STAGE 19 REPORT: PHILIPSEN POWERS PAST PEDERSEN FOR THIRD WIN
Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) soared to a third victory on La Vuelta with a commanding win in Stage 19 ahead of the green jersey Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).
Denmark’s Pedersen was a distant second after Philipsen benefited from a flawless leadout from his Alpecin team-mates on the uphill rise to the line in Guijuelo, with Venezuela’s Orluis Aular (Movistar) crossing the line in third.
In a day of little drama, race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) caught his red jersey rival Joao Almeida and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG team napping, the Dane darting clear to pocket four bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint in Salamanca.
Vingegaard extended his lead at the top of the general classification to 44 seconds over Portugal’s Almeida ahead of Saturday’s summit showdown on the Bola del Mundo climb in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains west of Madrid.
‘Silver shoes, diamond legs’ – Philipsen claims hat-trick of stage wins at Vuelta
Video credit: TNT Sports