30/08/2024

Vuelta a Espana | Michael Woods wins atop mythical and steep Puerto de Ancares; Primoz Roglic takes 2 minutes on Ben O'Connor

Stage 13 of the Vuelta a España was a serious mountain day. Not overly hard until the final climb of the Puerto de Ancares. The victory was for the breakaway and Michael Woods was the strongest on the day, taking his third-ever Vuelta victory.

Another day for the breakaway. 23 riders went up the road early in the day forming another strong breakaway including green jersey contenders Wout van Aert and Kaden Groves, UAE Team Emirates trio Jay Vine, Brandon McNulty and Marc Soler; and several other strong riders of all types.

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The gap grew to the peloton exponentially and the stage win was up front. Hence the fight for it began with 48 kilometers to go as Victor Campenaerts attacked with Wout van Aert and Mauro Schmid following and keeping a gap over the rest of the group. Marc Soler brought it back, but then the group split with eight riders remaining up front.

UAE attacked plenty times in the penultimate climb but didn't manage to distance the rest; and in the descent Jay Vine and Brandon McNulty crashed. Five remained in front at the bottom of the final climb: Van Aert, Marc Soler, Mauro Schmid, Sam Ooman and Michael Woods; as Movistar pushed the pace in the peloton.

As the steep final five kilometers began, Mauro Schmid attacked in the front group. Right after Michael Woods hit the front and dropped the Swiss rider and in these very steep gradients the Canadian was dancing on the pedals. He built a strong gap and flew to his third-ever stage win at the Vuelta, an accomplished goal for Israel - Premier Tech. Mauro Schmid was third and Soler finished third on the day.

In the peloton there were serious differences. BORA set a nuclear pace at the bottom of the climb and quickly dropped Ben O'Connor. Roglic, Enric Mas and Sepp Kuss went off the front. But those who tried to follow the Slovenian then cracked with Roglic however presenting himself very strong.

Roglic crossed the line first out of the GC riders over 10 minutes back. Mikel Landa was the second, 35 seconds back; Enric Mas lost 58 seconds and O'Connor (who let Felix Gall go) lost almost 2 minutes in the final ascent.