Vuelta a España stage 15: Rui Costa sprints to victory from breakaway

Former world champion Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) won stage 15 of the Vuelta a España, outsprinting a small group in Lekunberri after being part of the day’s breakaway.

Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) took second after recovering from a late crash in the final kilometres, whilst Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) took third.

The trio of Costa, Kämna and Buitrago had been part of a larger breakaway for most of the day, but attacked on the final ascent to leave their companions behind, most notably dropping Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) who had animated the breakaway but was denied a second consecutive victory.

After a frantic and aggressive fight for the breakaway, a definitive move of nine went away after more than 75km of racing. There was very little calm throughout the day as the leaders attacked each other on every climb that followed, but it wasn’t until the final ascent that anyone managed to get away, and the trio held their gap until the line.

The GC riders all finished together, with no changes to the overall. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) will take the red jersey into the second rest day.

“This team believed in me from the first moment,” Costa said at the finish. “This season started in good condition, now a victory in the Vuelta a España for me is very important, and for the team. I’m just so happy.

“I did a lot of preparation in order to be in form for the Tour [de France], but things didn’t go well for me or the team, it was a bit sad. We weren’t thinking about the Vuelta, but after finishing the Tour, the legs felt good and I asked the team to let me go to the Vuelta to try to win a stage. So look, after everything, fighting isn’t easy because it’s not just the victory today but also a lot of dedication, effort and work before that people don’t see. So it’s very satisfying for me.”

A day of almost non-stop action

Stage 15 of the Vuelta, the last day before the final rest day, saw the peloton roll out of Pamplona for a 158km traverse towards Lekunberri, taking in three significant climbs before a downhill to the finish. The opening portion of the stage was lumpy and punchy as the race headed out of Pamplona and towards the first categorised climb of the day.

Another day that looked suited to the breakaway, there was a big fight to get in the day’s move, and stage 14 winner Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) was once again one of the main animators, pushing on with several early attacks. Various small groups of riders got away in the first 50km, with the likes of Egan Bernal, Filippo Ganna (both Ineos Grenadiers) and Matevž Govekar (Bahrain Victorious) all involved, but nothing could get away.

On the early ramps of the category 3 Puerto de Lizarraga, a handful of riders got away, which quickly became a big group as Evenepoel finally made a move stick, taking the likes of Juan Pedro López (Lidl-Trek) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) with him in a 22-rider group. However, the climbing action didn’t stop there, as Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) attacked from the peloton, drawing out a small group of GC favourites before managing to bridge to the group up the road.

The presence of Vingegaard and Soler meant the group weren’t going to be given a big gap like a normal breakaway might, and many of the riders - including the risky names - were brought back by the red jersey group before the top of the climb. Evenepoel was determined to push on, though, attacking out of the fading break with Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Cristián Rodríguez (Arkéa Samsic), which later became a group of 15 as several riders from the earlier move, plus some new attackers, joined the front of the race.

The GC teams seemed happy to let this group go, with Jumbo-Visma blocking the road behind and allowing the gap to grow to only a minute, so after 80km of racing a definitive break had finally gone.

Evenepoel took maximum points over the first climb, extending his lead in the King of the Mountains classification, possibly one of his motivations for getting up the road on stage 15. The situation remained stable for a long stretch, with the leaders’ holding onto a three minute advantage, but going into the final 50km Alpecin-Deceuninck got involved in the chase, upping the pace and slightly eating into the gap.

The attacking began in the break towards the top of the Puerto de Zuarrarrate, with the nine strongest riders going clear of the rest of the group onto the descent. The attacks continued over the next uncategorised rise, with Chris Hamilton (dsm-firmenich) leading the way, but no one was able to shake a determined Evenepoel who followed every move.

With 20km to go, the leaders had a three and a half minute lead as the stage looked to be building towards another breakaway victory. Heading into the base of the final climb - a second ascent of the Puerto de Zuarrarrate - Buitrago and Costa attacked and finally managed to get a slight jump on Evenepoel, which soon turned into a thirty second gap. Before the top of the climb, Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) bridged from the chasers to the front of the race, and the leaders became three onto the descent and the final few kilometres.

Going into the final 3km, misfortune befell Kämna as he overshot a corner and came off the road and his bike. He got back on quickly, and the lack of cooperation between the other two riders allowed him to get back onto the front group. Continued discord in the front saw them almost caught by the chasers, but eventually it would be the original trio who fought it out for the victory. Kämna opened his sprint first and looked the strongest, but Costa was able to launch off his wheel and take the other side of the road, and just edged out the German on the line. Buitrago took third, whilst Evenepoel took fourth, two seconds behind.

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