Stage 15

The road

At the start

Seventy kilometres cut for the heat

La Pandera moved Gall past Roglič into second at 2:06, the Slovenian four seconds further back, and it cost Visma another rider: Christophe Laporte abandoned, thirty-four now home. Then the forecast arrived. Forty degrees across Andalusia, and the organisers have cut today's stage from 190 kilometres to 110 and taken most of the climbing with it. What is left is a short, hot run into Córdoba.

How it was won

1. 131 km to go

   Five, in forty degrees

   Andreas Leknessund is the last survivor of an eleven-man break that went inside the first ten kilometres, and he has been alone since attacking with thirty-nine to run. Debruyne catches him from the peloton at thirty-three, Van Aert and Romele bridge two kilometres later, Thibau Nys a kilometre after that. Van Aert has chosen the moment at the intermediate sprint on purpose: with Brennan still in the bunch behind, Visma have nothing at all to lose by sending their green jersey up the road.

2. 219 km to go

   He tries alone, then stops trying

   With nineteen kilometres left Van Aert goes for the whole thing on his own, and four riders who are collectively faster than he is alone refuse to let it happen. So he stops attacking. From here to Córdoba he simply marks — every surge from Nys, every dig from Leknessund, closed calmly and without ever appearing troubled, in thirty-seven degrees.

3. 33 km to go

   Nys launches at 3.2

   The last throw comes from Thibau Nys with 3.2 kilometres to go, and Debruyne goes straight onto it. Van Aert brings the other two across himself rather than let a gap live, which tells everybody watching exactly how confident he is about what happens next.

4. 4At the line

   Córdoba again

   Nys opens the sprint and Van Aert sits on him, waits, and blasts past to win in Córdoba for the second time in his career and the second time in three days at this Vuelta. Romele takes second and Nys third; the next riders are almost a minute back and the GC group at 2:44, with Mas's 2:06 over Gall untouched at the end of a day the organisers cut by seventy kilometres to keep the race on its feet.

The result