As it happened: Vuelta a Espana, Stage 16 - Fabio Jakobsen weathers storm for birthday victory

Updated 31/08/2021 at 15:42 GMT

Fabio Jakobsen tightened his grip on the green jersey with a third stage win on his birthday despite bring dropped by the peloton earlier in the day. Felix Lowe watched the race so you didn't need to... Follow all the action with Felix Lowe. You can watch La Vuelta live and ad-free on the Eurosport app and Eurosport.co.uk

Stage 16 profile: Laredo – Santa Cruz de Bezana

No change in the general classification

Victory saw Jakobsen strengthen his grip on the green jersey on what will be the last opportunity in the race for the sprinters to shine. The Dutchman now leads nearest challenger Trentin by 127 points with five stages remaining – four in the mountains and the final day time trial in Santiago de Compostela.

Vuelta a España

‘Roglic didn’t look particularly comfortable’ – Lloyd on lack of Stage 15 ‘fireworks’

04/09/2022 at 17:27

Focus now shifts to the Asturias mountains with a tough stage to the mythical Covadonga lakes, with Norway’s Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) retaining a 54-second lead over Frenchman Guillaume Martin (Cofidis). Defending champion Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) is poised in third place at 1:36 ahead of Movistar duo Enric Mas and Miguel Angel Lopez.

Today's top five

1. Fabio Jakobsen
2. Jordi Meeus
3. Matteo Trentin
4. Michael Matthews
5. Alberto Dainese

And once again, Arnaud Demare was absolutely nowhere to be seen after all that work from his depleted Groupama team: the Frenchman failing to even make the top 15. For Jakobsen, it was an expert finish having been tailed off earlier in the stage - and in the finale when teammate Bert Van Lerberghe went clear of the field through the succession of chicanes.

Hat-trick for Fabio Jakobsen!

The man in green times it perfectly to power past Jordi Meeus and hold off Matteo Trentin to take his third victory of this race - and well earned there after what was a highly technical finale. And that, folks, is how you celebrate your birthday...

Final kilometre

It's a very scrappy approach to the finish as the road narrows through numerous twists and turns...

2km: Here come the Wolfpack...

And here comes EF Education-First for Cort. It looks like it will be a ding dong battle between the Dane and the green jersey - but Matthews, Demare and Meeus are all in the mix.

3km: QuickStep holding back

Bora and Groupama are on the front while Deceuninck keep their powder dry for Jakobsen. A few days ago it was around here that they inadvertently dropped the Dutchman, so they're not going to repeat that mistake...

5km: Just 10 seconds for Dewulf

He's not giving up but this is merely for the combativity prize - there's no way the Belgian can hold on now. We have another climb coming up and Deceuninck, Groupama, BikeExchange, UAE and Bora are all on the front. And that's it for Dewulf, he's swept up with 4.5km remaining. Groupama are on the front. They lost Molard today but can they finally deliver Demare to the line?

9km: Dewulf the last man standing

The Belgian digs deep after his breakaway companions are swallowed up by the pack, along with Kron. Now the GC teams flock to the front as the pace goes into overdrive. Magnus Cort looks to be very interested and he's there with three EF teammates in pink.

11km: Bol goes clear

On the next climb, Jetse Bol dances clear of the remaining escapees. But he's soon joined by Dewulf and Claeys. Simmons and Bizkarra have almost been caught by the pack, out of which Andreas Kron of Lotto Soudal has just attacked.

13km: Vanhoucke dropped

Last to join the break, first to leave... The Belgian is tailed off on one of these short spiky climbs in the run into the finish. Just 25 seconds for the leaders now.

20km: Still 30 seconds for leaders

We have a few small climbs coming up so it will be interesting to see if any riders try and use the gradients as a springboard. Amazing scenery - and wonderful to see it in sunshine today.

28km: Alpecin, Groupama, QuickStep and DSM

And just like that UAE Team Emirates disappear from the front, to be replaced by the teams of the other big sprinters ahead of today's fast finish, which we're hearing is quite technical despite it being very flat. First job is to bring this breakaway to heel: the gap is still 30 seconds. Then they have to ensure their men get over a few of these small kickers on the route ahead of the final.

33km: Bol wins intermediate sprint

Just as he did over the only categorised climb of the day, Jetse Bol kicked clear to take maximum points and bonus seconds at the sprint at Santillana del Mar. The gap is one minute for our five leaders with UAE back on the front alongside the BikeExchange teammates of Michael Matthews who, like Trentin, is still looking for his first win on this race. Cameras lingered on Egan Bernal and Steven Kruijswijk shaking their heads at one another: they clearly anticipated an easier day today.

