Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) has explained that his unexpected victory in the Vuelta a Espana’s final bunch sprint stage on Sunday came about because he thought it was the best way to stop rival Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) from winning.
Molano’s usual duties in a bunch sprint are to lead out teammate Pascal Ackermann, a former winner on the Paseo de la Castellana finish on Sunday back in 2020.
And although German could be seen waiting for Molano to swing over on Sunday as the bunch wound up for the final dash for the line, his wait proved to be in vain.
Instead, Molano stayed ahead of Ackermann and shadowed Pedersen, a triple stage winner in this year’s Vuelta, to the line, before edging ahead. Ackermann, meanwhile, had to settle for third.
“I’ve always been a leadout man,” Molano, 27, said after clinching his first ever Grand Tour stage win, “and today I was doing my job.”
“But I had good legs today and I could see in the last 100 metres that Pedersen was heading fast to the line. So I decided not to stop.”
After winning a string of lesser races in his career as well as the Pan American title in 2018, Molano insisted that his Vuelta stage win, UAE’s second this year in the race, was “the biggest victory of my career.” But he also said that he “didn’t expect to be up there for the win.”
Asked if he had spoken to Ackermann after the stage, Molano insisted that “he’s as happy as if he’d had won, he’s a great person and a great professional and he knows he can always count on me as the last man in a sprint.”
“Today I had great legs, I just didn’t swing off at 100 metres to go. So I’m dedicating this victory to him and my team.”
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