2015 Vuelta a España Stage 15 Results & Recap
Stage 15 of the 2015 Vuelta a España is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Rodriguez wins stage 15 in Jitu de Escarandi
oaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) moved to within a second of Fabio Aru’s (Astana) race lead with a captivating win on stage 15 of the Vuelta a Espana.
The Spaniard dropped his main GC rivals on the final climb and although Aru gave chase, along with Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo), he was unable to close the gap with Rodriguez picking up a precious 10-second time bonus courtesy of his win. Majka crossed the line in second, with Aru fading at the line.
Rodriguez finished the stage 12 seconds clear of Majka, with Daniel Moreno taking third ahead of Nairo Quintana (Movistar). The Colombian climber had put his team to work for most of the stage after he was able to claw back a handful of seconds on Aru during stage 14. Quintana even managed a stinging attack with 10km to go, but Astana were quick to spot the danger, reeling in the Tour runner-up.
Astana then assumed control and bridged over the remnants of the day’s early break, but despite the pace setting from Aru’s men and then from Movistar’s Giovanni Visconti, the main GC favourites remained grouped together.
Tom Dumoulin’s position looked precarious, however, with the Giant-Alpecin rider hanging onto the leaders as they went through the 7km to go banner. When the inevitable came he set about limiting his loses. At first he held the Aru group at a manageable 20 seconds, but when Astana lifted the pace he was unable to respond and the gap quickly opened out to over a minute.
Quintana’s second attack, however, failed to materialise and it was Rodriguez who assumed control as the gradient kicked up inside the final 2km. There wasn’t a sudden acceleration – the terrain wouldn’t allow for that – just a move to the front and push on the pedals that had his rivals on the back foot. Quintana cracked immediately, with only Aru and Majka able to give chase.
Rodriguez had started the stage 26 seconds down on the Italian but despite Aru holding the gap at just a few seconds, Rodriguez’s power soon began to tell, and with Aru in trouble Majka kicked around him and moved into second place.
Quintana, Landa and the impressive Chaves found a second wind and joined Aru just before the line, with the Italian having just enough to hold onto the leader’s jersey by a single second.
It was Dumoulin who truly saved the day. Having been close to 1:20 down on his rivals, he clawed his way back to 50 seconds at the line. Although he dropped a place, with Majka moving up to third, the Dutchman is still on course for a podium place with the stage 17 time trial on the horizon.
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