Brenner strikes in the last few metres
Marco Brenner won stage 14 of the Vuelta this afternoon. The Tudor Pro Cycling rider came out on top at the summit of Sierra de La Pandera after 154.5 kilometres from Jaen, clocking 4h15’09”. Santiago Buitrago crossed one second later.
The day’s breakaway swelled to 44 riders. Kevin Vermaerke went clear alone with 53 kilometres to go. Georg Steinhauser hauled him back before the base of the final climb, 11.9 kilometres at 7.2% with ramps touching 15%.
Buitrago made his move 3.5 kilometres from the top and dropped Brenner. The German dug in and came back. With one kilometre left, four riders were still together. The Colombian kicked again from the back of the group. Brenner matched it, then edged past him on the flat run to the line.
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Gall takes time as Roglic is beaten
Cristián Rodríguez completed the podium, 11 seconds down. Iván Sosa was next at 14 seconds, Valentin Paret-Peintre at 22, Clément Berthet at 27. João Almeida rounded out the top 10 at 1’09”.
Behind them, the fight for the red jersey was settled late. Enric Mas attacked a little over three kilometres from the summit. Richard Carapaz countered. Felix Gall answered. Primoz Roglic got back on twice.
Then Gall kept pressing inside the final two kilometres. Raúl García Pierna, the last survivor from the break, put in a long turn for Mas. Roglic and Carapaz cracked. Oscar Onley had already been distanced earlier.
Mas keeps his lead
Mas holds the red jersey on an overall time of 49h28’12”. Gall moves up to second at 2’06”. Roglic drops to third at 2’10”. Four seconds now separate the Austrian and the Slovenian.
The Spaniard never folded on one of the harshest climbs in this Vuelta. Two days earlier, on Calar Alto, he had clawed back time on his rivals during Jakob Omrzel’s win. La Pandera asked a different question. Gall stayed in his wheel. Roglic did not.
For Brenner, the win pays off a big gamble. He survived one of the largest breakaways of the race, took Buitrago’s attack without panicking, and kept enough for the sprint. A day earlier in Loja, the breakaway had gone all the way too, with Wout van Aert unable to stop it.
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