Stage 13

The road

At the start

Down into the medium mountains

Calar Alto pushed Mas out to 1:45 on Roglič and 2:06 on Gall, and lifted a twenty-year-old debutant, Jakob Omrzel, from tenth to sixth. Jay Vine climbed off on the mountain and Lutsenko has not started; twenty-five are gone. Today drops out of the high peaks into the medium ones — 193 kilometres from Almuñécar to Loja over three long, shallow climbs, the last the Puerto de Granada, thirty-seven out.

How it was won

1. 1162 km to go

   Forty riders go up the road

   Novak, Berrade and Fortunato all try and all fail, and it takes thirty kilometres before the day settles — into a breakaway forty riders strong, which no single team in the peloton can do anything about. Skjelmose is in it at 7:42 down and is given four minutes anyway. Over the Venta de la Cebada, Van Aert beats Buitrago again, ten points to six.

2. 2109 km to go

   The break splits, and Van Aert is on the wrong side

   Fifteen kilometres of shallow drag over the Alto del Legionario, and for once the mountains duel happens somewhere else: Albanese leads Martin over the top while Van Aert and Buitrago sit in the second group on the road. Ten riders are away in front — Brennan among them, which is the only reason Visma can afford to wait — and they open a minute and a half.

3. 337 km to go

   Van Aert bridges on the Granada

   The ten fall apart with forty kilometres to go, just as the road tilts up to the Puerto de Granada. Armirail drags a chase most of the way across and Van Aert finishes the job himself, alone, while Vermaerke leads over the summit. On the descent the front swells to twenty riders and the Belgian starts attacking it immediately, over and over, with Brennan sitting in behind him and the peloton four and a half minutes adrift.

4. 44 km to go

   The kicker before the village

   Vermaerke tries at seven kilometres, Van Aert and Dalby and Bisiaux at six, and inside five it turns into cat-and-mouse with nine riders watching one another. Van Aert has been looking at this last rise into Loja on the profile all day. He goes on it with 3.6 kilometres left, takes Valentin Paret-Peintre with him, and the gap opens instantly, because behind them nobody wants to be the one who closes it.

5. 5At the line

   Fifty-eight, and finally one here

   The Frenchman gives him turns the whole way and then launches the sprint from second wheel, which against this opponent settles nothing. Van Aert comes past without difficulty for the fifty-eighth win of his career and his fourth at the Vuelta — a first stage of this one, after four days in the breakaway and three top-fives. Brennan makes it a Visma one-three at twenty-four seconds.

The result