Vuelta a Espana 2021 – Hat-trick for Magnus Cort as breakaway survive in thriller, Primoz Roglic keeps red

On a thrilling day in sunny Galicia, during which the pendulum swung between the peloton and the breakaway with almost every pedal stroke, it was the break who ultimately prevailed in Monforte de Lemos as Danish powerhouse Magnus Cort completed a memorable hat-trick of Vuelta stage wins for EF Education-Nippo.

Supported by his American teammate Lawson Craddock in the breakaway, which had been reduced to just seven riders ahead of the finish, Cort out-kicked Portugal’s Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates) and the American Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) in a pulsating finale, as the peloton closed in.

Italy’s Andrea Bagioli (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and France’s Anthony Roux (Groupama-FDJ) competed the top five ahead of Denmark’s Andreas Kron (Lotto Soudal) before Craddock rolled over the line with both arms in his air as he celebrated his teammate’s third win of the race.

The advantage of the breakaway came down to just 20 seconds with 20km remaining as the BikeExchange and DSM teams of sprinters Michael Matthews and Alberto Dainese combined on the front to set up their fast men for the finish.

But the seven survivors from the initial 32-man move survived a fascinating game of cat-and-mouse before battling it out amongst themselves for the cheese. Craddock kept the pace high through two tight corners in the final kilometre before the American Simmons opened up the sprint. Cort, already a two-time winner from earlier in the race, had enough in the tank to come through and hold Oliveira at bay to cap a fine race for his team following the early withdrawal of their GC hope Hugh Carthy.

“It’s amazing – it’s a dream now and I really hope I don’t wake up,” Cort said after the sixth Vuelta stage win of his career. “It was not until the last five or six kilometres that I started believing. They always kept us close and it was a really hard day. Everybody had tired legs and it was hard to work well together over this hilly terrain. I could not have done this without my teammate Lawson Craddock supporting me in the breakaway so I must thank him for everything he did today.”

Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) finished safely in the bunch to tick off another day in red, with his third coronation in Spain now looking a formality ahead of a final day in the mountains and the decisive time trial in Santiago de Compostela on Sunday. The only change in the top 10 saw the Spaniard David de la Cruz (UAE Team Emirates) rise to tenth place at the expense of the South African Louis Meintjes, the Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert rider forced to withdraw following a crash.

On a hilly opening third to the 191km stage leaving Asturias and entering Galicia in north-west Spain, a 24-man move came together after the first of three lower-category climbs that peppered the parcours.

Joining the aforementioned seven were Mikael Cherel and Damien Touze (AG2R-Citroen), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), Aritz Bagues (Caja Rural-Seguros), Patrick Gamper (Bora-Hansgrohe), Mark Padun (Bahrain-Victorious), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Nico Denz (Team DSM), Antonio Soto (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Jay Vine (Alpecin-Fenix), Pelayo Sanchez (Burgos-BH), Julen Amezqueta and Oier Lazkano (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Robert Stannard (Team BikeEchange), Fabio Aru (Team Qhubeka NextHash), Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) and Eddy Finé (Cofidis).

On the third climb, created with 130km remaining, the green jersey Fabio Jakobsen was distanced from the peloton – a matter of no small insignificance as it meant the Dutchman’s Deceuninck-QuickStep team opted to place their faith in Bagioli in the breakaway rather than help in the chase.

Occupying themselves in that chase were Team DSM and Team BikeExchange with the gap pushing three minutes as the riders entered the final 100km with the break down to 18 riders after shedding the deadwood.

With 60km remaining, the breakaway’s advantage was not much over one minute – sparking a brave solo attempt from Oliveira to go clear. The upshot of the Portuguese’s shake-out saw 11 escapees survive with just 45 seconds to play with over what appeared to be a coordinated chase behind from BikeExchange.

A touch of wheels at speed saw Meintjes hit the deck and crash out of the race – just one day after the South African’s strong finish on the Altu d’El Gamoniteiru saw him rise into the top 10. Simmons and Oliveira then went clear with 35km remaining, with teammates Cort and Craddock joining Kron, Bagioli and veteran Roux in pursuit: the last seven survivors from the day’s break.

With Simmons and Oliveira pegged back, the seven riders combined well together and managed to keep the chasing peloton at around 30 seconds throughout the tense ride into the finish. Craddock then gave his teammate Cort the magic carpet treatment ahead of the 28-year-old’s third stage win.

“We had this day circled for sure and we knew it was going to be extremely challenging,” an ecstatic Craddock said after the stage. “We wanted to race ahead and fortunately Magnus and I both got in the break. It was extremely difficult and fast all day. The bunch never gave us much time and there were quite a few moments when we weren’t quite sure if we could even believe we were going to make it.

Young Italian sprinter Dainese won the sprint for eighth place ahead of compatriot Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) when the thwarted peloton crossed the line 18 seconds down on Cort. Jakobsen finished in last place in the gruppetto, which came home over 26 minutes down. The Dutchman is now assured of the green jersey provided he can make it through Saturday’s final day in the mountains.

Stage 20 is a rolling 202km ride over countless hills and five categorised climbs, culminating in a Cat.2 test which hits a maximum gradient of 16 per cent. It will be the last chance for Roglic’s rivals to put the red jersey under pressure ahead of Sunday’s 32km time trial, for which the Slovenian is the outright favourite.

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