2019 Vuelta a España Stage 11 Results & Recap
Stage 11 of the 2019 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
Iturria wins stage 11
Mikel Iturria (Euskadi-Murias) claimed his first win on a professional stage on stage 11 of the Vuelta a Espana, winning out of the breakaway with a late attack into Urdax. The Basque rider made his move 25 kilometres from the line and held off a disorganized chase by a marginal six seconds at the line.
“To win at La Vuelta, and furthermore close to home and with my family around, is a dream come true,” Iturria said after the stage. “Before I came to the race when the selection was made, they asked me which stage I’d like to win, and I chose this one. I’m not a cyclist used to winning and to open my record at La Vuelta is a dream. I suffered a lot in the climbs. I was feeling good but I suffered more than usual with the accelerations.
“When I got to the front, Jon Odriozola (the team manager) told me: ‘Attack with all you got and go to the finish.’ I listened to him and I opened a nice gap. I gave my all the whole time, pushing to be as fast as possible, finding the strength I didn’t know I had. I wasn’t thinking of the gap, I focused on myself. And I won! I don’t have words for this. We’ll have to toast with champagne tonight.”
Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) and the rest of the peloton had another active recovery day, finishing 18 and a half minutes behind the winner to safely keep his roja jersey for another stage and focused on tomorrow’s test.
“It was a bit of a hard start but then it was a nice day and my team did a great job,” Roglic said to reporters after stage 11. “Tony Martin is my roommate and a very strong guy. With Lennard (Hofstede), he’s here to pull on the flat whereas Sepp (Kuss) or George (Bennett) are climbing guys. Neilson (Powless) is an all-rounder, Robert (Gesink) is a strong guy also for the mountains. We’ve proven this is a big team already. I don’t think tomorrow’s stage is more dangerous than the high mountains. I don’t have any problem with short climbs. We need to be focused on the moment and do our best.”
It took about 10 kilometres for a break to establish that featured: Jorge Arcas (Movistar Team), François Bidard (AG2R La Mondiale), Gorka Izagirre (Astana Pro Team), Lawson Craddock (EF Education First), Damien Howson (Mitchelton-Scott), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier, Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data), Matteo Fabbro (Katusha Alpecin), Angel Madrazo (Burgos-BH), Alex Aranburu (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Iturria (Euskadi-Murias).
Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Benjamin Thomas (Groupama-FDJ) and Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) bridged across to make 14 riders, and the peloton went into cruise mode, letting the gap open up to the largest it’s been so far this Vuelta. By the time they hit the last climb, the deficit was 15 minutes and the winner was coming from the breakaway.
On the Col d’Ispéguy (cat-2), Alex Aranburu and Gorka Izagirre started to test the legs of their breakaway companions and opened up a small gap. Lawson Craddock bridged across, but their advantage was never enough to settle in and they were caught on the descent before the last climb. Iturria countered with 25 to go and opened up a gap of almost a minute while the chasers played cat and mouse behind. His gap lessened to a close 10 seconds by the time he went under the flame rouge, but determination won out in the end and the local rider celebrated his victory in front of family and friends.
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