Stage 21
Degenkolb, and Aru's Vuelta
- Sunday 13 September 2015
- 97.2 km
- 726 m climbed
- Won by John Degenkolb
The road
At the start
Madrid, twelve laps at dusk
Fabio Aru took the Vuelta on the second climb of the Morcuera and rides to Madrid in red, 1:17 up on Joaquim Rodríguez and 1:29 on Rafał Majka; Tom Dumoulin, who started yesterday leading the race, is sixth. Today is 97 kilometres to the capital and twelve evening laps of a circuit through the middle of it — a fiesta, a bunch sprint, and a red jersey only an accident can take away.
How it was won
- 53 km to go
A green jersey settled on the second lap
The only real racing of a festive evening: Valverde slips away for the intermediate sprint on the second passage of the line. Rodríguez has punctured just before it, and the points jersey changes hands there and then.
- At the line
Degenkolb, and Aru's Vuelta
Giant-Alpecin give Degenkolb a perfect lead-out and he appears to open too early — then kicks again and holds off Van Poppel by two lengths. Behind, Fabio Aru rolls in to win the first Grand Tour of his career.
The result
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Degenkolb | Team Giant - Alpecin | 2:34:13 |
| 2 | Danny van Poppel | Trek Factory Racing | +0:00 |
| 3 | Jempy Drucker | BMC Racing Team | +0:00 |
The route on real terrain, every moment pinned to the kilometre it happened on — and the GPX to ride it yourself.