2018 Vuelta a España Stage 14 Results & Recap
Stage 14 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
Yates is best on Les Praeres\nBy Clara Beard
Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) dropped his nearest GC riders on the decisive final kilometre of stage 14 up the brutal climb of Les Praeres. The Briton won the stage and the red jersey ahead of Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).
“I’m still the same rider I was at the Giro, with the same name, the only difference is the preparation,” Yates said. “The idea is to improve as the race goes rather than be at the top from the beginning. I didn’t know the final climb, I only saw a video and then some pictures this morning. I rode conservative at the beginning because I didn’t know how steep and narrow it would get. I took it with calm to wait for the right moment to go. We can’t say I’m dominant. We’ve only had one long final climb, on stage 9, and the gaps are still small. Tomorrow (at Lagos de Covadonga) is a different kind of effort. I prefer longer climbs because on efforts like today you’re always at the limit. If I have the same legs tomorrow I’ll be happy. Movistar had strength in number and I was a bit worried about it but I rode my own race and chose my moment to go.”
Winning the most aggressive prize for his efforts, Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) instigated the early break 10 kilometres into the stage. Ivan Garcia Cortina (Bahrain-Merida), Brent Bookwalter, Nicolas Roche (BMC), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Michael Woods (Education First-Drapac) joined him.
Kwiatkowski went solo on Alto de la Falla de los Lobos and looked strong, gaining a minute on his chasers, however at the base of the final climb, he was just 10 seconds from the GC group and was quickly passed as the gradient turned upward.
“If you don’t try, you’ll never know if it’s possible to gain time on GC and win a stage,” Kwiatkowski said. “That’s why I went for the breakaway today. When I looked at the stages yesterday and this week-end, I thought this was the opportunity. It wasn’t the biggest breakaway but we had strong riders with Thomas De Gendt, Nico Roche and the others but we didn’t get much of a gap. When Bahrain-Merida started to chase I just went in time-trial mode to try and have the biggest gap for the last climb. But it wasn’t enough to fight for the stage win. So onto the next one.”\n
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