DPA
· 09.09.2023
Last year's winner Remco Evenepoel made an impressive comeback on the 14th stage of the Tour of Spain one day after his collapse on the legendary Col du Tourmalet.
The cycling star from Belgium won the tough 156.5 kilometre mountain stage from Sauveterre-de-Béarn in France to Larra-Belagua in Spain ahead of Frenchman Romain Bardet. It is the Belgian's second stage win at this year's Vuelta. The day before, Evenepoel had lost more than 27 minutes to the leaders on the queen stage.
Lennard Kämna was unable to compete for the stage win on his 27th birthday. The professional from the Bora-hansgrohe team had won the ninth stage last Sunday.
At the start of the 14th stage, Kämna and Evenepoel made it into a 24-man breakaway group. On the first of the three difficult mountains, the time trial world champion from Belgium broke away together with Bardet. Evenepoel left the Frenchman no chance on the almost ten kilometre long final climb and took the stage win with aplomb.
The US American Sepp Kuss continues to lead the overall classification. The professional from the dominant Jumbo-Visma racing team was enough to finish in the chasing pack on Saturday to defend the leader's red jersey. Kuss is still ahead of his team-mate Primoz Roglic (+1:37 minutes) from Slovenia and the Danish Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard (+1:44) in the battle for overall victory.
Another mountain stage is on the programme for the Tour of Spain on Sunday. The 15th stage leads over 158.5 kilometres from Pamplona to Lekunberri. The 78th Tour of Spain ends in Madrid on 17 September.
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