Vuelta a Espana: Gougeard wins in Avila

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Alexis Gougeard (AG2R) took the biggest win of his young career, soloing in to win the 19th stage of the Vuelta a Espana in Avila. Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida) took second place, 40 seconds down, with Maxime Monfort of Lotto-Soudal finishing third.

Tom Dumoulin extended his overall lead, attacking out of the small group of favourites on the steep cobble climb in the final kilometers. Fabio Aru followed but could not catch his rival, and in the end lost another three seconds. The Astana rider is now six seconds down in second place, with Joaquim Rodriguez third at 1:24.

The 22-year-old Gougeard, in only his second pro year, put his time trialing skills to work. He had been part of the large early break, which had a lead of up to 18 minutes. Near the end, as the group fell apart, with about 40km left on the day, Gougeard jumped to join the then solo leader, Tiago Machado (Katusha). The Portuguese rider soon weakened, and Gougeard stayed away, building his lead up from 20 to 40 seconds. Machado dropped back into a further chasing group and was fifth on the day.

The GC leaders put on a strong showing. Dumoulin’s Giant-Alpecin squad controlled things for most of the stage. Alejandro Valverde made a number of moves in the finale, including a threatening attack just before the final ascent through the ancient walled city, but it was Dumoulin, whose surprise attack over the cobbles put all of the contenders on the defensive.

Aru gave chase in the finale, seeing his chances slip away, but was unable to conquer the cobbled climb, and came in three seconds behind with Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R), with Valverde's group a further six seconds in arrears.

"We were able to control the stage the whole day and in the finale we had still Lawson [Craddock] and John [Degenkolb] with me in our 20 rider group," Dumoulin explained. "The guys were amazing today. I was feeling OK. Of course I was tired but I knew the other were tired, too. I just wanted to give it a try in the finale and took three seconds for the GC.

"I am satisfied, every additional second is good. There were some unexpected moves by Movistar. Up front, some people had doubts about the strength of the team but today we showed that we and ride very strongly. They did a perfect lead out on the final uphill section and I could finish it off.

"We have to look at ourselves, believe in our own strength and make a good plan for tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a decisive stage and a very tough one too."

How it unfolded

The whole stage was anything but flat, but there was only two ranked climbs along the 185 km between Medina del Campo and Avila. It had a sting in its tail, though, with a steep cobbled climb into the walled city at the end.

It was a day custom-made for a breakaway, and a huge group took advantage of that. 24 riders gained a gap of up to more than 15 minutes. The breakaway was made up of Gougeard, Christian Knees (Sky), Amael Moinard (BMC), David Arroyo, Ricardo Vilela (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis), Fabio Duarte, Leonardo Duque, Juan Pablo Valencia (Team Colombia), Maxime Bouet (Etixx-Quick Step), Mickael Delage (FDJ), Jerome Coppel (IAM Cycling), Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida), Maxime Monfort, Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto-Soudal), Andrei Amador, Fran Ventoso (Movistar), Natnael Berhane (MTN-Qhubeka), Ben King (Cannondale-Garmin), Jimmy Engoulvent (Europcar), Tiago Machado, Eduard Vorganov (Katusha), Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Markel Irizar (Trek).

There was quite a scare when a crash after 72 km involved both race leader Tom Dumoulin and his closed rival Fabio Aru. While Dumoulin was apparently only caught up by the crash, Aru hit the pavement. He got back on his bike but made repeated trips to the race doctor’s car, but he appeared to be OK.

Giant-Alpecin rode at the head of the field, taking a brisk pace up the first of the day’s two climbs, the Valdavia at kilometer 105. Bouet led the breakaway over the climb, followed by Knees and Vilela.

With 44 kilometers to go, Machado jumped from the front group. The Portuguese rider knew the group would fall apart in the finale, and sought an early advantage. Markel Irizar gave it a try, but punctured as the group splintered and was unable to organize itself.

Machado’s lead shrank from 30 seconds and he was eventually joined by Gougeard and Leonardo Duque (Colombia), and he soon had to work hard to catch or stay with them. The reinforcements had helped build up the gap, which crept up towards 50 seconds at the intermediate sprint.

While the breakaway scrambled to get its act together, Giant-Shimano made a very relaxed impression at the head of the field. Astana clung tightly behind the German team, and both Movistar and Tinkoff-Saxo made their presence known as well.

Duque was unable to hold on to his two companions, leaving Gougeard and Machado alone in front. Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal) and Natnael Berhane (MTN-Qhubeka) were the next to set off in pursuit, soon catching Duque.

Machado struggled and with 22.5km to go, and Gougeard took off alone. Berhane fell back as well, Monfort was joined by Amael Moinard (BMC) and Andrey Amador (Movistar), who caught Machado. Meanwhile the gap to the peloton had soared to nearly 18 minutes.

As the field started up the final climb, Movistar moved to the head of the field and picked up the pace. Valverde finally made his move, but Tinkoff-Saxo sent some riders ahead to quickly pull him back.

Up front, the four chasers tried hard and could see Gougeard, but were unable to close the gap. Machado spent most of his time dangling off the back of the small group.

Valverde went again, with Tinkoff-Saxo and Astana now at the head of the greatly reduced group of favourites. After he was caught, Fabrice Jeandesboz (Europcar) took off. But Movistar didn’t give up and kept attacking.

With two kilometers to go, the impressive city walls of Avila came into view, and Gougeard started his way up the cobbled climb. He hit the final kilometer marker with a significant lead on his chasers. The 21-year-old Frenchman cruised in easily to take the win.

Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida) had caught and passed the chasing group on the short cobbled section and took second place, 40 seconds down. Monfort won the sprint from his small group for third.

The favourites’ group was way back, and with 9km to go, Valverde went off once again, with Astana's Diego Rosa right behind him. The Spanish veteran soon dropped Rosa and had 10 seconds on the now rapidly moving group.

He stayed slightly away, but was caught on the cobble climb. Dumoulin moved to the front, dragging Daniel Moreno (Katusha) with him. Aru gave chase, but lost a further three seconds as he was unable to catch up.

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