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Jonas Vingegaard is the winner of the queen stage
Photograph:
ANDER GILLENEA / AFP
After a show of power by his Jumbo-Visma racing team, Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark has won the 13th stage of the Vuelta at the legendary Col du Tourmalet. Remco Evenepoel of Team Soudal Quick-Step, who had previously finished third overall, lost several minutes on Friday and thus probably also the battle for overall victory at the 78th Tour of Spain.
Behind Vingegaard, who celebrated his first Vuelta stage victory, his teammates Sepp Kuss (+30 seconds) and Primož Roglič (+33) crossed the finish line in second and third place. Thus, the American Kuss defended the red jersey of the overall leader. German riders did not play a role in the 2115 meter high finish.
Evenepoel squandered chances in the standings
Belgium's star Evenepoel experienced a very bitter day, dropping out of the leading field well before the final climb and thus probably losing all chances of his second overall victory at the Vuelta after 2022. João Almeida of the Emirates team, who had previously finished sixth overall, also had to pull out early. Marc Soler (Emirates), Kuss' closest rival in the overall standings so far, lost sight of the top riders on the final climb. The Slovenian Roglič is now the new overall runner-up with a deficit of 1:37 minutes. He is followed by Vingegaard (+1:44).
The next difficult mountain stage follows on Saturday. In the border region between Spain and France, it travels over 156.5 kilometres from Sauveterre-de-Béarn to Puerto de Belagua. The first 50 kilometers are still flat before the pros have to climb over four mountains on the following 100 kilometers. The Col Hourcére and Puerto de Larrau belong to the most difficult category. The final climb has an average gradient of 9.5 percent over a length of 6.3 kilometers. On the steepest ramps, the gradient is 10 percent, the finish is at an altitude of 1587 meters.
cev/dpa