Vuelta a España: Majka takes solo victory on stage 15

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Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) won stage 15 of the Vuelta a España with a perfectly executed and emotional solo breakaway on the 197.5km road to El Barraco, near the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. 

The Polish riders went away alone on the Puerto de Pedro Bernardo and never looked back for the final 87km, holding off a chase by Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma), who finished 1:27 behind, with Chris Hamilton (Team DSM) third at 2:19.

There was little action amongst the overall contenders as they let the break dominate the racing yet again. Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) attacked on the last climb and gained 15 seconds on race leader Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) but the Norwegian kept the leader’s red jersey for the second rest day thanks to more solid teamwork from his teammates. 

Eiking leads Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) by 54 seconds, with Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) third and waiting in the wings at 1:36. 

It was Majka’s first victory for four years, his last coming on stage 14 of the 2017 Vuelta a España. However he had special motivation today and pointed to the sky as he crossed the finish line, remembering his recently deceased father. 

“I only thought of one thing,” he said. “I had a bad start to the season and it wasn’t easy for me and my family, especially when my father died. I wanted to win for him, for my kids and for my great team UAE Team Emirates. 

“Sometimes you try and it’s not easy to to get in break. But today I tried from the start. I didn’t wait for nobody today, I wanted to win the stage.”

How it unfolded

Another day at the Vuelta a España and another hard mountain stage, this time over 197.5km from Navalmoral de la Mata to El Barraco, the birthplace of 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre.

After Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) quit during Saturday’s stage, fellow Ecuadorian riders Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-Nippo) and Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) also headed home.

The riders will enjoy the second rest day on Monday, but there was no sign of fatigue in the first hour of the stage as riders fought to go in the early break, knowing there was a chance of survival and so stage victory. 

The first climb of the stage, the Alto de la Centenera, came after 85km and so there was plenty of terrain for attacks. Saturday’s stage winner Romain Bardet (Team DSM) was one of the first to try, as did fellow winners Michael Storer and Magnus Cort Neilson. They have won five stages between them but this time other riders wanted a say too. 

There were 25 riders who eventually got away from the peloton after some 30km of hectic racing. They got a 30-second gap but UAE Team Emirates lead the chase and closed them down with 130km to race. 

The climbers began to show their hand and gaps opened on the Alto de la Centenera climb, with Majka going on the attack to make sense of UAE Team Emirates' work. He was joined by Fabio Aru (Qhubeka NextHash) and Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Soudal) as a bigger chase group formed behind them. The group included Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma), Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R-Citroën), Andrea Bagioli (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Carlos Verona (Movistar Team), Michael Storer (Team DSM), Steff Cras (Lotto Soudal), Lucas Hamilton (Team BikeExchange), Chris Hamilton (Team DSM) and Guanluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo), all talented stage hunters.  

The peloton, lead by Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux, began to lose interest and time, convinced that Odd Christian Eiking’s race lead was safe. 

Majka used his climbing ability and experience to pace his effort and distance first Van Gils and then Aru on the mid-stage Puerto de Pedro Bernardo. The finish was 87km but he was on a personal mission. 

The Polish rider swept up mountain points and dived down the descent to the foot of the 20.4km Puerto de Mijares climb. It was a constant climb to 1568 metres and Majka rode it calmly and collected as those behind him exploded. 

Kruijswijk emerged as the best of the rest and set off in a lone pursuit of Majka as the road climbed up the mountain. He is arguably the better climber but Majka refused to recognise that and pushed on, holding off the Dutchman in a mountain pursuit match. 

Kruijswijk reduced his 2:10 gap down to 1:35 near the summit but failed to catch Majka before the summit. That was to be his demise and torture for their ride to the finish. 

Majka kept his cool and rode to the final climb, even extending his lead on Kruijswijk. He then savoured his moment, reached the top of the Puerto San Juan di Nava with ease and rode to collect his victory.

The overall contenders had managed to reduce the gap on the  Puerto de Mijares and so swept up most of the riders from the breakaway. Yates responded to several attacks on the Puerto San Juan di Nava to provoc the peloton and charged clear alone. However the others were only a few seconds behind him and he failed to move up from eighth overall at 4:39.

As the riders transferred north 500 kilometres for Monday’s second rest day, the overall classification remained unchanged but the biggest and hardest mountain stages to come in the Asturias.