2018 Vuelta a España Stage 13 Results & Recap
Stage 13 of the 2018 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 surprises on La Camperona\nBy Clara Beard
Oscar Rodriguez (Euskadi-Murias) conquered the feared La Camperona climb to claim the win on stage 13 of the Vuelta a Espana. After spending the day in the break, the Basque rider out-climbed Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) by 19 seconds and Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing Team) by 30 seconds to take the biggest win in his career.
“I had this stage in my mind but it’s not like I had ticked it,” Rodriguez said. “To beat people like Valverde you need to in the break. But when Majka went in the final climb, I thought I wouldn’t be able to follow him until the top, that it was lost. But then I got closer. When I got back to them (Majka and Teuns), I saw their faces of pain, I went just a bit harder and I went away. I’m a rider who suffers with the changes of pace. I figured I’d better climb at my rhythm. At the finish, just breathing was good, but I also felt an immense joy for everyone who believed in me, for the team… Many people deserve this. I’m going to enjoy this victory to the fullest, because wins are rare, furthermore at La Vuelta. Our team is moving forward but we need a little bit of help to be a great team. For me, a new Euskaltel-Euskadi is born, a first-class team able to fight in every race we go to. Today we could see many Basque fans.”
Herrada remains in the red jersey as the overall leader, but lost almost two minutes to Nairo Quintana, who attacked out of the GC group to pick up some seconds on Simon Yates (Michelton Scott).
“The whole day has been very fast due to the breakaway,” Quintana said. “At the front there were dangerous people for the general classification. The leader’s team pulled as they could and then we came to help them with some other teams so the attackers wouldn’t go too far. Today was a short explosive finale. There are people better than me for this kind of finales. I’m waiting for longer climbs to open more differences, but every second I win is welcome. I hope to keep going like this, with luck and strength. I have good sensations, good legs, and today was a good start. Let’s hope tomorrow and the day after are like this or better.”
After 15km, 32 riders broke away: Gorka Izaguirre (Bahrain-Merida), Ben Gastauer (AG2R-La Mondiale), Joseph Rosskopf, Teuns (BMC Racing Team), Marcus Burghardt, Majka, Jay Mc Carthy (Bora-Hansgrohe), Sander Armee, Thomas De Gendt, Bjorg Lambrecht, Maxime Monfort, Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto Soudal), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Laurens De Plus, Pieter Serry (Quick-Step Floors), Ben King, Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data), Ilnur Zakarin, Jhonatan Restrepo (Katusha Alpecin), Sergio Henao (Team Sky), Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb), Bauke Mollema, Nicola Conci, Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo), Edward Ravasi (UAE Team Emirates), Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH), Alex Aranburu, Cristian Rodriguez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis), Eduard Prades, Garikoitz Bravo and Rodriguez.
The gap rose up to 9’30” with the peloton comfortable letting the stage win come out of the breakaway.\nThe final climb was where it all blew up, Majka and Teuns jumped away from the breakaway on the steepest part of the climb. It looked to be between those two for the win until Rodriguez accelerated past in the final kilometre.
“The moment he (Oscar Rodriguez) passed us was really impressive, with a lot of speed on a steep climb like this,” Teuns said. “Me and Majka, we didn’t have any answer. That’s too much top 10s without a win. The final climb suited me but it’s not always easy from the breakaway. Actually, it wasn’t my plan to be in the breakaway but I went because it was really chaotic in the beginning. If you’re in a big group like this, you know you can save some energy. Then I made it to the final climb. It’s disappointing because I really want a stage win.”
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