Vuelta a España stage 16: Magnus Cort Nielsen denies Primož Roglič in closing sprint – VeloNews

Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Pro Cycling) held off a last-minute charge by the overall leader Primož Roglič to take stage 16 of the 2020 Vuelta a España.

While Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) and Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) looked to drop Bruno Armirail (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) who made an early charge for the line, it was Nielsen who came through the line first, while the red jersey seemingly appeared out of nowhere to take second on the day.

“I think I timed the sprint pretty well. I came through the last corner, not too far from the front. I was looking for an opening, and I found that with about 200m to go, and from there I went with everything I had. I was never confident I could win it.”

Nielsen has successfully overcome coronavirus, which he contracted while the racing was on hold.

“I was only training for three weeks before coming here, so it’s very nice to get the win,” he said.

With the bonus seconds scored with the second-place finish, Roglič leads the overall by 45 seconds over Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers). He has also secured his lead in the points (sprint) competition.

“I decided in the end, why not? I saw some fast guys were dropped, as a man wearing the green jersey, I need to go for this,” said the overall race leader.

Roglič has spent 50 percent of his 2020 season in a grand tour leader’s jersey.

How stage 16 unfolded

After a six-man break of six-man break of Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), Rob Stannard (Mitchelton-Scott), Kobe Goossens (Lotto-Soudal), Juan Felipe Osorio (Burgos BH), Jesus Ezquerra (Burgos BH), and Angel Madrazo (Burgos BH) got away, the peloton was seemingly content to let the pace flow smoothly at 100km to go.

In the break, Madrazo is former KOM of the 2019 Vuelta but posed no threat on the overall, and Guillaume Martin had already secured the polka dots jersey in this year’s Tour of Spain.

At 83km, Osorio dropped out of the break and back to his team car. He then dropped further back to the peloton, unable to sustain the pace at the front.

Ineos Grenadiers took up the chase with EF Pro Cycling on the front on a climb at 70km to go. This pace blew Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) out of the back of the peloton, without teammates to guide him.

Froome and Amador lead the big bunch Carapaz on the descent, with Roglič and Carthy closely following.

The break was brought to 2:39 at 56km to go by Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers) attacking the descent at 52km to go, leaving the break at 1:45 advantage.

The following 11km-long climb — at 3.8 percent with slopes at 10.5 – 12 percent at the top — allowed Cavagna and Stannard to continue the break, while the remaining riders were absorbed by the peloton, still lead by Ineos Grenadiers.

At the summit of the climb, Luis Ángel Maté (Cofidis) attacked the main group to try to bridge to the two remaining breakaway riders who had just 17 seconds advantage. This move did not last for long, and he was brought back.

Cavagna dropped Stannard at 17km to go on the climb and tried to go it alone.

The French national time trial champion valiantly fought the entire peloton which was being led by Mitchelton-Scott for the next 10km.

Cavagna looked good for the stage win with 5km to go, but over the next 3km, he was “pedaling squares,” and was brought back at 1.9km to go.

Movistar took over the front of the peloton in the closing 1.5km and looked to be setting Alejandro Valverde into an excellent position to take the stage.

But it was Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) who spoiled the Spanish team’s plans and attacked at 1km to go.

Valverde chased after, along with Costa, and suddenly there were no team leadout trains at the front.

With the chaos in the final 500m Roglič had positioned himself on the right side of the road, taking Carapaz for a ride until the Ecuadorian could no longer hold his wheel in the final sprint.

The wearer of the green jersey and the red jersey said, “I always want to be a complete rider as possible. I already said at the start of this Vuelta that every day I try to do my best. I was short a little bit in the end, but it was a nice win for the team.”

The EF Pro Cycling rider Nielsen was in near disbelief at his first win — from a bunch sprint — since before the COVID-19 racing suspension.

“Starting today, I hadn’t even dreamed about winning this stage. I was helping Hugh [Carthy] out, and suddenly I could see my chance to get over that first-category climb. When I was in that reduced group, I knew there weren’t many guys faster than me. It means a lot that I come back and win.”

Saturday is the 17th and penultimate stage of the 2020 Vuelta and ends with the ascent of the Alto de la Covatilla. This is an 11.4km climb at 7.1 percent, finishing at an altitude of 1,965 meters.

Upon reviewing the final 50m, race officials relegated Costa who crossed the line in third for “dangerous sprinting.” This elevated Dion Smith (Mitchelton-Scott) into a podium position.