Jonas Vingegaard pulled clear on the uphill finish to win stage 16 on an emotional day at the Vuelta a España.
Vingegaard dedicated his victory to “best friend” and teammate Nathan van Hooydonck, who was injured in a car crash in Belgium on Tuesday. A later Jumbo-Visma statement said that Van Hooydonck’s condition was “not critical” in hospital and he had not suffered serious injuries.
“I’m just happy to win today,” the Dane said afterwards. “We had some terrible news this morning. I wanted to win for my best friend today.” Vingegaard and his Hungarian teammate, Attila Valter, both told Eurosport that Van Hooydonck was “awake” in hospital after being given an update over the team radio while racing.
“Luckily now there [is] good news about his condition, it’s a big relief for me and the team, and we hope he will recover soon,” Vingegaard added, with Valter reporting that Jumbo-Visma riders got the news over the team radio just before the steep final climb to Bejes.
Vingegaard, who is seeking to add the Vuelta to this year’s Tour de France title, burst clear with just under 4km remaining of the stage. He finished 43 seconds ahead of Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates) with Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) a further six seconds back.
Having counted on teammate Van Hooydonck’s steadfast support during his ride to a second Tour title this year, Vingegaard looked emotional after crossing the finish line. When asked about what his win meant for the overall Vuelta race, Vingegaard said: “I just want to enjoy this moment and [not] think about that.”
The race leader Sepp Kuss, also of Jumbo-Visma, struggled on the final ascent, finishing more than one minute behind Vingegaard. The American now leads by just 29 seconds, with Primoz Roglic completing a Jumbo-Visma podium, 1min 33sec behind Kuss and overtaken in second place by Vingegaard.
After Monday’s rest day, this was no gentle return to action. Although the stage from Liencres Playa was classified as flat until the steep finish, it was anything but relaxing. The pace was relentless over rolling terrain with the peloton trailing behind an escape group including Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who topped up his points total.
Jumbo-Visma’s pace ensured the breakaway was eventually reeled in and then it was every man for himself on the 4.8km slog to the finish with gradients reaching 15%. Any notion that Kuss might be shepherded in to Bejes by his teammates fell apart as Vingegaard got out of his saddle and blasted up the slopes.
Wednesday’s stage concludes at the infamous Angliru climb, where the 26-year-old will be favourite to take the red jersey and close in on a Tour-Vuelta double crown.
