Total control by Jumbo-Visma on the day La Vuelta reached the Tourmalet

An unbeatable Jumbo-Visma further strengthened its lead in La Vuelta a España 2023 by taking the first three places in the stage and the same position in the overall classification, while Remco Evenepoel, who lost on the ascent of the Aubisque, loses all chances for the final victory.

Triple win for Jumbo-Visma that puts La Vuelta in their favor

A week and a half of La Vuelta 2023 in which hardly anything had happened and, in the first of the queen stages of this edition, the first of the two great Pyrenean days, Jumbo-Visma has had enough to demonstrate the superiority that we had already glimpsed in the arrival at Javalambre.

Short stage, just 135 kilometers but tremendously intense with Portalet from the start in Formigal that was linked with the mythical Aubisque and one of the great discoveries for the general public in recent years as is the Col de Spandelles before going up the valley in search of the town of Luz Saint Sauveur where the west face of the Tourmalet king starts.

Violent start in which some tried to form the breakaway of the day, but the strong pace imposed on the peloton prevented any of the cuts forged. Already at the top of Portalet, Romain Bardet tried to make the most of his downhill skills. However, as was the case on the climb, none of the attempts succeeded.

On the climb to the Aubisque, the race continued with a frenetic pace from Jumbo-Visma. Yes, there were still attacks but none went too far in front of the steamroller that the Dutch team had become. A pace that was gradually decimating the peloton until, at the exit of the ski resort of Gourette Remco Evenepoel fell to the rear of the main group.

Jumbo-Visma realized this and accelerated the pace, which definitively dropped the Belgian when there were still more than 20 riders in the peloton. At the top of Aubisque the gap was already more than a minute. Before Remco, Joao Almeida had also dropped from the main group.

Jumbo-Visma did not relax the pace on the way to Soulor and the subsequent descent to Ferrieres in which there was even a small cut in the peloton. A perfect race script that they would maintain on the ascent to Spandelles in which we would only see a small movement by Jonas Vingegaard in response to a previous one by Mikel Landa and more with the intention of checking how the others were going than a real offensive itself.

The Jumbo-Visma rolling stone continued to pass on the final stretch approaching Luz Saint Sauveur, which caused Almeida's gap to go beyond 2 minutes, also ruling him out for the overall. As for Remco, the gap was already more than 5 minutes in Spandelles.

Jumbo-Visma continued to ride at ease during the climb to the Tourmalet. High pace that was decimating the leading group until the arrival at the ski resort, where the final stretch of the climb starts where Jonas Vingegaard attacked, with 7.9 kilometers to go. Enric Mas tried to respond, but he was caught by a group in which only Juan Ayuso, Sepp Kuss, Primoz Roglic and the young Bora-Hansgrohe revelation Cian Uijtdebroeks resisted. Behind them, first Marc Soler and then Mikel Landa gave way.

Jonas Vingegaard was gradually making a gap while behind them Enric Mas was debating between pulling and keeping watch. In this, the Majorcan took advantage of a moment of laziness of Juan Ayuso to accelerate, a move to which Sepp Kuss responded very easily while Primoz Roglic remained, as in the rest of the climb, in reserve at the tail of the group.

However, Enric did not dare to pull hard to the front and try to open up a gap, so Ayuso, Roglic and Uijtdebroeks came back in, creating a new situation of vigilance that made Jonas Vingegaard's gap grow to almost a minute.

A kilometer and a half from the conclusion, with the stage victory assured, it was the leader himself who launched a very hard attack, crowning just 30 seconds behind his teammate and, just behind, appeared after attacking on the final ramp of the Tourmalet Primoz Roglic who closed a spectacular triplet of Jumbo-Visma that, in this way, leaves very tied La Vuelta at the first change with the feeling that, if nothing strange happens, they will also take the podium in Madrid. Now the doubt is to know in what order given the strength that this gregarious leader Sepp Kuss is showing.

Stage 13 Classification

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 3h51’10’’
2. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) +30’’
3. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +33’’
4. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +38’’
5. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe) +38’’
6. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) +40
7. Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) +1’15’’
8. Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +2’12’’
9. Steff Crass (TotalEnergies) +2’32’’
10. Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) +3’08’’

Overall Classification

1. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) +46h42’54’’
2. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +1’37’’
3. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +1’44’’
4. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +2’37’’
5. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) +3’06’’
6. Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) +3’10’’
7. Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) +4’12’’
8. Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +5’02’’
9. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe) +5’30’’
10. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +8’39’’