Alberto Dainese (DSM-Firmenich) took an emotional win on stage 19 of the 2023 Vuelta a Espana as he sprinted to victory in Iscar, after 177.5km of racing from La Bañeza. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), expected to go for another win today, went down with 1 kilometre to go and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) almost took the cake before his Italian compatriot sprinted past him right on the line. Dainese takes his 6th professional win, three of them in Grand Tours.
After three intense mountain stages in Cantabria and Asturias, the peloton today faced a flat stage from La Bañeza to Iscar, where the sprinters hoped to seize their last opportunity to shine before Madrid.
Race leader Sepp Kuss slightly increased his lead in the overall standings yesterday ahead of his two Jumbo-Visma teammates, Jonas Vingegaard (+17’’) and Primoz Roglic (+1’08’’). Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) is their first rival (+4’00’’) at the moment. After some days of confusion, it seems like Vingegaard and Roglic are firmly behind helping Kuss take the overall win.
Remco Evenepoel has been the animator of the race over the last several days, but after a horrific day last week, he’ll only end up with the KOM title on Saturday.
142 riders rolled out of La Bañeza this morning. Damien Touzé of the AG2R Citroën abandoned overnight.
Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa Samsic) makes the first go for a break and is joined by Paul Lapeira (AG2R Citroën) and Michal Schlegel (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). The trio soon got caught, but they made another go at it at km9 and were joined by Clément Davy (Groupama-FDJ). The peloton lets them go and by km 15 they have a stable 1’40” lead.
Their gap ballooned up to 2’35” before Alpecin-Deceuninck kicked up the pace in the gruppo and it’s back to 1’35” at km44.
Ayuso suffers a mechanical, but he quickly gets a new bike and is back with the peloton. He promises one “last big battle” on Saturday’s final stage into Madrid, but 4 minutes is a big time gap any way you look at it.
Jimmy Janssens, Jason Osborne (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Domen Novak (UAE Team Emirates) all were taking their turns at the front of the bunch with Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Dstny) hanging in fourth position.
With 60km remaining, the gap was down to 1’10” and falling. Just 20km later, they were only up by 25 seconds and within 15 second going into the last 30 kilometers.
They held on long enough to contest for the intermediate sprint. Davy sent solo to take the top points, but Kaden Groves pushes through the remaining trio to grab the second place points.
Samuele Battistella (Astana Qazaqstan) attacked just after the intermediate sprint and opened a gap. He only got 17 seconds out before a surging peloton sucked him up. Ineos Grenadiers, Movistar and Bahrain Victorious were driving the bunch.
Inside of the last 5 km, Intermarché-Circus-Wanty moved up but it was all for naught as Alberto Dainese had the legs for the sprint and the win.
Stage 19 Brief Results:
- Alberto Dainese (DSM-Firmenich) @ 3h 42’09”
- Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) s.t.
- Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) s.t.
- Davide Cimolai (Cofidis) s.t.
- Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar) s.t.
General Classification After Stage 19
- Sepp Kuss (Team Jumbo Visma) @ 69h 13’36”
- Jonas Vingegaard (Team Jumbo Visma) @ 17″
- Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo Visma) @ 1’08”
- Juan Ayoso (UAE Team Emirates) @ 4’00”
- Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) @ 4’19”
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