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Vuelta a Espana stage 19 live - Mads Pedersen seals hat-trick of wins

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Stage 19 of the Vuelta a España begins and ends in Talavera de la Reina, with the peloton facing two laps over the category 2 Puerto del Piélago. If yesterday’s breathless stage is any guide, this could be a short but sharp afternoon of relentless attacking. Saturday’s mountainous test over the Navacerrada may be a more obvious obstacle for Remco Evenepoel, but this is not a day to be taken lightly.

General classification after stage 18

Today's stage gets underway at 13.55 local time, with the peloton due to hit kilometre zero at 14.03. The road start climbing quickly and the race hits the summit of the category 2 Puerto del Pielago (9.3km at 5.6%) for the first time after 30km.  After dropping to Talavera de la Reina, they circle round and tackle the climb again, with the summit coming 42km from the finish.

The peloton has gathered on the start line in Talavera for what promises to be a short but intense afternoon of racing. 

The big news from the start concerned Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos), a faller on yesterday's stage. Shortly before the off, Ineos confirmed that the Spanish champion, who dropped to 5th overall yesterday, will remain in the race. "A medical examination following stage 18 confirmed suffered multiple abrasions to his left hand side. Concussion assessment was undertaken during the stage to ensure he was fit to continue. After further evaluations this morning Carlos is clear to continue," read a statement from Ineos on social media.

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This year's Giro d'Italia had two short, circuit-based stages in Naples and Turin, and they turned out to be the best enterainment of the entire race (with an honourable mention to those last 3.6km or so of the Passo Fedaia). This stage comes late in the Vuelta, where fatigue will be a factor, but there was no shortage of willing attackers yesterday - we may yet see fireworks this afternoon.

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UAE flung riders up the road yesterday as part of Joao Almeida's long-range offensive. It's not clear if Juan Ayuso's squad have something similar in mind today, but there's certainly no harm in having a strongman like McNulty up the road. The American was affected by illness early in the race but has shown signs of coming around in the last week. 

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McNulty, Caicedo and Okamika have been granted a degree of early leeway by the bunch. This trio will certainly lead the race onto the first ascent of the Puerto del Piélago, but there may well be some movement behind once the road climbs in earnest.

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McNulty, Caicedo, and Okamika begin the first ascent of the Puerto del Piélago clear at the head of the race. Craddock is giving lone chase and now Mikel Bizkarra and Ibai Azurmendi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) have attacked from the bunch on the lower slopes.

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Trek-Segafredo are setting the pace in the peloton with an eye to teeing up Mads Pedersen for his third stage victory of the race. Their efforts have shaved 15 seconds or so off the break's lead on the upper part of the climb.

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Before the start yesterday, Remco Evenepoel correctly predicted that stage 18 would blow open from as early as 90km out, but the Nostradamus of Schepdaal was less sure of what faced him today. "It can go anywhere, we can expect every situation today - sprint with small group, large group, breakaway, GC guys. I really cannot predect today's stage," Evenepoel said before the start. He can probably predict that he will wear the red jersey in Madrid on Sunday but he was too polite to say. "Anything can still happen," he insisted.

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Okamika led the break through that sprint, for the record. Pedersen retains his 200-point advantage over Fred Wright in the points classification.

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Meanwhile, Jumbo-Visma have issued a rather remarkable statement about Primoz Roglic's Vuelta abandon, pinning the blame squarely on Fred Wright for their collision in the sprint - which seems a rather subjective view, to put it mildly. "My conclusion is that the way this crash happened is unacceptable. Not everyone saw it correctly," Roglic said in an article posted to the Jumbo-Visma website this afternoon. "The crash was not caused by a bad road or a lack of safety but by a rider's behaviour. I don't have eyes on my back. Otherwise, I would have run wide. Wright came from behind and rode the handlebars out of my hands before I knew it."

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Jumbo-Visma’s article, meanwhile, also includes the ramblings of manager Richard Plugge, who obliquely refers to the crash his then-rider Dylan Groenewegen caused at the 2020 Tour de Pologne, which left Fabio Jakobsen in an induced coma. “Research shows that the riders' cycling behaviour is to blame for a crash in about half the cases,” Plugge said. “Shortly after the incident in Poland, it almost went wrong in Milano-Sanremo for the 3rd and the 4th place. Fortunately, that ended well, but the behaviour remained unpunished. We have to deal with that properly."

Considering the death threats levelled at Groenewegen after the crash he caused at the Tour de Pologne, it seems ill-advised for Jumbo-Visma to be effectively encouraging a pile-on against Wright - particularly when the video footage was hardly damning of the Briton's movement in the sprint. 

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Astana also moved Miguel Angel Lopez to the front as the descent began. The GC men know this isn't really a springboard for attacks but there is the ever-present risk of being caught behind a split and losing out. 

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More on Jumbo-Visma's unsual decision to publish an article scapegoating Fred Wright for Roglic's crash here. For a team managed by their former press officer, they have made some notable public relations faux pas this year, from directeur sportif Merijn Zeeman's claim that French teams "don't work with the same professionalism as us" to Wout van Aert's touchy response to a legitimate question on the final weekend of the Tour. 

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The man of the moment Pedersen has time to drop back to the team car and grab bottles for his teammates as they reach the final 20km, which is all the more remarkable considering his team is currently riding on the front to tee him up for the sprint. 

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Fred Wright is being ushered into place by his Bahrain team. He'll have a go against Pedersen but the green jersey is a prohibitive favourite for this sprint...

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Dennis swings off and Trek-Segafredo take over. Pedersen is parked behind two teammates, and there is a scramble for the Dane's wheel.

Miles Scotson (Groupama-FDJ) attacks to try to upset the sprinters...

Mads Pedersen opens his sprint from distance, with Fred Wright closing...

Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) wins stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana.

Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) takes second place.

Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) finishes in the peloton to retain the red jersey with two days remaining. 

Result

TOPSHOT Team Treks Danish rider Mads Pedersen celebrates as he crosses the finish line in first place during the 19th stage of the 2022 La Vuelta cycling tour of Spain a 1383 km race from Talavera de la Reina to Talavera de la Reina on September 9 2022 Photo by Oscar DEL POZO CANAS AFP Photo by OSCAR DEL POZO CANASAFP via Getty Images

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Mads Pedersen on his hat-trick: “It was definitely really hard to control the bunch today but man the team did so impressive. Everybody was so dedicated and working really hard. When the three guys went with McNulty, it was not an easy break so we rode really, really hard to close them as fast as possible and then everybody on this team was so impressive. I’m really thankful to the boys, it’s definitely a win for them. Without them today, there was no chance I could have sprinted here today. So, wow…

Remco Evenepoel speaks: "This was the perfect race. It was nice to have Trek controlling all day. I promised Mads to control the breakaway with him, so we did our job, then it was up to them to control the breakaway and try to go for the stage and I think what Mads is showing is something really impressive to survive what was actually quite a hard climb. Big congrats to Trek for today."

A full report, results and pictures from today's stage are available here.

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