As the iconic Alto de l’Angliru once again returns to the Vuelta a España in 2025 for stage 13, so will one of its key animators in modern history – Wout Poels (XDS-Astana), with the Dutchman looking to add to his fifth, second and technically first-place finishes from 2023, 2017 and 2011.
While the violently steep slopes of the Astruian icon strike fear into the hearts of many a bike rider, Poels has embraced them throughout his career, and – even while riding for teammates such as Chris Froome and Mikel Landa – has been at his very best there.
But the memories are still clear from 2011, and with Juan José Cobo subsequently being stripped of his title and win on stage 15 of that Vuelta due to doping charges, Poels was technically the first rider to cross the line that day. He doesn’t think of it much as a win, of course, as the result was only changed eight years after the fact, but still, the elite company he was in made it special.
“It was really nice, because it was only my second Grand Tour – I started that year also in the Tour de France, but I got sick and went home. At the Vuelta, I showed myself to the cycling world, and now, what is it? 14 years later, we are still in the game, so yeah, it was a hell of a ride, I still enjoy it.”
Six years later, Poels returned and…
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