Thymen Arensman has won the fifteenth stage in this Vuelta a España. The Dutchman was the strongest of a leading group of 29 and arrived solo. Among the favorites, Enric Mas and Miguel Ángel López were the strongest, Remco Evenepoel rode a nice final climb and had to give in only sixteen seconds to Primoz Roglic and 36 to Mas.
A lot of riders wanted to be in flight in this queen stage and so we had a first half hour with a barrage of attacks. In two slides, a leading group of 29 riders broke away, including Jai Hindely, Jay Vine, Richard Carapaz and Arensman. Jumbo-Visma and Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl were also present. Sam Oomen and Rohan Dennis were sent ahead for Roglic, Fausto Masnada and Louis Vervaeke had to assist Evenepoel on the Sierra Nevada if possible.
The 29 leaders were given a maximum lead of 6 minutes. It was only when AG2R took Citroën Team in front of the pack to defend tenth place from leader Ben O’Connor that the gap narrowed. Lawson Craddock, meanwhile, had run off alone at the head of the race and embarked on an impossible task.
Leading group of 29 explodes, Soler goes solo
On the Alto del Purche, Jungels led the pack, which was thinned out to a group of about forty riders. For the rest, little happened in the peloton on the penultimate climb, Vine rode alone to Craddock in the leading group. Arensman, Soler, Hindley and Carapaz, among others, followed at thirty seconds.
At the foot of the final climb, the Alto Hoya de la Mora, Craddock and Vine were grabbed by the pursuers. Soler had clearly played hide-and-seek, because the Spaniard immediately ran off at the foot. No one could follow him, the rider of UAE Team Emirates quickly rode together for 45 seconds. When the peloton also started the final climb, Oomen and Dennis were caught. The two Jumbo-Visma riders immediately went on a rampage with Roglic in their tracks. Evenepoel was not impressed and moments later even took over from his Slovenian competitor.
Arensman on and about Soler, Mas and López best classification riders
The group of favorites was then severely thinned on the killer final climb. Roglic, O’Connor, Mas and López joined Evenepoel, who was still supported by teammate Vervaeke. Juan Ayuso, João Almeida and Carlos Rodríguez couldn’t keep up with the pace. López felt like a fish in water at a great height and accelerated from the group of favorites. Mas followed the Colombian’s example and took his wagon.
Meanwhile, things started to get more and more difficult for leader Soler. Arensman had broken free from the chasing group and drove to the Spaniard in no time. Moments later, the Team DSM rider also left Soler behind. With 6 kilometers to go, Arensman had a lead of 1.22 minutes on the Mas-López duo and 1.43 minutes on the Evenepoel-Roglic-O’Connor group. In that group, the Belgian decided to make it a time trial, with his two companions on the luggage carrier.
Arensman did not weaken and the pursuers, who had been joined by Mas and López, came no closer. The Dutchman held on strong and took the biggest win of his career. Roglic tried again in the last kilometer and left Evenepoel behind. The Belgian had to dig deep into the arsenal, but limited the damage to sixteen seconds on Roglic and 36 on Mas.
Uitslag etappe 15 Tour of Spain 2022
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