Vuelta: Chaos finale on the 16th stage - Roglic crashes, Pedersen wins, Evenepoel with a defect
Professional cyclist Pascal Ackermann narrowly missed out on another stage win at the 77th Vuelta after a thrilling finale. The 28-year-old from the Palatinate was only beaten in the sprint by the Danish former world champion Mads Pedersen on Tuesday on the 16th stage after 189.4 kilometres from Sanlúcar de Barrameda to Tomares.
Roglic crashes shortly before the finish
Ackermann had latched onto the Slovenian's rear wheel around 2.5 kilometres after an attack by defending champion Primoz Roglic. However, both were caught by Pedersen, third-placed Danny van Poppel (Netherlands) and the Brit Fred Wright. Roglic then crashed a few metres before the finish after colliding with Wright. The Vuelta winner of the last three editions sat on the road afterwards with his right arm and leg covered in blood and obviously in shock.
"Roglic made the perfect attack. I waited too long on the last climb and then couldn't stay on the back wheel. Mads was simply far too strong today," said Ackermann and added: "I really wanted to win today, now I still have a chance in Madrid."
Evenepoel defends red despite breakdown
Despite the turbulence in the finale, there were only minor changes at the top of the overall standings one day after the third rest day, even though the Belgian overall leader Remco Evenepoel had a defect shortly after Roglic's attack and had to change his bike. However, due to the three-kilometre rule, the 22-year-old Belgian was classified at the same time as the peloton and now continues to lead Roglic by 1:26 minutes.
On Wednesday, the last of the three major national tours will enter the hot phase for the overall victory. After 152.6 kilometres, the 17th stage will end with a mountain finish at an altitude of 1095 metres on the Monasterio de Tentudia. The race ends next Sunday in Spain's capital Madrid.
Profile: This was the 16th stage of the Vuelta
The stages of the Vuelta in detail
Unlike in the Tour de France, the leader's jersey in the Vuelta is not yellow, but red. We have summarised which other leader's jerseys and special classifications there are in the Tour of Spain in our text on the rules.
Numerous top cycling stars will be at the start of the 2022 Vuelta. TOUR has compiled an overview of the line-ups of the 23 teams.
Tour of Spain for women
In addition to the men's race, there will also be another Vuelta for women in 2022, the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta. It will take place from 7 to 11 September with a total of five stages.
The first stage starts in Marina de Cudeyo in Cantabria, with the final section finishing four days later in the Spanish capital Madrid.
History of the Vuelta
The men's Vuelta a Espana is back after the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France the third of the three major national tours (Grand Tours), which will be held in 2022. The Tour of Spain was held for the first time in 1935 and is therefore younger than its Italian and French counterparts.
Until the 1990s, the Vuelta traditionally took place in spring. The date was then moved to August or September. There was one exception in 2020, when the Vuelta was moved to October and November due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Click through: The Vuelta winners since 2010
The record winner is the Spaniard Roberto Heras with four titles. Three Germans have won the race so far: Rudi Altig (1962), Rolf Wolfshohl (1965) and Jan Ullrich (1999).