38km: UAE knock it off

Matteo Trentin's teammates are no longer going big guns on the front - probably because they were just tiring themselves out and gaining very little. It was an exciting move while it lasted, but once Jakobsen came back across it looked like it was a time to take a break.

A reminder of our six leaders: Stan Dewulf (AG2R-Citroën), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Dimitri Claeys (Qhubeka NextHash), Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo), Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH) and Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal). Their lead is back up to 55 seconds.

48km: Jakobsen back in the game

Deceuninck-QuickStep have managed to tug their Dutch man in green back into the fold after the two main packs came together - but the pace is still high thanks to UAE and there are still more uncategorised climbs on the horizon for Matteo Trentin's team to do some damage. The break still has 30 seconds to play with.

Final podium: Have your say

We still have five more stages to go after this one but The Breakway have been chatting about who's going to be on the podium after the final time trial on Sunday. Have your say on Twitter...

52km: Mind the gap!

It's really MC Hammer time for UAE who continue over the brow of this climb and have the peloton all strung out. They're just 35 seconds behind the six leaders now but, more importantly, they have a 20 second gap over the second peloton, where Jakobsen finds himself after being dropped on that last climb.

55km: Jakobsen in second peloton

The green jersey has missed the split and that explains why UAE continue to push push push on the front on this uncategorised climb, which they have really turned into an effective springboard. The gap is small and the Dutchman has numerous QuickStep teammates around him - but why not give it a go? It's a nice philosophy we're seeing from Joe Dombrowski et al.

58km: Splits in bunch as UAE thrown down the hammer

All of a sudden the UAE Team Emirates squad of Matteo Trentin flocked to the front and started drilling a hefty tempo. The result has seen the break's gap tumble to under a minute and we've also have a second peloton off the back after a split formed. Exciting stuff. Trentin has a fourth and second place from last week and he clearly wants to distance some of the sprinters before the finish.

62km: Rudy Molard abandons

The Frenchman was also involved in that early crash today. It was clearly a very nasty incident - and at top speed - because we've seen numerous riders (most notably Spanish duo Joan Bou of Euskaltel and Aritz Bagues of Caja Rural) with some serious road rash and torn kit in the peloton. Molard's withdrawal hammers another nail into the Groupama-FDJ coffin with Arnaud Demare's chances of a sprint win today looking even more unlikely given his form and the depletion of his train.

65km: Vanhoucke joins breakaway

So we now have six riders out ahead with a gap that has grown back to 1:40 after the peloton took things quite easy on that descent. As if so often the case, it's a second rest day on the bounce following the official one.

73km: Bol leads break over the top

Dutchman Jetse Bol kicks clear to pocket the 3pts over the top ahead of Mikel Bizkarra and Stan Dewulf. Vanhoucke goes over just 30 seconds down and so it's almost all over for the breakaway it would seem.

76km: Lotto Soudal lead the counter skirmishes

With the peloton hitting that climb we finally see a bit of action as Lotto duo Maxim Van Gils and Harm Vanhoucke ride clear of the pack. Burgos-BH show some interest but then ease up - and eventually it's Vanhoucke who goes on solo after his fellow Belgian slingshots him forward. Vanhoucke could well get across to the breakaway but to what end?

Ciccone withdraws

That's very sad. The Italian was six minutes down in 12th place ahead of his favoured terrain but an early crash today has skuppered his race. Sep Vanmarcke of Israel Start-Up Nation has also thrown in the towel following a crash on Sunday when the Belgian was taken out by Dani Navarro on a hairpin bend during a descent.

80km: Cat.3 Alto de Hijas

We're approaching the only categorised climb which is 4.2km long at 6.5%. There's been a bit of a collective easing up with the status quo remaining unchanged for the past hour or so, with the gap still 1:45 for our five leaders. Maybe a change in gradient will spice things up a little. We can always hope...

95km: Calm before the storm

DSM and Groupama have one rider apiece on the front ahead of the Deceuninck-QuickStep train. The gap is down to 1:45 for the breakaway and we finally have some live images from the host broadcaster. Trek-Segafredo, meanwhile, have a number of riders on the back - including their man Giulio Ciccone, who went down in today's early crash and looks to be struggling a little.

100km: Fabio Jakobsen turns 25

It's not just Puccio who celebrates his birthday today: the man in green - and outright favourite for the stage win - turns 25 and will be looking for the best present: a third stage win to consolidate his green jersey lead ahead of five days where he is unlikely to add many points to his tally ahead of the finish.

