After 230 kilometers and almost six and a half hours of racing, stage 15 of the Vuelta ended with a reduced bunch sprint on Thursday. Groupama-FDJ’s Anthony Roux tried his luck in the finale and eventually took thirteenth on the line, netting his third top-20 since the race started. David Gaudu finished with no trouble and remains eleventh overall before the last two decisive stages.
“This stage will take its toll”, Thierry Bricaud
Today was the longest day on the Vuelta. However, the 231 kilometers on the stage 15’s menu did not seem to be enough, as the headwind also showed up on the pretty straight West to East course, from Galicia to Castile and Leon. The day was expected to be quite long, but that did not prevent many riders from trying to break away, as the chances were high today again. Like the day before, the fight lasted more than an hour before a group managed to take the lead, but like the day before, the peloton did not completely eased off after these thirteen riders took a gap. Those hoping for a peaceful day quickly were disillusioned. “It was a very, very long day,” said Thierry Bricaud. “First, we left the hotel early. Then, there were 240 kilometers to cover, with difficult weather conditions, especially in the final. As expected, it was very fast and hard. It’s a Grand Tour, there is no easy stage. Bora started pulling with 120 kilometers to go and the pace never decreased until the finish. It was a hard stage, which will take its toll”. For a long time, the outcome of this fifteenth stage seemed uncertain. The peloton first seemed to have the advantage with forty kilometers to go after a frenetic chase, but Mattia Cattaneo then appeared to be able to make it. In the end, the headwind got the better of the Italian, last man standing from the breakaway. Everything came back together with four kilometres to go.
“I was really cold”, Anthony Roux
“It’s always a bit of a shame to miss the breakaway, but looking at how the race unfolded, there are no regrets since it was caught”, added Thierry. “We imagined that there could also be a sprint finish, and that we would try with Anthony in that case. This is what happened”. “The team protected me today so that I could sprint at the finish,” said the former French champion. “Micka and Bruno did a great job and protected me really well from the wind all day. It was perfect. On the other hand, the final was much less so because of the cold. Olivier tried to position me at the flamme rouge but I was no longer very clear. I was really cold after the descent and couldn’t feel my fingers anymore. It was hard to brake and take the turns. I approached my sprint in a bad position so it was difficult to do better than thirteenth. The legs were good, that’s nice, but the weather was not a one for me. It’s a shame because I liked the slightly uphill finish”. “We know he has the potential to do a lot better,” confirmed Thierry, “but the approach was complicated, with the rain and a lot of tension. These are not the circumstances he likes the most. In any case, he keeps trying, he will do it again, and there is nothing we can blame him for”.
Jasper Philipsen took the victory ahead of Pascal Ackermann while David Gaudu safely finished seconds later. “Times were taken at three kilometers because there was a series of turns and fuel on the road with 2,5 km to go”, explained Thierry. “As a precaution for the riders, the organizers made this wise decision. Some could take that as an example. Anyway, it made it for a safest finish”. No crash occurred and as all the GC contenders, David Gaudu was given the time of the winner. On the eve of a much shorter stage (162 km), but another very hilly one, the Breton still sits eleventh overall. “The guys are still very focused, they are in the mix and we saw interesting things ahead of the last two mountain stages,” concluded Thierry.
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