Spain’s Oscar Rodriguez showed his potential with a stunning victory on stage 13 of La Vuelta on Friday, which finished at the summit of La Camperona.
The 23-year-old Euskadi-Murias rider prevailed ahead of riders with more pedigree, finishing 19 seconds ahead of Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) as Colombia’s Nairo Quintana (Movistar) made a move up the general classification.
Spain’s Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) retained the race leader’s red jersey, but lost almost two minutes to Quintana, who now sits one minute 50 seconds behind in third place overall.
Briton Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) is second, 1min 42secs behind Herrada.
? Etapa 13 | Stage 13 #LaVuelta18
???? @O_RodGar ????
? ¿Qué le preguntarías? | What would you ask him? pic.twitter.com/rYC5SbQABk
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 7, 2018
The mountainous 174.8-kilometres route from Candas Carreno to La Camperona was anticipated to be tough and a strong 32-rider breakway group formed after 15km.
That included Rodriguez, who burst clear of Majka and Belgium’s Dylan Tuens (BMC Racing) in the final kilometre of the climb.
Another battle was unfolding behind them, with Yates just losing Quintana’s wheel in the finale, conceding a few seconds to his rival for overall victory.
#LaVuelta18 Strong effort from @SimonYatess who crosses the line a couple of seconds down on Quintana (MOV) but with time gained on some other GC rivals. Results to come. pic.twitter.com/LQazDjFQft
— Mitchelton-SCOTT (@MitcheltonSCOTT) September 7, 2018
Quintana finished 21st, 2:32 behind Rodriguez, with Yates a place and six seconds further adrift, while Herrada was 44th, 4:18 behind.
Saturday’s 14th stage is the 171km route from Cistierna to Les Praeres, Nava.
The race finishes on September 16 in Madrid.
