As Vingegaard rolled towards the finish line, he clutched his chest, where his heart is, with a sad look on his face. He later explained the reason for this. "We got the terrible news this morning, that our team-mate Nathan van Hooydonck is in a coma following an accident" said Vingegaard. "I won for him today." In the meantime, the Belgian has at least regained consciousness.
Vingegaard attacked four kilometres before the finish in the village of Bejes shortly after the start of the final climb - the competition almost all refrained from reacting, knowing full well that the strong team would not be able to compete. Jumbo-Visma is no match for the rider in this Tour of Spain anyway. So while the rest were conserving their energy, the Tour de France winner was able to ride almost effortlessly towards his second stage win at this Vuelta. While he took the first one on stage 13 for his daughter, he dedicated the next one to his team-mate.
Vuelta 2023 - the top 10 of the 16th stage
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) 2:38:23
- Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates) +0:43
- Wout Poels (Bahrain - Victorious) +0:49
- Michael Storer (Groupama - FDJ) +0:55
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +1:01
- Enric Mas (Movistar) +1:01
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:01
- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +1:01
- Mikel Landa (Bahrain - Victorious) +1:05
- Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) +1:05
With his renewed victory, the 26-year-old has swapped places with Primoz Roglic in the overall standings and is now second. Sepp Kuss' red jersey is also not far away.
Meanwhile, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) took it easy. The Belgian finished third last in the mountain jersey, more than 14 minutes behind the winner. As a result, he is now almost half an hour behind the leader in the overall standings - and is therefore well on schedule. Because last year's winner only has the freedom to ride in breakaway groups for the stage win if he is far enough behind.
The next chance to do this will be tomorrow. It's up to the Angliru.
Vuelta 2023 - the overall standings after the 16th stage
- Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) 57:18:10
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +0:29
- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +1:33
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +2:33
- Enric Mas (Movistar) +3:02
- Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) +3:28
- Mikel Landa (Bahrain - Victorious) +4:12
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +4:58
- Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe) +5:38
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +8:43
This was the 16th stage of the 2023 Vuelta
On a nervous stage that was only 120 kilometres long, Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was one of the most active riders right from the start. After a few kilometres, the green jersey was one of the ten riders who stayed ahead of the peloton by around 30 seconds for almost 40 kilometres. Ineos Grenadiers did everything they could to bring the group back.
Groves was also part of the second group, which broke away at around the halfway point - but not one of the British team. Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal - Quick Step), Julius van den Berg (EF Education EasyPost), Nicolas Prodhomme (AG2R-Citroën Team), Max Poole (Team dsm-firmenich) and Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) were the green rider's companions.
After the intermediate sprint 27 kilometres before the finish, which Groves secured with ease, the Australian dropped back. Shortly afterwards, his fellow riders also put their arms on the top handlebars and dropped out. Jumbo, who had taken over the pace work, had not allowed them more than 1:20 minutes. Eleven kilometres before the finish, they were finally caught.
The five-kilometre final ascent quickly sevens out. After a few metres, only around 20 riders were still together. Vingegaard then attacked 4000 metres before the finish. The Dane didn't get any serious pursuers, the other GC riders kept their legs still. Only at the Flamme Rouge did Vingegaard's team-mate Primoz Roglic attack, but he was no longer able to distance himself from the competition.
In second place was New Zealander Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates) crossed the finish line, third was Wout Poels Bahrain-Victorious). However, both no longer play a role in the overall standings.
