Home > News

2015 Vuelta a España Stage 20: Aru steals red jersey on thrilling stage to Cercedilla

Ruben Plaza (Spain/Lampre) won the day's champagne, soloing for 125-km out of an enormous breakaway. Plaza also won a stage of this year's Tour de France.

Fabio Aru
September 12, 2015
Share on SMS

Fabio Aru finally cracked Tom Dumoulin Saturday after three weeks of struggle. On the 2015 Vuelta a España’s penultimate, mountainous stage, the last day to make GC gains, Astana’s Italian ace ambushed Dumoulin with superior numbers and an exploding ascent of the second-to-last climb to retake the race lead.

Ruben Plaza (Spain/Lampre) won the day’s champagne, soloing for 125-km out of an enormous breakaway. Plaza also won a stage of this year’s Tour de France. Plaza’s victory was Lampre’s second in the 2015 Vuelta after Nelson Oliveira’s Stage 13 triumph.

What started off as an 11-man breakaway at the base of the first Cat. 1 Puerto de Navacerrada at the 30-km mark became a 38-rider chase after buccaneer Plaza on the next ascent 38-km later, Puerto de la Morcuera. In the valley between Cat. 1’s two and three, Plaza had 1:45 on the pursuing mob and 12:40 on the Dumoulin peloton.

The riders in the chase group decided to shed passengers on the penultimate climb of Puerto de la Morcuera. After a few digs, Italian duo Giovani Visconti (Movistar) and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) became Plaza’s closest pursuers.

When the peloton hit the Morcuera, Mikel Landa (Spain/Astana) led Aru on an attack that Dumoulin closed with ease. Landa’s move unhitched Valverde. Aru then attacked when Landa swung off. Dumoulin couldn’t respond but Aru had several on his wheel. The gap at the crest was 24-seconds, and Aru had been in arrears 6-seconds at the start of the day.

At the front of the race Plaza stayed 1:20 ahead of his chasers, now a quartet. The Dutchman in red closed the gap and then saw it stretched again. He shook his head. It was over.

Onto the Puerto de Cotos, Aru had three teammates to dictate the pace, and Dumoulin tumbled farther behind, with only 9th-place Mikel Nieve (Spain/Sky) for help until the Spaniard left him. Then the Giant-Alpecin man found an Astana rider clinging to his wheel.

On the Cotos Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) flashed out from the Aru group in a bid to climb the GC, but the man he wanted to climb over, Rafal Majka (Poland/Tinkoff-Saxo), clung tenaciously. Plaza crested the Cotos with a 1:48 lead over his pursuers. He rolled the 17-km remaining with ease and flung his gloves to the crowd at the line.

Aru was relieved and ecstatic when he crossed the line. Dumoulin and Valverde finished nearly four minutes down on the Aru group. The Dutchman dropped to 6th on GC, just over a year since he lost the Tour of Alberta on the final stage, while the Spaniard will be disappointed to stumble to seventh, though he’ll now own a streak of seven consecutive Grand Tour top-10’s.

Dumoulin will perhaps take solace from his two stage wins and the best Grand Tour of his career. Dumoulin is the Grand Tour revelation of the season, as Aru was last year.

Majka moved up to third, and in Madrid he’ll be the first Pole on a Grand Tour podium since Zenon Jaskula took third in the 1993 Tour de France. On the subject of podiums, El Purito will finish runner-up in Grand Tour for the second time and stand on a Grand Tour final podium for his fourth time.

The red jersey has changed hands eight times.

Sunday’s final stage is a processional into Madrid where the sprinters will finally have their day again.


2015 Vuelta a España Stage 20
1) Ruben Plaza (Spain/Lampre) 4:37:05
2) José Gonçalves (Portugal/Caja Rural) +1:07
3) Alessandro De Marchi (Italy/BMC) +1:08
112) Dominique Rollin (Canada/Cofidis) +23:02
140) Antoine Duchesne (Canada/Europcar) s.t.

2015 Vuelta a España GC
1) Fabio Aru (Italy/Astana) 83:01:40
2) Joaquim Rodriguez (Russia/Katusha) +1:17
3) Rafal Majka (Poland/Tinkoff-Saxo) +1:29
116) Dominique Rollin (Canada/Cofidis) +3:35:55
139) Antoine Duchesne (Canada/Europcar) +3:57:57