Mads Pedersen lands hat-trick as Fred Wright falls just short on Stage 19 at La Vuelta

Updated 12/09/2022 at 13:30 GMT

Denmark’s Mads Pedersen outkicked Britain’s Fred Wright in Talavera de la Reina to win Stage 19 and complete a hat-trick of wins on La Vuelta. After his Trek-Segafredo team ended the chances of the three-man breakaway, Pedersen duly delivered to win from a reduced peloton. Remco Evenepoel retained the red jersey two days from Madrid.

Stage 19 highlights: Pedersen secures treble as Evenepoel keeps red

Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) ensured that Stage 19 stuck to the script by winning from a reduced bunch sprint in the streets of Talavera de la Reina on a day where La Vuelta paid tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) finished second and fellow Briton Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) took fourth place in the short but sharp 138.3km stage in central Spain, which was preceded by a minute’s silence to commemorate the Queen, who died aged 96 at her residence in Balmoral on Thursday.

A breakaway of three riders broke clear before the first of two ascents of the Puerto del Pielago but the trio’s advantage was kept under the four-minute mark thanks to the marshalling of Pedersen’s team-mates.

Tour of Flanders Men

Pedersen admits absence of Stuyven and Kirsch for Tour of Flanders a 'pain in the ***'

29/03/2024 at 19:52

Through their hefty tempo, Trek not only managed to neutralise the chances of the break, but also ensured that the lion’s share of Pedersen’s sprint rivals were shelled out the back of the peloton on the second ascent.

Pedersen then kept his side of the bargain by beating Wright by a bike length, with Belgium’s Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Turner and Dutchman Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma) completing the top five.

Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) finished safely in the main pack to retain the red jersey ahead of Saturday’s penultimate stage, a challenging 181km test through the Guardarrama mountain range west of Madrid.

Evenepoel will enter Stage 20 with a 2’07” lead over his closest challenger, the Spaniard Enric Mas, whose Movistar team kept the pressure up on the race leader on the second climb of the day, but never put the 22-year-old under any serious pressure.

British and Ineos riders lead minute’s silence for the Queen at La Vuelta

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH) and Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost) formed the day’s move inside the first half an hour of racing, with the American Lawson Craddock (BikeExchange-Jayco) setting off ahead of the first climb in a bid to bridge over.

Craddock crested the summit around 40 seconds down on the leaders, while secondary attempts to ride clear of the peloton by Euskaltel-Euskadi duo Mikel Bizkarra and Ibai Azurmendi came to nothing, as well as a long-range effort from Australia’s Chris Harper (Jumbo-Visma).

With 80km remaining, Craddock sat up and slipped back to the peloton. A fierce chase from Trek-Segafredo then ensured that the three leaders were brought to heel at the start of the second ascent of the Puerto del Pielago, a 9.3km climb at a gentle gradient of 5.6%.

The pace meant that many of Pedersen’s rivals were dropped, including Pascal Acklemann (UAE Team Emirates), Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe), Dan McLay (Arkea-Samsic) and Kaden Groves (BikeExchange-Jayco).

Jonathan Caicedo, Brandon McNulty and Ander Okamika in the breakaway in Stage 19 of La Vuelta 2022

Image credit: Getty Images

Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) pocketed the maximum five KOM points over the summit to move onto 50 points – double the tally of his nearest challenger for the polka dot jersey, Spain’s Mas.

Save for a last-ditch attempt from Australia’s Miles Scotson (Groupama-FDJ) in the last kilometre, the finish produced no surprises as Pedersen zipped home to deny Britain’s Wright what would have been a poignant first professional win.

To make matters worse for the 23-year-old Wright, his latest near-miss came just minutes after Primoz Roglic went public and blamed the Bahrain Victorious rider for causing the crash that ended the defence of his crown earlier in the week.

Pedersen extended his unassailable lead in the green jersey standings over Wright to 207 points, with Sunday’s final stage in Madrid offering the former world champion an opportunity to win a fourth stage in what has been a highly memorable Vuelta debut.

Before Madrid, the small matter of Saturday’s final showdown in the mountains, where five peaks – including a dual ascent of the Puerto de Navacerrada – will decide whether another stellar debutant will secure the red jersey. Madrid awaits the coronation of Remco Evenepoel, unless Movistar and Mas can spring a surprise at the eleventh hour.

- - -

Stream La Vuelta live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.

Gent - Wevelgem Men