La Vuelta 2018: Oscar Rodriguez wins maiden Grand Tour stage as Jesus Herrada clings on

ByFelix Lowe

Updated 07/09/2018 at 18:54 GMT

Spanish debutant Oscar Rodriguez caused an upset on the cruel double-digit gradient of La Camperona, riding clear of Rafal Majka and Dylan Teuns to win Stage 13 of La Vuelta from the break as compatriot Jesus Herrada dug deep to retain the red jersey on the first of three consecutive mountain-top finishes.

Overnight leader Herrada (Cofidis) looked a picture of pain as he crossed the finish line more than four minutes down on his fellow Spaniard Rodriguez, the surprise stage winner from the Basque wildcard Euskadi-Murias team.

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Herrada saw his advantage slashed to 1min 42sec on Britain’s Simon Yates after the Mitchelton-Scott rider came off second-best in a thrilling duel with his GC rival Nairo Quintana (Movistar) on what many claim to be the steepest finish in pro cycling.

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'What a ride!' - Rodriguez wins Stage 13

The Colombian kicked clear on the home straight to snatch six seconds from Yates and set a climbing record for La Camperona, crossing the line in 21st place in the wake of the remnants of the day’s initial 32-man break, 2’32” down on the winner Rodriguez.

Quintana moved above his Movistar team-mate Alejandro Valverde in the standings after the Spanish veteran came home alongside Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) 11 seconds down on Yates.

With two kilometres remaining of the 174.8km stage in Asturias, northern Spain, the scene looked set for a showdown between Polish climber Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) and BMC’s serial escapee Teuns, of Belgium.

La Vuelta Key Moments - Stage 13

But 23-year-old Rodriguez – riding his maiden Grand Tour and out of contract next season – rode back into contention before making light of the maximum 24% gradient to leave his rivals pedalling squares.

Majka, a stage winner from last year’s Vuelta, appeared to be closing the gap in the final kilometre, but the impressive youngster Rodriguez found a second wind and rode clear to take an astonishing victory by 19 seconds.

Teuns, part of the break for a third day running, was third at 30 seconds, while fellow Belgians Bjorn Lambrecht (Lotto Soudal) and Laurens De Plus (Quick-Step Floors) rounded up the top five.

The likes of Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), Sergio Henao (Team Sky) and double stage winner Ben King (Dimension Data) all starred in the break and finished in the top 20, with fellow escapee Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) the last of the escapees to be picked off by Quintana, right on the finish line.

Big casualties of the day included Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) who both dropped three places to tenth and fourteenth respectively.

As for the battle for red, just eight seconds now separate Yates from his closest contender Quintana after the first of three summit showdowns in the Asturias and Leon mountains.

Stage 13: How it happened

The day’s 32-man break formed quickly after the start and was animated early on by the Belgian Thomas De Gendt, one of five Lotto Soudal riders present, who picked up maximum points over the Cat.3 Alto de la Madera after 20km.

De Gendt repeated that feat going over the first of two first-category ascents around 90km later, cresting the summit of the long but gentle Puerto de Tarna ahead of the American King and the polka dot jersey of Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis).

Both De Gendt and Mate were among the first of the escapees to fade on the final climb, the Spaniard nevertheless retaining his lead in the KOM standings with 64pts with King rising to 40pts, Mollema on 34pts and De Gendt up to 29pts.

With the advantage of the strong breakaway peaking at over nine minutes, King – who trailed Herrada by 7’05” in the overnight standings – rode as the virtual leader for a short while.

Pace-setting on the front of the peloton by Cofidis, Astana and Movistar meant that the gap was down to under four minutes as the leaders hit the forgiving nursery slopes of the Alto de la Camperona.

Majka’s Bora-Hansgrohe team clearly had a plan with both Jay McCarthy and Marcus Burghardt setting a juicy tempo on the gentler gradient to tee up the Pole, who eventually made his move with three kilometres remaining following an initial dig by the Zakarin.

Majka 'surprised' by Rodriguez

Eritrea’s Kudus joined forces with the rangy Russian in a bid to bridge over to Majka but they faded fast, paving the way for the impressive Teuns to show his climbing class.

With two top-five finishes since coming third on Stage 9 to La Covatilla, Teuns clearly had the form – and the 26-year-old Belgian matched his experienced rival pedal stroke for pedal stroke as they weaved up the steepest part of the climb.

But behind the composed Rodriguez kept his cool and powered back into contention, riding back on to the leading duo and then soloing clear ahead of the flamme rouge.

'I can't believe it' - Rodriguez in awe after Vuelta victory

Majka looked to draw on his three Tour de France stage wins with a stirring riposte, but Rodriguez hardly broke sweat as he calmly looked over the shoulder and then cranked out yet more watts on the closing straight.

It was a performance of uphill ability well beyond his years – and on this showing the 23-year-old will not be short of suitors in his bid to find a new contract for 2019. As for his Euskadi-Murias pro-continental team – this victory on one of the stand-out stages of the race should ensure another invitation to La Vuelta 12 months down the line.

In the corresponding race for the red jersey, Herrada found himself dropped early on while the Colombian Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) was momentarily derailed by a mechanical issue which required him to stop ahead of the steepest section of the climb.

Yates responded to all the attacks Quintana made, limiting his losses to the 2016 champion to just a handful of seconds while increasing his lead over all his other rivals.

Lopez recovered to cross the line 20 seconds down on compatriot Quintana and five seconds clear of a group that included David de la Cruz (Team Sky), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) and Rigoberto Uran (EF-Drapac).

Ion Izagirre (Bahrain Merida) dropped from fifth place to seventh on GC after struggling on the climb, his brother Gorka, who was part of the break, dropping back to help pace him to the line during the final kilometre.

Buchmann, Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) all crossed the line before Bennett was the last rider home before the pained face of Herrada came home in red. The Spaniard saw his overall lead slashed in half but lives to fight another day.

Coming up: Stage 14 – Cistierna to Les Praeres (171km)

Five categorised climbs and the punchy Cat.1 finish of the Alto Les Praeres await the riders in a stage which could shake up the general classification considerably. Cofidis have both the red jersey and the polka dot jersey but could feasibly lose them both on Saturday’s humdinger of a stage.

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