The Italian professional cyclist Alberto Dainese won the 19th and third last stage of the Vuelta.
The 25-year-old from Team DSM-Firmenich prevailed in the mass sprint on Friday (September 15th, 2023) ahead of his compatriot and two-time time trial world champion Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and the Dutchman Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost). The American Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) successfully defended his lead in the overall standings.
Still kissing with 17 seconds left
German drivers had nothing to do with the decision after 177.1 km on the 19th section from La Baneza to Iscar. Kuss rolled to the finish with his teammates and pursuers Jonas Vingegaard (Denmark) and Primoz Roglic (Slovenia). He is still 17 seconds ahead of the two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard and 1:08 minutes ahead of Roglic.
Time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel held back after his solo gala the day before. After his collapse on the 13th section, the defending champion from Belgium is on the road as a stage hunter; he has already won three. He is far behind in the overall ranking.
Sprinter Groves crashes shortly before the end
In the mass sprint, Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) was initially on course for victory. However, the vice world champion in the time trial was intercepted a few meters before the finish line by Dainese, who celebrated his first Vuelta stage victory. One kilometer earlier, the Australian sprinter Kaden Groves fell in a good position, meaning he missed the chance for his third success of the day.
The decision for overall victory will be made on Saturday on the penultimate and longest stage of this year’s Vuelta. The 207.8 km from Manzanares El Real to Guadarrama has a tough classic profile with ten climbs in the third category – all above 1000 m above sea level.
The Tour of Spain traditionally ends in Madrid on Sunday.