Colombia’s Santiago Buitrago turned in one of the most thrilling rides of this year’s Vuelta a EspaƱa on stage 14, a grueling 154-kilometer (about 96-mile) trek from JaĆ©n to the summit finish at Sierra de la Pandera. Racing under punishing heat, Buitrago slipped into an early 45-rider breakaway that included fellow Colombians Juan Guillermo MartĆnez, IvĆ”n Ramiro Sosa and Juan Felipe RodrĆguez.
Buitrago was first over the day’s opening categorized climb, the Puerto de los Villares, adding to his points total in the mountains classification ā a secondary competition, sometimes called the King of the Mountains standings, that rewards riders for reaching designated summits first. The result stretched his lead to 23 points over Belgian star Wout van Aert.
The stage took a scary turn when four riders, including Thomas Gloag and Chris Hamilton, crashed in the main pack; all continued without serious injury. As the race approached the brutal final ascent, attacks flew from Georg Steinhauser, Valentin Paret-Peintre and Colombia’s Harold Tejada, while overall contender Richard Carapaz launched a late move against Enric Mas.
In the closing kilometer, Buitrago made one last surge but was outsprinted at the line by Germany’s Marco Brenner, settling for a hard-fought second place on a day that nonetheless reinforced his grip on the mountains jersey.
For the full story, read the original report at eltiempo.com.
Source: Santiago Buitrago superĆ³ brutal desafĆo en la etapa 14 de la Vuelta a EspaƱa y firmĆ³ un espectacular segundo lugar (eltiempo.com). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: Citizen 4474, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).