First stage win of race for sprint classification leader
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Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) accelerates on uphill finish in Montilla to win stage 13(Image credit: Luis Angel Gomez/SprintCyclingAgency)
Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) wins stage 13(Image credit: Tim de WaeleGetty Images)
Stage winner Mads Pedersen Trek - Segafredo) yells into his team radio after crossing the finish in Montilla(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Pedersen celebrates his win(Image credit: Getty Images)
Remco Evenepoel remains in red(Image credit: Getty Images)
Pedersen extended his green jersey lead(Image credit: Getty Images)
Jay Vine is in the polka dot jersey once again(Image credit: Getty Images)
Evenepoel is the best young rider(Image credit: Getty Images)
Trio in breakaway: Ander Okamika of Burgos-BH, Julius Van Den Berg of EF Education-EasyPost and Joan Bou of Euskaltel-Euskadi (Image credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
The peloton during 168.4km stage 13 from Ronda to Montilla(Image credit: Justin SetterfieldGetty Images)
Julius Van Den Berg of EF Education-EasyPost leads breakaway of three riders(Image credit: Justin SetterfieldGetty Images)
Julien Bernard of Trek-Segafredo leads the peloton(Image credit: Justin SetterfieldGetty Images)
Points classification leader Mads Pedersen of Trek-Segafredo in green jersey, is still looking for his first stage win of this year's Vuelta(Image credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Remco Evenepoel of QuickStep-AlphaVinyl carries the Red Leader's Jersey in the peloton(Image credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan) pedals without much concern on a hilly, but not mountainous, stage 13(Image credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Race leader Remco Evenepoel tucked among his QuickStep-AlphaVinyl teammates(Image credit: Justin SetterfieldGetty Images)
Julien Bernard of Trek-Segafredo at the front of the peloton with Thomas Champion of Cofidis and Luke Durbridge of Team BikeExchange-Jayco as riders pass olive groves(Image credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
With olive groves on each side, Remco Evenepoel in red Leader's Jersey stays focused on stage 13(Image credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Movistar team active at the front of the peloton (Image credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Peloton passes abundance of olive groves on stage 13(Image credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Bryan Coquard of Cofidis crosses the finish line in second(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Fred Wright of Bahrain Victorious crosses the finish line in fourth(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step - AlphaVinyl) in the Red Leader's Jersey crosses the finish line in 25th position, but with same time as stage winner Mads Pedersen(Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Remco Evenepoel retains the Red Leader's Jersey with bunch finish(Image credit: Tim de WaeleGetty Images)
Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) took a punchy sprint win in Montilla on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España and beat Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) into second place after chasing down a long sprint from Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates), who settled for third.
Major teams jostled for position on the shallow climb to Montilla. Movistar, Ineos Grenadiers and Bora-Hansgrohe all played their part on the front coming into the last 2km, before Bahrain Victorious moved to position Fred Wright into the frame leading into the final 1km in the hopes of finally securing his elusive stage win.
An explosive move from Jumbo-Visma led the pack into the final right-hand turn 800m from the finish, perhaps eyeing a marginal time gain for Primož Roglič, but it quickly developed into a finish for the Vuelta’s stronger sprinters.
Trek-Segafredo played their hand perfectly, depositing Pedersen at the front of the pack just as Ackermann made an early attack for the line. Pedersen stayed on his wheel, though, before attacking within the final 300m and stretching out a considerable margin on the German sprinter, who was also leapfrogged by Coquard in the closing metres of the stage.
“The boys did really good today, and everyone was focused the whole day,” Pedersen said following the stage. “I'm just happy that I can finally get the win and give the boys back all the work they did so far. So it's really nice, all of us.”
Indeed, Trek-Segafredo spent most of the day in control of a three-man break containing Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), and Joan Bou (Euskaltel-Euskadi), which stretched out only a maximum three minutes on the hilly stage from Ronda to Montilla.
