Vuelta a Espana 2024: Next breakaway coup! Castrillo also triumphs on the 15th stage
Thomas Huber
· 01.09.2024
After winning stage 12, Pablo Castrillo (Equipo Kern Pharma) also won stage 15 of the Vuelta a Espana 2024. The Spaniard rode away from a breakaway group on the final climb together with Aleksandr Vlasov and Pavel Sivakov. Thanks to a fighting display of willpower, he shook off his two rivals on the up to 24 per cent steep final climb of the Categoria especial and celebrated his second stage win at this year's Vuelta in impressive style.
Roglic continues to catch up - Lipowitz in white
Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) continues to make up ground on Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) in the battle for the overall leader's red jersey at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana. Thanks to a great lead-out from his team-mate Florian Lipowitz, Roglic was able to attack two kilometres from the finish and shake off the Australian. A drop of bitterness for the Slovenian: After the stage, the jury imposed a 20-second time penalty on him after he had allowed himself to be pulled in the slipstream of the team car following a wheel change. Only Enric Mas (Movistar) was able to follow Roglic on the final climb from the group of classification riders. The Spaniard consolidated his third place in the overall standings with a strong performance and fourth place on stage 15. Meanwhile, Primoz Roglic is still 1:03 minutes behind the overall leader Ben O'Connor. German Florian Lipowitz takes the lead in the best young pro classification thanks to a great performance on the stage.
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Vuelta 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 15
- Pablo Castrillo (Equipo Kern Pharma) 3:45:51
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:12
- Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) +0:31
- Enric Mas (Movistar) +1:04
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:04
- Matias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +1:09
- Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) +1:13
- Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike) +1:22
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +1:27
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +1:37
The current standings in the overall standings of the Vuelta
- Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) 60:19:22
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:03
- Enric Mas (Movistar) +2:23
- Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) +2:44
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +3:05
- Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +4:33
- David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +4:39
- Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +4:40
- Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +4:51
- Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) +5:12
How the 15th stage of the Vuelta a Espana 2024 went
The 15th stage of the Vuelta a Espana 2024 led over 143 kilometres from Infiesto to Valgrande-Pajares on the Cuitu Negru. The riders had to tackle the Alto de la Colladiella, a 1st category climb, twice and the finish was on a Categoria especial mountain.
Leading group is caught early
After the start of the race, nine riders broke away: Kasper Asgreen (Soudal - Quick Step), Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates), Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) and Jonas Gregaard (Uno-X Mobility) were among those who made it into the breakaway group. Meanwhile, the pace in the peloton was high, the peloton thinned out considerably on the Alto de la Colladiella and the gap between the peloton and the escapees was always small. As a result, the leading group was caught 92 kilometres before the finish.
New breakaway group forms
As a result, a new breakaway group formed, which was much larger and more prominent. It comprised almost 20 riders, including Pavel Sivakov, Jay Vine, Marc Soler (all UAE Team Emirates), Daniel Felipe Martinez, Aleksandr Vlasov (both Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Steven Kruijswijk (Visma | Lease a Bike). The group fell apart as the race headed up the Alto de la Colladiella for the second time. Eight riders made it to the top of the mountain classification together. In addition to Sivakov, Vine and Vlasov, these included Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) and Pablo Castrillo (Equipo Kern Pharma). At this point, the lead group had a 2:45-minute advantage over the peloton. Soudal - Quick Step did the chasing work there.
The final ascent
In the peloton, Movistar helped Team Soudal - Quick Step in the chase. However, the peloton did not get any closer to the front for the time being. The breakaway group thinned out on the final climb to Cuitu Negru. Jay Vine and Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) broke away first, then Stefan Küng and Quentin Pacher (both Groupama-FDJ) also had to bury their hopes of a stage win. With 13 kilometres to go, only Sivakov, Vlasov and Castillo remained at the front of the race - with a lead of over three minutes on the peloton.
As a result, Soudal - Quick Step pushed hard in the peloton so that the lead slowly melted away and the peloton thinned out more and more to the best riders in the classification. With 6 kilometres to go, Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) tested the freshness of the competition. However, the Spaniard did not manage to break away from the group of favourites for the time being.
Castrillo's decisive start
Three kilometres before the finish, the race was in full swing at the front. Pablo Castrillo attacked and distanced Vlasov and Sivakov. Although Vlasov sucked the Spaniard back in, the latter attacked again shortly before the finish to secure his second stage win at the 2024 Vuelta.
Lipowitz prepares, Roglic attacks
In the group of classification riders, Florian Lipowitz pushed the pace two kilometres before the finish to such an extent that initially only his team-mate Primoz Roglic was able to follow, who then set off on a solo attempt. While O'Connor was unable to respond, Enric Mas slowly sucked up to the Slovenian and even opened up a small gap on Roglic in the meantime. The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider managed to close the gap shortly before the finish and crossed the line at the same time as the Spaniard. Both riders made up time on the overall leader O'Connor.
