The battle of the favorites gives way to the options of the adventurers and the sprinters
The nineteenth stage of the Vuelta a España, this Friday between La Bañeza (León) and Íscar (Valladolid)represents the transit to Madrid from the great Asturian mountain events and, in principle, a new opportunity for sprinters.
They will be 177.1 km completely flat destined for the penultimate sprint of this edition, unless an escape succeeds, which is not presumed, or the wind appears and fans are produced. That could have unforeseeable consequences, especially at this stage of the career, but they are not expected either.
Although, in principle, what is expected is a sprint in which the great favorite is Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), winner of two of the four massive arrivals which have been carried out so far in the Vuelta, in Tarragona and Burriana in the fourth and fifth stages.
In addition, the Australian also led the peloton in the sprint for second place in Barcelona in the second stage after the escaped Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstiny).
Although Groves, who is almost assured of the green jersey in Madrid if he does not suffer any mishap, he seems to have given up his dominance in the last two ‘volatas’, in the seventh and twelfth days.
In Oliva he was defeated by the lack of good positioning and a surprising Geoffrey Soupe (TotalEnergies) that found a place where no one expected; and in Zaragoza a Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE) stellar.
No one expected the Frenchman, but the Colombian is undoubtedly emerging as the great rival of the great dominator of Regularity. Groves leads the classification, now without rivals to threaten him, with 228 points.
Marijn van den Berg (EF), Edward Theuns (Barhain), Andrea Vendrame (AG2R) and even Filippo Ganna (Ineos), who surprised by entering Burriana to be second, there are other wheels to take into account.
This presumed penultimate sprint of this Vuelta 2023 is reached with almost everything decided. In addition to the Regularity for Groves, the Mountain for Remco Evenepoel, the team classification for the Jumbo and the podium of the race led by Sepp Kuss and with his teammates Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic, at 17 seconds and 1.08, respectively.
It also seems that La Cruz de Linares has let the first Spaniard be Juan Ayuso, ahead of Mikel Landa and Enric Mas, whom he beats by 19 and 30 seconds.
Today’s stage of the Vuelta a España
19th stage. La Bañeza-Íscar 177.1 km
- No ports
- Intermediate sprint:Km 157.8. Wet.
Schedule for stage 19 of the Vuelta a España 2023
- Departure time: 1:29 p.m.
- Arrival time: 17:30
- Intermediate average: 44 km/h