Magnus Cort Nielsen of EF-Nippo won his third stage on the Vuelta a Espana on Friday as he and six other escapees defied a speeding peloton by 20 seconds after a hilly stage 19 run into Galicia. Overall leader Primoz Roglic retains the red jersey with just two days left including Sunday’s individual time-trial, a discipline in which he is Olympic champion. Danish cyclist Nielsen also won stages six and 12 and joins Roglic and green jersey holder Fabio Jakobsen in a clique who have won three times on this 2021 Vuelta.

“Having three from the same Tour, that’s unbelievable,” said Nielsen who thanked his teammate Lawson Craddock who was in the breakaway with him.

“I think winning stage six on that mountain was my favorite because we don’t really have mountains in Denmark,” he said.

This hilly 118.5 mile run from Tapia to Monfort de Lemos in Galicia featured 10,500 feet of elevation and after a long struggle 11 riders escaped the main pack in a fast paced race.

In the relative cool of the lush green hills of this norther-western region, far from the sizzling south where temperatures hit 100 Fahrenheit on the Costa del Sol, a reduced peloton of 35 tried but ultimately failed to reel in the day’s escape.

“Believe me they made it hard for us, it wasn’t easy in this hilly terrain,” said Nielsen.

“It’s amazing, I didn’t start believing until the last 3 miles.”

Jakobsen has an unassailable lead in the sprint points dash for the green jersey while Egan Bernal looks certain to mount the podium for the best under-25’s white jersey.

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LA VUELTA STAGE 19 RESULTS

1	CORT Magnus	EF Education – Nippo	4:24:54
2	OLIVEIRA Rui	UAE-Team Emirates	0:00
3	SIMMONS Quinn	Trek – Segafredo	0:00
4	BAGIOLI Andrea	Deceuninck – Quick Step	0:00
5	ROUX Anthony	Groupama – FDJ	0:00
6	KRON Andreas	Lotto Soudal	0:00
7	CRADDOCK Lawson	EF Education – Nippo	0:05
8	DAINESE Alberto	Team DSM	0:18
9	TRENTIN Matteo	UAE-Team Emirates	0:18
10	KRIEGER Alexander	Alpecin-Fenix	0:18

OVERALL STANDINGS

1	ROGLIČ Primož	Team Jumbo-Visma	77:49:37
2	MAS Enric	Movistar Team	2:30
3	LÓPEZ Miguel Ángel	Movistar Team	2:53
4	HAIG Jack	Bahrain – Victorious	4:36
5	BERNAL Egan	INEOS Grenadiers	4:43
6	YATES Adam	INEOS Grenadiers	5:44
7	KUSS Sepp	Team Jumbo-Visma	6:02
8	MÄDER Gino	Bahrain – Victorious	7:48
9	MARTIN Guillaume	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	8:31
10	DE LA CRUZ David	UAE-Team Emirates	9:24

 

RBA/AFP Photos: Bettini