Vuelta a España: Fuglsang wins stage 16 on Alto de la Cubilla

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Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) claimed the first Grand Tour stage victory of his career with a solo triumph atop the Alto de la Cubilla on stage 16 of the Vuelta a España on Monday, as Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) extended his overall lead.

Fuglsang made it into the 19-rider breakaway on the second of two stages in the Asturias mountains at the end of the second week, and left his rivals behind on the mist-enshrouded 17-kilometre final climb.

Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos) had to settle for a second minor podium spot in two days, crossing the line 22 seconds down 24 hours after placing third on stage 15, while Fuglsang’s teammate Luis Leon Sanchez took third place a further 18 seconds back.

James Knox (Deceuninck-QuickStep) placed fourth, just behind Sanchez, but the lack of stage victory was compensated for by the strides he made in the general classification. Having started the day 18th overall, the 23-year-old moved up to 11th as the best of the peloton finished more than six minutes in arrears. His team were instrumental in setting it up, with roommate Philippe Gilbert helping out in the break alongside Remi Cavagna, who set the pace on the false flat approach to the Cubilla and on its lower slopes.

But Fuglsang lit it up some 9.6km from the summit of the final climb, forming a selection with Knox, Geoghegan Hart, Sanchez, and Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo). A couple of kilometres later, after a long turn from Sanchez, Fuglsang went clear with Brambilla, and by the 4km-to-go banner he was alone. Geoghegan Hart attacked from behind and clung on around 15 seconds back but was never able to close the gap as Fuglsang kept the pressure on all the way to the line.

“It feels great. It was one of my goals coming here, but it’s one thing is to have a goal and another thing to fulfill it. I’m super happy,” said Fuglsang.

“We were told on the radio that the last 7km were the easier ones. I said he [Sanchez] should go and he went, made a good long pull, and once we could seethe others were lacking energy, Brambilla went I went after him and kept going. At one point I looked back and Tao was about to come across, and I was waiting, waiting, waiting, until he came close - because he did a big effort to come across - then I went another time full gas, and luckily I got rid of Brambilla and Tao got stuck behind. Then it was just about getting to the finish line.”

In the race for the overall title that occurred several minutes behind the breakaway battle, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) strengthened his grip on the red jersey ahead of the second rest day. The Slovenian reacted to repeated attacks from Astana’s Miguel Angel Lopez, as did third-placed Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), but second-placed Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) struggled and lost 23 seconds to the trio.

The Spaniard had looked good until the final 2km but quickly drifted when Lopez issued the last of a trio of stinging accelerations that blew apart the red jersey group. Pogacar, leading the Colombian in the young rider classification, had sat on his wheel for the whole final climb, and was quick to respond each and every time. Roglic had a little more difficulty 2km from the top but soon managed to drag his way back on terms. Valverde, however, quickly drifted back, and had the excellent Marc Soler to thank for limiting the damage to 23 seconds.

It was another bruising day in general for Movistar as Nairo Quintana lost more than two minutes and slipped to sixth overall. The Colombian was unable to follow when Astana raised the pace half-way up the final climb, and was overtaken in the overall standings by Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe), who finished with Valverde.

Roglic now leads the race by 2:48 over Valverde, with Pogacar remaining third at 3:42. Lopez put a couple of disappointing days behind him with an aggressive display but, despite distancing Valverde, was unable to hurt Pogacar, and remains fourth at 3:59. There’s a gulf to Majka in fifth at 7:40, with Quintana three seconds further back.

How it unfolded

The final stage in the Asturias mountains to close the second week packed three major climbs into the 144.4km. After 50km of false flat, the first-category Puerto de San Lorenzo (10km at 8.5 per cent) kicked off the climbing, followed after a descent by the Alto de la Cobertoria (8.3km at 8.2km). Another descent set up a 15km valley approach to the final climb of the Alto de la Cubilla (17.8km at 6.8 per cent).

As as been the case throughout the second week, it was a rapid start and a tough fight to make the breakaway. The group started to form just ahead of the first climb of the day, with Knox and Cavagna going clear with Romain Seigle (Groupama-FDJ) and Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida). They were soon joined on the climb by Gilbert, Fuglsang, Sanchez Geoghegan Hart, Brambilla, Imanol Erviti (Movistar Team), Geoffrey Bouchard (Ag2r La Mondiale), Max Richeze (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Damien Howson (Mitchelton-Scott), Amanuel Ghebreizhabier (Team Dimension Data), Nikias Arndt (Team Sunweb), Nikias Eg (Trek-Segafredo), Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates), Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), and Fernando Barceló (Euskadi-Murias).

The quickly opened up a lead of three minutes on the climb, at the top of which Madrazo and Bouchard battled for mountains points. The Frenchman proved stronger, taking over the virtual lead in the classification from the Spaniard.

The breakaway hit the Alto de Cobertoria with a lead of around five minutes over the peloton, which would be led by Jumbo-Visma’s Tony Martin for much of the day. Padun, Richeze, and Arndt were dropped on the climb before Bouchard once again got the better of Madrazo to ensure he’d be wearing the spotted jersey on Wednesday.

On the descent, the gap moved out to eight minutes, at which point it was clear the winner would come from the break and the riders began to race against each other. A couple of moves came and went on the valley road, Gilbert being particularly active, but the break started to swell once again and soon reached 15. At that point, Cavagna took it up for his team and dictated the tempo to the foot of the final climb.

He kept the pressure on on the lower slopes, leaving Knox to quickly respond when Fuglsang kicked things off. A selection was quickly formed with Brambilla and Sanchez, who sacrificed himself for Fuglsang with a long turn. Fuglsang then went clear with Brambilla, leaving Knox with Geoghegan Hart, who refused to work with his compatriot, and Sanchez, who later got back in.

With just over 4km to go, Geoghegan Hart attacked Knox and started to make his way across, which was the cue for Fuglsang to launch another big acceleration to drop Brambilla and keep the advancing Ineos rider at bay. The gap hovered at around 15 seconds for much of the final 3km but Fuglsang refused to fade and celebrated another fine victory in what has been an extraordinary season.

Further down the mountain, Astana took the initiative once again, and this time Lopez backed it up. Even before he’d launched his first attack, Quintana was dropped, unable to live with the pace of the Astana domestiques little over half-way up the climb. With just over 4km to go, Lopez attacked. Pogacar was immediately on the case, as was Roglic. Valverde was a little slower to respond but had Soler to drag him across to form an elite six-rider GC selection.

Soler then attacked and was joined by Majka but the group came back together and Lopez launched another big just under 2km from the line. Once again, Pogacar was instantly on terms. Soler was third wheel but looked around and saw Valverde drifting, and dropped back to help his fading teammate. Roglic, who lost some ground having been behind Soler, had to fight for a while to claw his way across to Lopez and Pogacar, but managed it and they rode as a trio through the final kilometre.

Roglic therefore capped a near-perfect second week. Having started it second overall, he finishes it in the red jersey with his closest competitor nearly three minutes down and showing signs of weakness. As we pause for the second rest day ahead of the third and final week, the race is his to lose.

Stage Results

Overall standings