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Aussie Jack Haig leaps onto the podium after thrilling last road stage of the Vuelta

Frenchman Clément Champoussin earns first career win with daring late attack

Photo by: Sirotti
September 4, 2021
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Two days after he won a stage of the Vuelta a España, it all went wrong for Angel Lopez (Movistar) on Saturday, as a raid from Bahrain-Victorious’ Jack Haig saw the Australian steal the final podium spot from the Colombian on the last road stage of the 2021 edition after a brave fight. Lopez then had a meltdown on the road and had to be convinced to continue. Bahrain-Victorious had a surprise podium at the Giro d’Italia via runner-up Damiano Caruso. Frenchman Clément Champoussin of AG2R-Citroën earned the victory, his first career win, with a late attack. Primož Roglič was runner-up, padding his lead once again.

You can watch the final stage of the 76th Vuelta a España at FloBikes.

The Course

This was it: the final road stage of the Vuelta, one that appropriately ended in the mountains. It wasn’t the high mountains, but instead the tolling terrain of Galicia. Several uncategorized bumps would form the breakaway, but the sting was in the tail. Three thousand metres of climbing awaited the riders in the final 90 of 202 km in the form of three Cat. 2s, a Cat. 1 and a Cat. 3. The last summit finish of the 2021 Vuelta was 8.2 km, 4.9 percent Alto Castro del Herville.

An intriguing question hovered over the beginning of the stage: which one of DSM’s two riders at the top of the mountains classification would get in the breakaway? Two-stage-winner Michael Storer led with 59 points and Romain Bardet sat on 54. Roglič was third at 48.

Sure enough, the DSM duo were part of a 16-rider gang that went clear on the early lumps. By the time in hit the first categorized climb, Cat. 3 Alto de Vilachán, its gap was 10:00. When Storer eased over the line to take the 3 points, it was clear who was going to win the blue polka dot jersey. Later it was revealed that Bardet was stung by a bee on the descent and not feeling too hot.

With Ineos taking over the front of the peloton from Jumbo-Visma, the breakaway drew closer and the field began to split. The fugitives’ gap was down to 8:30 by the time they started Cat. 2 Alto de Mabia. Once more Storer snaffled up the maximum KOM points.

Ineos’ work on the front of the peloton ate into the breakaway’s lead.

Matteo Trentin attacked his breakmates on the descent of the Mabia and hit the opening slopes of Cat. 1 Alto de Mougás with a 35-second lead. Bardet and Mark Padun were among the handful of riders who joined the Italian. After Trentin was dumped Storer bridged over, crested Mougás first and secured the mountains title.

Back in the peloton, seventh-place Adam Yates accelerated and chipped off an elite little group. From this platoon Egan Bernal and Yates tried the ol’ one-two. After the favourites regrouped, fourth-place Haig attacked. Yates, Roglič, Mas and Haig’s Swiss teammate Gino Mäder were able to go with Haig, but third-place Lopez could not. Lopez had a 1:43 lead over Haig for the final podium spot overnight.

From the breakaway, South African Ryan Gibbons (Trek-Segafredo) took his leave and headed solo to the penultimate climb, Cat. 2 Alto de Prado.

Haig had another teammate in Padun, who came back to help. Lopez gave up and would see many riders climb over him in the GC.

Australian Jack Haig’s aggressive move on the middle climb gained him the podium on the road. Photo: Sirotti

Gibbons started up the Prado with a 3:00 lead on the Haig-Yates-Roglič group and chasers in between. Not only was the red jersey group closing in on the South African, but Mäder was also poised to usurp Egan Bernal’s white young rider’s jersey. The Swiss ended up with a 3:00 gap over the Colombian in the GC. What a day for Bahrain-Victorious.

With 15 km and Alto Castro de Herville to go, Gibbons was looking good. His lead over the chase containing Champoussin was 1:00 and his advantage over the red jersey group was 2:00.

Lopez’s Vuelta was going off the rails. After sitting in the team car, he was convinced to carry on.

Alto Castro de Herville

Yates attacked on the final categorized climb of the 76th Vuelta. At first Haig was able to respond, as did the race leader and Enric Mas. With 6 km to go Gibbons’ gap was 28 seconds. Another thrust from Yates momentarily dropped Haig.

Haig was dropped again and once more resisted. Gibbons was caught and didn’t merely hang on–he attacked with 2.8 km to climb. Mas and Yates tried to break the others.

Out of nowhere, with 1.6 km remaining, Champoussin flew around the favourites in a late bid for glory. He stuck it out for a famous victory. Yates gained eight seconds on Haig.

The 76th Vuelta a España concludes on Sunday with a 33.8 km time trial from Padrón to Santiago de Compostela. Haig has only a minute in hand on Yates.

2021 Vuelta a España Stage 20
1) Clément Champoussin (France/AG2R-Citroën) 5:21:50
2) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) +0:06
3) Adam Yates (Great Britain/Ineos Grenadiers) +0:08

2021 Vuelta a España GC
1) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) 83:11:27
2) Enric Mas (Spain/Movistar) +2:38
3) Jack Haig (Australia/Bahrain-Victorious) +4:48
4) Adam Yates (Great Britain/Ineos Grenadiers) +5:48
5) Gino Mäder (Switzerland/Bahrain-Victorious) +8:14