Vuelta a Espana: Pinot wins on Lagos de Covadonga

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Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) soloed to victory atop the fog-covered Lagos de Covadonga on stage 15 of the Vuelta a España, overshadowing the overall contenders who marked each closely, squabbled and so kept the status quo in the fight for the red leader’s jersey.

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) took second on the stage, 28 seconds down on Pinot, with race leader Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) third at 30 seconds. Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana (Movistar), and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) were just behind, meaning they are now the leading five overall contenders as the Vuelta enjoys the second rest day on Monday.

Yates took a four-second time bonus for his third place and so extended his lead to 26 seconds on Valverde, with Quintana third at 33 seconds, Lopez is fourth at 43 seconds and Kruijswijk fifth at 1:29. Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) rode well and moved up to sixth at 1:55, while Pinot rose to seventh at 2:10. Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac) lost 1:25 and is now 2:27 down on Yates.

The 178km stage to Lagos de Covadonga was considered the queen stage of this year’s race. It will not decide who wins the Vuelta, instead, it confirmed how closely matched the overall contenders are, despite three big days in the mountains of northern Spain.

Yet again a fast start and multiple attacks came, with a group of 12 getting away on the stage's first small climb. They held on to a gap of up to 5:30, with Mitchelton-Scott happy to let Astana take over the chase for the final 60km. Their hard work ensured the break was brought under control and gave Lopez a shot at a stage victory.

Ivan Garcia (Bahrain-Merida) jumped from the break on the approach to the start of the climb to Lagos de Covadonga but could not stop the inevitable and was swept up with eight kilometres to go.

Pinot attacked with a show of panache from a select group of favourites with some six kilometres to go on the steepest section of the 11km climb to Lagos de Covadonga. He carved out a winning margin as the GC contenders attacked each other, chased each other and then waved at each other to lead the chase.

They eventually cancelled each other out, allowing Pinot to take his first ever stage win and so complete his set of Grand Tour stage victories.

“It was my plan to attack about six kilometres from the finish. With the form I had I knew I could do it and I knew I was not a direct threat in the overall classification, so I had a great chance,” Pinot said.

“It’s great to win here, it’s good for my career, I know this climb is considered the L’Alpe d’Huez of Spain, where I’ve won at the Tour de France. This adds something special to my palmares. Now I’m going to give my very best all the way to Madrid and then I’ll think about the world championships.”

Yates vented his frustration with Quintana during the stage but was more diplomatic and gracious afterwards.

“There was almost zero cooperation and so it was very difficult to do anything,” he said. “There was a little bit of a headwind too, so if you got a gap, it was hard to maintain. Not much really happened in the end… Pinot attacked from behind with a lot of power and a lot of speed, so I can only congratulate him. It was a great attack.”

Yates is expected to lose some time in Tuesday’s key 32km time trial but remains bullish despite cracking in the final week of the Giro d’Italia.

“I feel good and if I can hold the same form and the same legs, then I’ll be very happy,” he said. “I’m looking forwards to the rest day and then we’ll prepare for the time trial and the rest of the race.” 

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