The gap is back up to 2:05 for the five escapees as the race enters the final 100km.

We should remember that Jakobsen wasn't best pleased on Friday when he was tailed off by his Deceuninck-QuickStep train before teammate Florian Senechal's win. At the finish, he approached the Frenchman and said: "Congratulations - but if you don't look behind, you're not a lead-out man for me." Tense...

‘He was p****ed off’ - Wiggins suggests ‘alpha male’ Jakobsen angry with failure as Senechal wins

Final podium predictions

Interestingly, Dan Lloyd doesn't think the defending champion will even make the final podium come Santiago de Compostela - a huge call given the fact that there's that final day time trial that should suit him to a tee. Wiggo, meanwhile, has backed Eiking to hold on for third place, while Sean foresees a late charge up the standings for Adam Yates.

Who are today's favourites?

The last 2km are entirely flat so - provided the teams of the fast men get their act together - we should see a sprint royale for the spoils in Santa Cruz de Bezana this afternoon. With two wins already to his name - and chief sprint rival Jasper Philipsen long gone - Fabio Jakobsen is the bookmakers' favourite to notch a hat-trick of wins.

But other riders to watch include Alberto Dainese (Team DSM), Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ), Mattheo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), Michael Matthews and/or Luka Mezgec (both Team BikeExchange), Piet Allegaert (Cofidis), Sacha Modolo (Alpecin-Fenix), Jon Aberasturi (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) and, depending on whether he's tempted to have a pop, the Dane Magnus Cort (EF Education-Nippo) who, like Jakobsen, already has two wins to his name.

No change really in the gap, which is still around the 1:40 mark for our five leaders: Dewulf, Bol, Bizkarra, Claeys and Simmons.

120km: Salvatore Puccio turns 32

For want of some better things to say, the Italian celebrates his birthday today. Many will be surprised to hear that Puccio is actually riding this Vuelta - he's hardly been at the forefront of the action. This is his 15th Grand Tour and Puccio had been a vital cog in numerous Sky/Ineos victories through the years including the 2017 Vuelta (Chris Froome), the 2018 Giro (Froome again) and the Giro in both 2020 (Tao Geoghegan Hart) and 2021 (Egan Bernal). He's taken quite a back-seat role in this Vuelta, however. Perhaps he'll come good in the final week?

140km: Gap starts to come down

It's been quite a fast start to the stage with the riders covering 43.6km in the opening hour - and it would have been higher had there not been a relative easing following that early crash which involved Mas, Martin and Ciccone - plus a dozen others. Deceuninck-QuickStep are chipping in with the pacing now as the advantage of the five escapees drops to a manageable 1:45. We've gone up and over a small hill but it's largely flat now until the only categorised climb of the day, the Cat.3 Alto de Hijas.

155km: Ciccone worst off after that crash

The first pictures from the early crash have now dropped on the wires and here's one of the Trek-Segafredo rider looking rather woebegone as he awaits treatment. Ciccone has rejoined the peloton but it's going to be a tough day for him and it's hardly the best preparation for his top 10 push ahead of tomorrow's stage to Lagos de Covadonga.

Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) receives treatment after an early crash in Stage 16 of the Vuelta a Espana 2021

Image credit: Getty Images

160km: Groupama-FDJ and Team DSM lead chase

No huge surprise here: Deceuninck-QuickStep have the fastest man in Fabio Jakobsen and the day the Dutchman had a stinker, his French teammate Florian Senechal took the win instead. They have no pressure on them to do anything today, leaving the onus on DSM and Groupama.

DSM have had an impressive race with their climbers Michael Storer (twice) and Romain Bardet taking wins. But their sprinter Alberto Dainese has yet to pick up a maiden Grand Tour stage win in his debut having finished 12th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 3rd in previous sprints. Groupama, meanwhile, have had a shocking race, with their French sprinter Arnaud Demare misfiring completely. Apart from a second place in Stage 4, Demare has only once cracked the top 10 and on Friday could only take 43rd in the last bunch gallop.

The gap has been kept around 2:20 and the Italian Ciccone, who came down in that early crash, has almost managed to return to the peloton. It's much cooler in northern Spain than last week down in the south west with the temperature currently a clement 22 degrees Celsius.

