2014 Vuelta a España Stage 14: Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal victorious

Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal claimed a spectacular victory on Saturday’s 14th stage of the Vuelta a España. The Garmin-Sharp rider out climbed his breakaway companions on the more than 20 per cent slopes up to the summit finish on La Camperona, to take the win. Olivier Zaugg of Tinkoff-Saxo came in second. Movistar’s Imanol Erviti was third.

Hesjedal laid the groundwork for his triumph early in the 200.8-km stage, earning his way into a 23-man breakaway 35 km after the race began in the coastal town of Santander. That group stayed together over the first climb of the day, the 7.1-km Collada de la Hoz, but split on the slopes of the second, the 21-km Puerto de San Glorio, when Caja Rural teammates David Arroyo and Luis Leon Sanchez went on the attack. Arroyo and Sanchez led up to the the summit but were caught by a chasing group on the descent, with Hesjedal included in the ranks.

On the flat roads leading to the final climb, the breakaway, now reduced to 12 men, gained time on the peloton as Adam Hansen put in a huge turn of work for his Lotto-Belisol teammate, Bart de Clercq. Alongside Hesjedal and the two Lotto-Belisol riders, Carlos Verona Quintanilla of Omega Pharma-Quick-Step, Louis Meintjes of MTN-Qhubeka, Jannick Martinez and Romain Sicard of Europcar, Alexandr Kolobnev of Katusha, David Arroyo and Luis-Leon Sanchez of Caja-Rural,  Imanol Erviti Ollo of Movistar and Olivier Zaugg of Tinkoff-Saxo were left with the lead.

Hansen stayed in front for most of the 8.3-km climb, and then the race reached the agonizing gradients everyone was afraid of at the 2-km-to-go mark. From there, Meintjes was the first to attack, drawing out a selection on one of the steepest sections. For a moment, there was a pause as each of the riders lost himself in the grind, side by side rubbing shoulders. Hesjedal then came to the fore, struggling ahead with a blunted acceleration. That move sparked an attack from Zaugg, who came flying up past the Canadian.

Meanwhile, the peloton was doing battle down on the mountain. Sky led into the climb at full bore to deliver their leader Chris Froome in the best possible position. But it was Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde who did the most damage on the early slopes, launching a vicious attack that put Froome and the others into trouble. Only Tinkoff-Saxo’s Alberto Contador, the race leader, could follow Valverde at first, though Katusha’s Joaquin Rodriguez and Daniel Moreno soon made it across. Contador was the next of the GC favourites to jump, bursting clear in his trademark bobbing style. Rodriguez bridged, Fabio Aru came across, but Valverde was unable to follow. Then Chris Froome appeared alongside, head down, racing the number on his handlebars.

Ahead, Zaugg was paying for his earlier efforts, fading visibly while Hesjedal ground up to him. The Canadian measured his power perfectly, saving just enough to overtake Zaugg with a powerful attack in the last few hundred metres. The finishing pedal strokes were all smiles for Ryder Hesjedal as he celebrated his second career Vuelta a España stage win.

“That was 190 hard kilometers,” Hesjedal said, “a really tough day but my legs were good. I had a chance to enter the break. I went on my own in the final and it worked out. Breaks like that sometimes get complicated, but I had a good rhythm in the end. It was pretty straight forward. Giant-Shimano won the first bonus sprint. They started to control and I just stayed quiet. I put myself in the break soon after that. It was a good group. The guys were committed. We had enough of an advantage in the end. I finished it off. I accelerated to see where the other guys were at. Zaugg responded right away, but he also had an easy ride today. With his team leading the race, he didn’t have to do any work all day. I was able to get him at the end.”

Froome led the GC favourites over the line, one second ahead of Rodriguez and seven ahead of Contador. Contador remains in the overall lead of the race, now 42 seconds ahead of Valverde, who ceded 22 seconds on the stage. Chris Froome sits in third, 1:13 back.

Canada’s Guillaume Boivin came across the line safely, 24 minutes behind the winner.