The 78th La Vuelta Ciclista a España headed into the French Pyrenees on Friday, where Jumbo-Visma utterly dominated, taking the top three positions on the famed Tourmalet in France: Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss and Primož Roglič. All three Dutch Bees have won 2023 Vuelta stages. The trio is 1-2-3 in the GC. Vingegaard also leads the KOM competition. Stage 13 was an unlucky one for last year’s winner Remco Evenepoel as he suffered a jour sans starting on the Aubisque and is no longer in a position to repeat. Kuss retains his red jersey.
The Course
The organizers made Stage 13 short and sweet. Over 134 km, the riders would face four climbs: Cat. 3 Puerto de Portalet right from the start in Formigal, Huesca la Magia, another famous HC Pyrenean climb in Col d’Aubisque, Cat. 1 Col de Spandelles, and then the mighty Tourmalet, 18.8 km of 7.4 percent. Up and down all day.
𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗹 𝗱𝘂 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝗻 #𝗟𝗮𝗩𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘁𝗮𝟮𝟯!
𝗪𝗵𝗼’𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝘆𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗲𝘀? pic.twitter.com/bsEpcbPs9C
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) September 8, 2023
The action was hot from the gun. On Puerto de Portalet, Romain Bardet took the KOM points.
The Col d’Aubisque was where it all came apart for Remco Evenepoel. With three riders in the breakaway, he started to falter, and his team gathered around him in support. Michael Storer burst out of the peloton, flew through the front trio, and took 15 KOM points. The red jersey group crested 30 seconds later and Evenepoel’s bunch 2:00 later. Sixth place João Almeida was also having a bad day and was part of the Evenepoel group.
With the breakaway riders absorbed, Bahrain-Victorious at the pointy end of the field and Evenepoel 1:45 back, they descended off Aubisque and got ready for Col de Spandelles. Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard, Damiano Caruso and Antonio Tiberi moved off the front.
Spandelles had the greatest average grade of Friday’s four mountains, 10.4 km of 8.2 percent. Again, Geraint Thomas couldn’t hold the pace. Kuss’ quartet was caught by UAE-Emirates’ efforts. Group 1 was 25 strong. Vingegaard and Mikel Landa, who will be Evenepoel’s teammate next year, made a move, but second place…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…