Vuelta a España: Tim Wellens wins stage 14

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Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) claimed his second win of this year’s Vuelta a Espana after taking victory on stage 14 of the race from Lugo to Ourense. The Belgian won the sprint from a small group and held off a late charge from Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling) and Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck-QuickStep).

The overall contenders finished safely in the main field, with Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) maintaining his 39-second lead over Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers).

For Wellens, the victory served as another reminder of his talent at winning from small breakaways. He was part of the early move that skipped free from the peloton after another frantic start and was one of the dominant forces as the race wore on. The Lotto Soudal rider looked to be in trouble when Stybar and Marc Soler (Movistar) attacked from the break as they raced over the final climb of the day but the winner of stage 5 bridged up to the leaders just as the descent flattened out.

When Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers), Woods and Thymen Arensman (Sunweb) regained contact with Wellens, Soler and Stybar with 1.3km to go, the stage looked wide open and it was Woods who hit the front on the final ramps before the line.

The Canadian was also looking for his second win of the race and he stretched his companions to almost breaking point with around 700m to go but Wellens had enough in the tank to respond and he kicked with 400m remaining. Only Woods could manage to hold Wellens' pace but the Belgian not only had the faster acceleration but he also picked the best line and with no room to even think about passing inside the final 75m it was Wellens who lifted his arms to celebrate another victory.

The 29-year-old now has two wins each in both the Vuelta a Espana and the Giro d'Italia, with just a stage win in the Tour de France missing from his set.

"It's not easy to win, I had to really fight to get in the breakaway, and all my companions in the breakaway were really strong riders," Wellens said at the finish.

"The whole day we rode a super good tempo. In the descent we got a way with three, I thought we were going to stay in front but the other three came back. I knew I had to take the last corner in the first position. I felt Woods coming but suddenly the finish line was there and I passed first."

"The whole day I had the impression that Dylan van Baarle was the best - he is a really good rouler but then when we sped up a bit I saw Woods and Soler had really good legs. I was a little bit afraid of Woods in the sprint but I think I did very good to start first and I saw the corner and knew I had to stay on the inside."

"We came here with the team to get a minimum one stage victory. Then when we had the first one they kept putting pressure for the second one. I knew today was a day that suited me very well. I was looking forward to this day for a long time. It's one thing to look forward to a day but the other thing you have to be in the right position, be in the breakaway and have the right legs and today everything went perfect."

How it unfolded

After the stage 13 time trial the Vuelta a Espana returned to bunch racing on Wednesday and there was no shortage of intent to make it into the day's break with several waves of attacks in the opening kilometers. With three punchy third category climbs and rolling terrain throughout this was the perfect day for a break's survival and when the dust finally settled the seven-rider group that formed was stacked with talent.

Zdenek Štybar (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Marc Soler (Movistar), Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers), Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling), Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal), Thymen Arensman (Sunweb), Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis) quickly established a healthy lead over a peloton that was keen to at least have some sort of respite after what has been a gruelling race. Astana kept the leaders at around five minutes until about 110km to go and when the leaders reached the Alto de Guitara their advantage was still around the five-minute mark. 

With 54km remaining the gap held at 5:34 with Total Direct Energie – having missed the break – setting to work on the front of the peloton. The French team managed to reduce the break's advantage to 2:49 with 35km to go and on the final climb of the Aldo de Abelaira it briefly looked as though a catch would be made. The peloton had cut the deficit to just over a minute but when Total peeled off the front they found little help from the rest of the bunch.

Woods attacked 2.5km from the summit on the Aldo de Abelaira but only Périchon was distanced before a frantic set of attacks and counter-attacks saw Soler and Stybar move clear. Wellens was eventually wise to the move but his display on the final short ascent to the line was the most impressive part of his ride and his ever-growing palmares now has a fourth Grand Tour stage win.