Vuelta a España: Michael Woods conquers Puerto de Ancares for solo win as Roglič cuts into O'Connor's lead on stage 13

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While Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) may not win often, when he does, he wins big. Today was no different at the Vuelta a España as he launched away from the remnants of the day’s breakaway 4.8km from the line to conquer the Puerto de Ancares summit finish solo on stage 13.

Thriving on the category 1 climb’s steepest gradients, the Canadian champion Woods quickly dispatched the likes of Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) once the five remaining from a 23-strong break hit the final climb’s hardest point, winning with an eventual margin of 44 seconds.

This was only the 37-year-old Woods’ second win of the year after the national road title and his third at the Vuelta, adding to triumphs from 2018 and 2020.

Schmid climbed to second up the sharp inclines, while Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) managed third on another entertaining day out in front, as the breakaway won for the fourth day running at the Vuelta.

“I’m on cloud nine right now. My big goal was to win a race with this jersey, I’ve had a tough season with illness and I’ve had a tough race in terms of bad luck with mechanicals and crashes in mistimed moments. This is a big moment of catharsis, a big relief,” said Woods of his stage win.

“I was lucky to get in the break with Dylan [Teuns] and Riley Sheehan, who did a great job of getting me in. I was a bit isolated when we had Jay [Vine], Brandon [McNulty] and Marc [Soler] attacking me but I just had to keep fighting with them and then when they crashed, that really scared me and I hope they are OK but then I knew I was the guy to beat on that climb.”

The race for overall victory was unfolding further down the mountain after the break was allowed again to get over 10 minutes ahead, and after Movistar had paced for much of the approach to the final climb, it was Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe who came to the fore in the 7.5km.

Primož Roglič put his men to work with each climbing domestique emptying himself to try put race leader Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) under serious pressure, with the Australian soon feeling it and dropping as the Slovenian began to power away with Enric Mas (Movistar) and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike).

But the three-time Vuelta champion Roglič showed just why he’s been so successful in Spain throughout his career, relishing the uneven, brutally steep gradients upwards of 15%, dropping all of his rivals 2.3km from the summit and powering home to gain 1:55 on O’Connor.

The Australian fought valiantly to defend red and successfully stayed in control of the jersey heading into stage 14, however, Roglič is coming and he’s now well within striking distance, 1:21 down, of wrestling back the lead at the next opportunity.

How it unfolded

Departing the Roman walled city of Lugo in Galicia, stage 13 of the Vuelta a España was a day primed for GC action to unfold across the 176km to the brutal summit finish up Puerto de Ancares, a climb not seen at the Vuelta since 2014 when Alberto Contador took victory.

With the 6km neutral zone navigated and the flag dropped, the attacks came right away to try and get into the day’s breakaway. Those who tried were aided by the undulating start heading east out of Lugo, with the first climb up the category 3 Alto Campo de Arbre (5 km at 5.9%) solidifying a large move.

What was an initial group of 18 grew to 24 strong at the head of the race, forming a formidable break of the day: Brandon McNulty, Jay Vine, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek), Michael Woods, Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech), Gijs Leemreize (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Kim Heiduk (Ineos Grenadiers), Kasper Asgreen (T-Rex Quick-Step), Kaden Groves, Luca Vergallito (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Victor Campenaerts, Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Dstny), Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Simon Guglielmi, Mathis Le Berre (Arké-B&B Hotels), Enzo Leijnse (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL), Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Julius van den Berg (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL), José Felix Parra (Kern Pharma), Nicolas Vinokourov (Astana Qazaqstan) and Xabier Isasa (Euskatel-Euskadi).

The breakaway fell to 23 with 120km to go as Isasa lost contact and dropped back to the peloton.

This huge group would build out their lead to 11 minutes once the second climb of the day, Alto O Portelo (7.7 km at 5.1%), was completed, with the powerful trio of Van Aert, Vine and Soler getting a small 16-second gap over the top of the climb as the Belgian took the KOM points.

With his eight-point haul from the first two climbs, Van Aert, the current leader of the green points classification, also moved into the virtual lead of the King of the Mountains classification ahead of Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates). The trio then dropped back into the break.

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rode on the front of the peloton but the gap to the break only kept extending, eventually passing the 15-minute mark as the race turned back on itself and began heading northwest for the final 50km approach to Puerto de Ancares.

There was a sudden Belgian acceleration with 46km to go, as Campenarts and Van Aert were joined by Schmid and Gugliemi in a move off the front of the 23-rider group and built a 15-second advantage quickly.

The Frenchman couldn’t hold the pace as the soon-to-be-teammates Van Aert and Campenaerts continued to work in front, with Alpecin chasing behind for Groves as the intermediate sprint approached. 

UAE Team Emirates made sure they weren’t missing out as Soler, Vine and McNulty all made the junction to the leading trio, alongside the other strongest climbers in the break of the day, Woods, Schmid, Leemreize, Oomen and Asgreen. With Campenaerts dropped, this left nine in front for the final 30km.

Behind, despite the 16-minute deficit, things were happening as Movistar took control for Mas in the peloton, showing their intentions of backing their man up the final 7.5km climb.

On the descent to the far-from-easy warm-up climb to the summit finish, Puerto de Lumeras (6.6 km at 5.9%), Soler lost contact, perhaps paying for his efforts having been in the break for several days. But UAE weren’t concerned as with 25km to go, Vine launched his move.

Woods made the most effort in pursuit, quickly closing the gap on the category 2 climb with McNulty in his wheel before UAE continued to use their numbers with the recovered Soler, who launched a double burst ahead of the crest on the penultimate climb. 

That was until Van Aert took the maximum KOM points haul to extend his lead before stopping his effort at the top and starting the descent. 

It was a descent that then changed the race massively as McNulty and Vine came down at high speed in a corner, the former thankfully sliding under and not into the metal barrier and into the bushes, emerging safe and able to stand albeit with lots of cuts. Vine didn’t actually hit the deck but crashed into the barrier before hobbling away and getting onto a new bike. 

With five men, Van Aert, Soler, Schmid, Woods and Oomen left in front, the battle for the stage win up the brutally steep 7.5km climb didn’t start properly until 5.1km to go, with the Swiss and Canadian champions launching out of the group.

Quickly it became apparent that Woods was the strongest left as expected, dropping Schmid on the stinging 15% gradients of the climb and going solo 4.8km from the crest and the finish line. 

Movistar continued to pace the peloton behind some 16 minutes down the road, however, they were soon replaced by Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, who started a huge lead-out for their leader Roglič.

O’Connor had already started slipping back as he likes of Aleksandr Vlasov and Dani Martínez emptied themselves for the Slovenian who soon launched with only Mas and Kuss able to follow initially.

But soon they blew up and paid for attempting to follow him, with the former three-time Vuelta winner kicking on to gain big time on all his rivals, including the race leader who’s deficit he more than halved.

Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) was the next best behind Roglič but even he was 35 seconds down at the line atop the brutal climb which shaped the makeup of the Vuelta’s overall standings massively heading into the final eight stages.

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