165km: Five now in breakaway of the day

Bol makes the connection and it seems like we have our day's break because the gap had grown above the two-minute mark and the peloton - still settling down following that early crash - seems content to let this one go. We'll probably have a brief hiatus before some of the sprinters' teams flock to the front to regulate the gap. There's certainly no GC threat from the quintet with the two best placed riders - Bol and Bizkarra - both almost two hours in arrears.

170km: Four riders clear

There's a split in the pack following that early crash and emerging from the chaos is a four-man move which manages to open up a 30-second gap while the likes of Mas, Martin and Ciccone return to the fold. The leaders are Stan Dewulf (AG2R-Citroën), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Dimitri Claeys (Qhubeka NextHash) and Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo). You won't be surprised to hear that we have Dutchman Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH) trying to bridge over. It's was a very fast start before that incident but things may settle down now a move seems to have gone clear - especially in the light of that crash.

175km: Early blow for Enric Mas!

There's been a crash in the bunch with a litany of riders down - most notably Frenchman Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and Spain's Enric Mas (Movistar), who are second and fourth respectively in the overall standings. We'll keep an eye on this - that would be a huge blow for Movistar's Mas ahead of the final week; he's been riding extremely well and seems to be the only rider capable of matching Roglic in the mountains.

It also looks like Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) was involved in that crash, which took down around 15 riders. The Italian is currently 12th on GC at 6:16.

180km to go: Stage 16 is under way

After a short neutral zone, the remaining 161 riders have passed under the kilometre zero banner to get this final phase of the race going. We have three brutal days in the mountains - plus the final day time trial at Santiago de Compostela - ahead, but first there's this largely flat stage that will suit both breakaway artists and sprinters alike. But probably the sprinters, given the absence of any more stages suiting their strengths.

A quick reminder of the jerseys - and nearest challengers - coming out of the second rest day:

Red: Odd Christian Eiking (Guillaume Martin +54)
White: Egan Bernal (Aleksandr Vlasov +1:43)
Green: Fabio Jakobsen 200pts (Magnus Cort 114pts)
Polka dots: Romain Bardet 50pts (Damiano Caruso 31pts)

Hola, que tal? And welcome back...

Good afternoon cycling fans - ready for the final phase of the Vuelta? Well, well, well... a slice of humble pie for yours truly this morning. Before the weekend, I wrote a preview about the double header in the Montes de Toledo in which I predicted Odd Christian Eiking would be out of the red jersey picture and Primoz Roglic firmly back in control. But here we are, entering the final week, and the Norwegian still holds a 54-second lead over Guillaume Martin with that man Roglic third at 1:36. I'll put my hands up: I got it wrong.

There shouldn't be much change in the GC picture today - a final showdown for the sprinters as the race starts and finishes on the Cantabrian coast in northern Spain with an inland loop that bypasses the city of Santander. Just the one categorised climb ahead of a flat finish which will be the last chance for Fabio Jakobsen to secure a hat-trick of wins.

'You can’t underestimate him' - Wiggins talks up Bernal fightback in final week of La Vuelta

He might be seventh in the general classification, 4’21” off leader Odd Christian Eiking, but Bradley Wiggins insists Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) should not be written off at La Vuelta just yet.

The Colombian has failed to reproduce his exploits from the Giro d’Italia, where he swept to a maiden pink jersey to banish concerns he was a spent force after a year battling back trouble.

It has been a much trickier task in Spain for the 24-year-old, with rival Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) poised for a third consecutive title should Eiking – as expected – drop back in the final week. The Slovenian is 1’36” behind the leader in third, with Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) sandwiched between them at 54”.

“Bernal was so dominant at the Giro, making a big statement to the rest of the world that he’s back,” began Wiggins on his latest Eurosport podcast.

“When he did that and then didn’t go to the Tour de France, it looked like he was going to come back and make the same statement at the Vuelta. It’s not looking like that at the moment but there’s some tough days to come still."

Stage 15 recap - Majka triumphs after stunning 90-kilometre solo effort

Rafal Majka claimed a comfortable Stage 15 win at the Vuelta a Espana after a tremendous solo effort in the mountains.

The UAE Team Emirates rider seized control of the stage with around 90 kilometres to go after distancing Fabio Aru on the second climb of the day, the Puerto de Pedro Bernardo.

Polish veteran Majka, 31, finished ahead of Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) in second and Chris Hamilton (Team DSM) in third.

Odd Christian Eiking retained the red jersey after a fairly lifeless day in the general classification.

One spark of excitement did come towards the end of the stage, courtesy of Adam Yates. The Lancastrian skipped clear of the red jersey group and succeeded in stealing 15 seconds from the other riders in the GC top ten.

Read the full report here.

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