Team DSM rider Thymen Arensman won his first Grand Tour stage on stage 15 of Vuelta a Espana on Sunday, a 153km mountain ride from Martos to Sierra Nevada, as Remco Evenepoel fought hard to retain his red jersey.
Arensman attacked to catch and pass Marc Soler of UAE Team Emirates and pushed on to win alone on the “queen stage” to the altitude finish atop Sierra Nevada.
The Dutchman was the only rider from the breakaway who was able to resist Movistar rider Enric Mas, who came second after finishing one minute 23 seconds behind the winner.
“It’s still really hard to believe, it really hasn’t sunk in,” said Arensman said. “When I was alone ... I only kept thinking that I got to push and it was enough. It’s unbelievable.”
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Miguel Angel Lopez of Astana Qazaqstan came third, while Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider Evenepoel finished 10th after coming under pressure early on the climb.
Evenepoel retained his lead but lost time to Jumbo-Visma's Primoz Roglic, who made an attack in the final kilometre and finished fifth.
Evenepoel remained one minute 34 seconds ahead of Roglic with Mas in third place, two minutes and 1 second behind.
After a rest day on Monday, the peloton will pick up again on stage 16, a 189km ride from Sanlucar de Barrameda to Tomares on Tuesday.
Under dire threat of relegation from the World Tour, meanwhile, the Israel-Premiertech team received a useful fillip at the opening stage of the Tour of Britain, won by their New Zealand first-year professional Corbin Strong.
The 22-year-old outshone more illustrious team-mates such as their new signing Dylan Teuns, who has been hired specifically to garner ranking points that may preserve the team’s top-level status.
Summit finishes are a rarity at the Tour of Britain, and Sunday’s opener to the top of the bleak 9km ascent up the Old Military Road to the Glenshee ski station was the first time the British race has had such a long uphill run to the chequered flag on its opening day. There were few fireworks, however, as a stiff headwind on the exposed, draggy road discouraged initiative until the last moment.
Conventionally, an uphill finish is won by the rider who keeps patient, saving his surge until the last moment, and the New Zealander timed his effort just right to sprint off the wheel of Ineos’s Spaniard Omar Fraile. If their respective names were any guide, Strong versus Fraile was only going to have one winner.
“It’s a big result for me,” said the 22-year-old Strong, “in my first year with Israel-Premiertech there have been lots of ups and downs. I’m happy to show I can win at this level. I was out of position at 300m to go, but a gap opened, I got on the Ineos train and the adrenaline kicked in.”
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