Coming into the final, Trek had to work hard to get Pedersen into contention on the nervous uphill finish.
“You know Alex [Kirsh] he delivered me in the last corner so there was still like 800 metres to go,” said Pedersen. “So it was perfect that they made a good hot tempo and Pascal jumped early and I jumped with him.
“But it was a long long sprint to follow Ackerman, it was a 330m sprint today,” he added.
It marks the first sprint win for Trek-Segafredo, and a big goal ticked off their Vuelta campaign alongside what now seems to be a certain win in the green jersey competition.
“We came here for a stage win and now we have one, and we will keep fighting for one more,” Pedersen said. “It would have been nice to have Sam [Bennett] here to keep fighting for the jersey, but we will keep fighting for the stages and see how it goes.”
His win on stage 13 stretches out Pedersen’s already considerable lead in the green jersey sprint competition, and he now sits a full 151 points ahead of second place Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates).
How it unfolded
The peloton rolled out of the sunny Andalucian mountaintop city of Ronda with 147 riders. It is a field heavily impacted by COVID-19 positives, which have caused 23 abandons so far in the race.
Attacks came thick and fast as soon as the lengthy 20-minute neutral zone came to an end.
Within a few minutes, a three-man break of Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), and Joan Bou (Euskaltel-Euskadi) managed to break the elastic with the main field. Within 5km of racing, they had already pulled out a one-minute gap on the peloton on a shallow climb out of Ronda. They were quickly established as the relatively fuss-free breakaway of the day.
Trek-Segafredo, BikeExchange-Jayco, and Cofidis worked at the head of the peloton, while the course took the riders down a lengthy descent to Campillos, from a non-classified summit just below 1,000 metres in elevation, over a 20km stretch of road.
The breakaway trio rode well together but the peloton gave them little breathing space, with the gap spreading to around 2:40 at its widest point in the first 90km.
It was a quick opening few hours too, with the breakaway averaging 43 kph over the first two hours of racing.
Trek-Segafredo continued to work on the front, keeping control for their green jersey leader Mads Pedersen, assisted by Cofidis - working for Bryan Coquard - and BikeExchange-Jayco keeping Kaden Groves in contention. Aside from that steady chase, against a backdrop of snaking roads in the striking scenery of Andalucia, the stage offered little in the way of activity and nothing in the way of tactically significant developments.
As the race passed the 100km mark, the breakaway managed to establish a slightly larger gap, pulling out the margin to over three minutes - a gap the breakaway held entering the final 50km.
Moving into its final hour, though, the teams began to grow animated in expectation of a sprint finish, and when the race hit the 20km to go mark the gap to the breakaway had been brought down to 35 seconds, and it was clear that the brave trio out front would not be competing for the win into Montilla.
A hilly final
The approach to Montilla was interrupted by a late intermediate sprint with 14.6km remaining, which also boasted bonus seconds. It would make for valuable points in the green jersey sprint competition, but could also play a role in the GC standings if there was to be a split in the peloton. So the peloton formed an anxiously-ordered chase featuring most of the major teams.
Likely knowing they had no hopes of coming into Montilla in the lead, the breakaway burnt out its final efforts to reach the intermediate sprint ahead of the peloton, with Bou and Okamika leading over the sprint in the shadow of the main pack, 12 seconds behind.
With 10km the breakaway was swept up while the peloton readied itself for the 5% hilly finish up to Montilla. The lead-out battle began, with the GC contenders pushed to the front of the peloton for safety, and the stage was set for a puncheur battle.
Peter Stuart has been the editor of Cyclingnews since March 2022, overseeing editorial output across all of Cyclingnews' digital touchpoints.
Before joining Cyclingnews, Peter was the digital editor of Rouleur magazine. Starting life as a freelance feature writer, with bylines in The Times and The Telegraph, he first entered cycling journalism in 2012, joining Cyclist magazine as staff writer. Peter has a background as an international rower, representing Great Britain at Under-23 level and at the Junior Rowing World Championships.
