Stage 16

The road

At the start

A short, furious day to Bejes

The last week begins with the same three men in the same order: Sepp Kuss in red, Primož Roglič at 1:37, Jonas Vingegaard at 1:44 — and a Jumbo-Visma team that will have to choose between them before Madrid. Today is only 119 kilometres along the Cantabrian coast and then straight up a climb the Vuelta has never used, Bejes, 4.8 kilometres at 8.8 per cent. Tomorrow is the Angliru.

How it was won

1. 159 km to go

   Groves grabs the points

   After 60km of all-out racing Groves finally gets into the break, mops up the points sprint to extend his green-jersey lead, then sits up.

2. 24 km to go

   Vingegaard explodes

   On the explosive climb to Bejes Vingegaard detonates 3.9km from the line; only Finn Fisher-Black can briefly respond before cracking.

3. 31 km to go

   Roglič's dilemma

   Seeing his Vuelta slipping away, Roglič attacks his own teammates in the final kilometre, forcing Mas, Ayuso and Kuss into survival mode.

4. 4At the line

   Bejes

   Vingegaard wins alone and moves into second overall, the Jumbo grip on the race tightening.

The result