Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) beat green jersey winner Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and his team mate Pascal Ackerman to win the final stage of the Vuelta a España in Madrid this Sunday.
It marks the second stage victory for the team following Marc Soler’s win on stage 5 – the Spaniard collected the super combativity award following a strong performance over the three weeks, and the Emirati also collected the team classification, and completed a successful Vuelta with a podium spot for 19-year-old Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates).
Speaking after the stage, Evenepoel said, “Yesterday the emotions were quite high because you could feel that we were actually there, but you still have to finish the race here [on stage 21] safe and in a good way.”
He spoke highly of his team’s controlled finish to a dramatic three weeks of racing. “I think we did it perfectly. We enjoyed it as much as possible and now we can really enjoy it.”
“I didn’t have much time to think today because it was a technical course,” the Belgian added, “and it was getting more nervous on every lap, so it was not that nice. I’m happy we survived and that we are here now.”
At the end of what has clearly been an emotional few days for Evenepoel, and for Belgian cycling, the red jersey winner could not underplay the significance of the win. “It's a historical moment for the team, for my country and for myself,” he said. “I think we can be really proud of what we did during the last three weeks.”
How it unfolded
A day of celebration and ceremony began with a guard of honour for peloton veterans Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), riding in the final stage of their final Grand Tour after long and successful careers.
The first 45km saw a return to the processional as the riders headed from Las Rozas, north-west of the city, towards Madrid city centre. Evenepoel’s ‘wolfpack’ took their time to ride side by side for photographs and partake of some champagne – although Evenepoel notably opted out of the tradition.
As the peloton entered the Madrid circuit for the first time, Valverde rode solo off the front of the bunch to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy his final moments, accepting the adulation of the crowd as he headed for retirement following a 21-year pro career.
He crossed the finish line for the first time with 52.5km to go, launching the peloton off on the first of nine laps of the 5.8km circuit, which featured many of the most famous streets of the Spanish capital, concluding on the iconic Plaza de Cibeles.
There was a brief flurry of activity at the intermediate sprint on the second passage of the finish line, as Ineos Grenadiers tried to set up a lead-out for Carlos Rodriguez, placed just one second behind Thymen Arensman (Team DSM) in the general classification, but Rodriguez failed to capitalise and take the bonus seconds required to bump him up the standings.
Ineos continued to be prominent, with Lucas Plapp going up the road with Julius Johansen of Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert, forming a breakaway pairing with just under 45km to go.
Team BikeExchange-Jayco drove the pace at the front of the bunch on behalf of Kaden Groves for much of the chase, with Trek-Segafredo, Israel PremierTech and Arkea-Samsic also pushing hard in the final kilometres.
The breakaway pair built a lead of around 25 seconds, aided by a course featuring some tricky hairpins and technical turns which enabled them to stay away until within a kilometre of the line. The fairytale was not to be, however, and the pursuing bunch closed them down with around 800m to go, to set up a hotly contested sprint finish, with UAE’s Molano wrapping up an eventful three weeks.
In the overall competition, 22-year-old Belgian Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) sealed the deal on the first Grand Tour victory of his career, and the first for a Belgian rider in 44 years.
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