Vuelta a España 2022

Stage 19 – Talavera de la Reina > Talavera de la Reina (138.3km)

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Stage 18 Result

1st Remco Evenepoel (33/1)

2nd Enric Mas (33/1)

3rd Robert Gesink (150/1)

Stage 18 Bets

1pt each way (3 places) João Almeida @25/1

2pts win Thibaut Pinot @8/1 – 6th

0.5pts each way (3 places) Bob Jungels @125/1

1pt each way (3 places) Chris Harper @25/1

Cheapeau to UAE Team Emirates for animating the stage with a coordinated Almeida attack 90km from home. It didn’t quite come off for the Portuguese but did pull the race back together and set up Evenepoel and Mas to fight out for the win, agonisingly for Gesink, the last man standing from the break. Pinot was favourite in running for a long way (had a few of those this Vuelta) but ultimately fell short in sixth.

Stage 19 Preview

The shortest road stage of this year’s Vuelta a España consists of two laps of a route starting and ending in the city of Talavera de la Reina in Castilla-La Mancha and takes in a double ascent of the second-category Puerto del Piélago. The climb itself doesn’t look the hardest on paper – 9.3km at an average of 5.6% – but as we saw on stage 18, if raced hard will still have riders in trouble at the end of a three-week tour.

The riders start going uphill just 11km from the gun which will spark a furious fight for the break and, considering we could get the odd kitchen sink thrown behind, may well lead to an intense, full gas affair with lots of different types of riders with a chance of winning the day.

Stage 19 Contenders

This one looks like a fine balance between the power climbing rouleur types and some fast men that can climb a bit. Given that a mixture of these riders is likely to be in the day’s break, the former will want to push a hard pace on the climbs in order to drop the latter, whilst the faster guys will be looking to hang on for a chance to contest a reduced bunch finish. What’s more, those around the top 10 on GC and perhaps even higher may look to infiltrate the break which could fire things off behind. Who knows? Maybe we’ll end up without a break at all and the GC men going toe-to-toe for 130km!

The favourite is two-time stage winner Mads Pedersen at around 3/1. There’s no doubting he’s in great form, though was involved in the crash that took out Jay Vine on stage 18 and trailed over the line second to last. We don’t know if he was hurt and appeared from the pictures to be one of the least affected, remounting his bike quite quickly, but it’s not ideal and certainly puts you off getting involved at such short odds.

Bahrain Victorious’ Fred Wright has earmarked this stage to finally get the win that his efforts have deserved. He’s been installed as second favourite, however, it was a little worrying how easily he got dropped, albeit after working hard for teammate Gino Mäder, on the final climb on stage 17. Was that a sign that fatigue is finally catching up with the Londoner after back-to-back Grand Tours?

Jumbo-Visma were unlucky not to bounce back from the disappointment of Primož Roglič’s abandonment with a win for Robert Gesink on stage 18, overtaken just 200 metres from the line, but they have chances here and will be throwing numbers forward to give them cards to play. The two Aussies, Chris Harper and Rohan Dennis, are on good climbing form, with the gradients perhaps favouring Dennis, and if he manages to hold on, Mike Teunisson is an excellent reduced sprint option. They’re all around the 40/1 mark.

This is probably the last chance for Alejandro Valverde to land another Vuelta stage win and the profile suits the 42-year-old. But even though it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him involved at the finish, he’ll likely find a couple faster to the line.

This also looks good for power climbers Thomas de Gendt and Bob Jungels, who are also pack a bit of a sprint. Of the two, Jungels has been the more active in the last few days and his form is clearly on the upturn.

Carlos Rodríguez was wearing some nasty looking injuries after his stage 18 crash and dropped to fifth on GC. With a podium spot now looking unlikely, Ineos Grenadiers may look to get some riders forward to challenge for the stage. Dylan van Baarle and Ben Turner look the best options – they’ve done great domestique work throughout the Vuelta, especially Turner who appears to be getting stronger despite this being his debut Grand Tour.

There are plenty who could end up getting involved here, but finally Bora’s Jai Hindley looks a big price at 325/1 considering he has a decent sprint, is obviously a great climber and could infiltrate the early move in an effort to move up a few spots on GC. The shallow gradients aren’t ideal for him, but then that’s why the price is so big.

Again, this could be a random stage with various outcomes playing out. It will be interesting over the final ascent as whoever is in the front group will know they can’t take the fastest men to the line, so it could get very tactical. Short stages are generally exciting affairs though and this has the ingredients to be similar.

Stage 19 Bets

1pt each way (3 places) Bob Jungels @40/1

1pt each way (3 places) Rohan Dennis @40/1

1pt each way (3 places) Dylan van Baarle @40/1

0.5pts each way (3 places) Jai Hindley @325/1

Posted 2054 BST Thu 8th Sep 2022

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