Philipsen seals third stage win as Vingegaard tightens grip on red jersey

Jasper Philipsen powered to his third victory of this year’s Vuelta a Espana on Friday, winning a fast finish into Guijuelo at the end of stage 19. The Belgian, riding for Alpecin–Deceuninck, surged past Mads Pedersen in the final metres to add to earlier triumphs on stages one and eight, with Orluis Aular taking third.

General classification leader Jonas Vingegaard strengthened his overall advantage, gaining four bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint to stretch his lead over Joao Almeida to 44 seconds. “I’ve seen the finish there on television, it looks super steep, it looks brutal to be honest,” the Dane said of Saturday’s decisive mountain test.

The 162km stage from Rueda to Guijuelo unfolded calmly after days disrupted by pro-Palestinian protests. A two-man breakaway of Jakub Otruba and Victor Guernalec was eventually reeled in, leaving the sprinters’ teams to dictate the finale.

“It was a final kilometre all-out… I was suffering on the wheel, but then I saw the finish line and so I pushed through,” Philipsen said. “Of course, we’ll try to keep the winning flow going.”

Pedersen, despite defeat, remains on course to secure the green points jersey heading into the final weekend.

(Source: AFP)