Roglič and Valverde solidify their Vuelta positions on Stage 15 summit finish
Dream stage for Jumbo-Visma as Sepp Kuss climbs to victory
Jumbo-Visma saw their American Sepp Kuss earn his first World Tour victory on Sunday’s Stage 15 summit finish of the Vuelta a España and their race leader Primož Roglič solidify his lead along with Alejandro Valverde. Valverde took a big step towards securing a ninth Grand Tour podium.
The Course
Race organizers evenly distributed four Cat. 1 mountains over 154.4-km, with Puerto del Acebo bookending the race at 8.4 km of 9.8 percent.
No need for too many words this morning.
Stage 15 of #LaVuelta19 (which, by the way, isn't followed by a rest day, but by another mountain stage). pic.twitter.com/5gm0BNeNTY— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) September 8, 2019
A platoon of fugitives bolted early and Marc Soler was the first up Puerto del Acebo I and fifth to the top of Puerto del Connio. With 55-km to go, the gap was 3:30.
? – 61 KM | Etapa 15 – Stage 15 | #LaVuelta19
?♂️?♂️ Colabora la numerosa fuga de @solermarc93 Izagirre @joherradalopez @O_RodGar… / ?? Good cooperation in the 17-man break.
Escapados ↔️ +3:39" Peloton
?️ https://t.co/izln1uYnJq pic.twitter.com/1AxwM89Y7t
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 8, 2019
The third Cat. 1 was Puerto del Pozo de las Muejeres Muertas (if you’re not into the whole brevity thing). Sergio Samitier of the vibrant Euskadi Basque Country-Murias squad skipped away from his breakmates. Samitier received two reinforcements but tipped over first 4:30 ahead of the peloton.
The Summit Finish
With his ex-breakmates closing in on his trio, Samitier went solo but found Vasil Kiryienka bridging over from the chase before the second ascent of Puerto del Acebo.
Onto the final climb – an alternative, steeper ascent of the Puerto del Acebo, up to the Sanctuario del Acebo. Rarely dips below double-digit gradients #LaVuelta pic.twitter.com/iS8gdlZaSL
— Felix Lowe (@saddleblaze) September 8, 2019
When the road kicked up to 16% Kiryienka couldn’t hang with Samitier. However, Kuss clambered over to Samitier and flew by him with 6.7 km to go.
In the favourites group Valverde attacked but Roglič was able to match him. The two carried on putting time into their rivals. Behind, fifth-place Nairo Quintana dropped away from Tadej Pogačar, Angel Lopez, Rafal Majka and others.
? – 3 KM | Etapa 15 – Stage 15 | #LaVuelta19
?Los dos primeros clasificados, @alejanvalverde y @rogla, mantienen una veintena de segundos de ventaja / ?? Valverde and Roglic are still riding together!
?️ https://t.co/izln1uYnJq pic.twitter.com/Mqou4L7h7C
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 8, 2019
Kuss had plenty of time for high fives with the crowd.
— Cycling out of context (@OutOfCycling) September 8, 2019
Rogla and the Green Bullet finished together 2:14 later, and Superman and Pogačar came in together 41-seconds after that. Quintana lost a minute to Roglič and Valverde but Majka is still a long way from the Colombian’s fifth place.
Monday’s course shoves three Cat. 1 climbs into 144 km, the summit finish ascent 18 km long.
2019 Vuelta a España Stage 15
1) Sepp Kuss (USA/Jumbo-Visma) 4:19:04
2) Ruben Guerreiro (Portugal/Team Katusha Alpecin) +0:39
3) Tao Geoghegan Hart (Great Britain/Ineos) +0:40
2019 Vuelta a España GC
1) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) 58:10:32
2) Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) +2:25
3) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) +3:42
4) Angel Lopez (Colombia/Astana) +3:49
5) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) +5:09
