km before the breakaway of Michal Kwiatkowski, Simon Clarke and Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier seemed to be the one of the day, but even it didn’t last, and the peloton was all back together with 90km to go.
Tom Van Asbroeck, Jonathan Castroviejo and Benjamin Thomas were the next group to attack. Asbroeck soon dropped back to peloton, leaving Castroviejo and Thomas out front. Movistar was driving the pace in the peloton and the duo’s gap never really extended much beyond two minutes.
By the time the stage was down to 20km remaining, the gap to the leaders was down to 30 seconds. The pair shook hands and rejoined the peloton as they hit the base of the final climb. Movistar took over the front of the peloton, with Nairo Quintana and Winner Anacona taking lead positions. LottoNL Jumbo put Kruijswijk and Bennett at the front as well.
With 10km to go, Yates went on the attack and Pinot and Kruijswijk made the effort to stay close. Pinot looked strong while Kruijswijk was barely hanging on.
At the line, it was Pinot taking the win, with Yates crossing just five seconds later. Kruijswijk, Uran, Lopez and Mas all saw an improvement in their GC placing today. Valverde slipped back in the standings, however, losing 1’11” to Yates today.
Stage 19 Brief Results:
- Thibaut Pinot (GFC) at 3h42’05”
- Simon Yates (MTS) at 5″
- Steven Kruijswijk (TLJ) at 13″
- Rigoberto Uran (EFD) at 52″
- Miguel Antonio Lopez (AST) s.t.
- Enric Mas (QST) s.t.
- Wilco Kelderman (SUN) at 1’03”
- Alejandro Valverde (MOV) at 1’12”
- Tony Gallopin (ALM) at 1’15”
- Nairo Quintana (MOV) at 1’49”
General Classification After Stage 19:
- Simon Yates (MTS) at 69h 05’34”
- Alejandro Valverde (MOV) at 1’38”
- Steven Kruijswijk (TLJ) at 1’58″
- Enric Mas (QST) at 2’15″
- Miguel Angel Lopez (AST) at 2’29”
- Nairo Quintana (MOV) at 4’01″
- Thibaut Pinot (GFC) at 5’22”
- Rigoberto Uran (EFD) at 5’29”
- Jon Izaguirre (TBM) at 6’30”
- Tony Gallopin at (AGR) 7’21”
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