Britain’s Matthew Brennan expressed disbelief at the extreme heat riders endured on Sunday during stage 15 of the Vuelta a España. His Visma Lease a Bike teammate Wout van Aert took the sprint victory in Córdoba after the stage was shortened due to high temperatures.
“It’s 41 degrees on average,” Brennan said. “When I was on the climb at the start it was 44, and at that point you start thinking: ‘What are we doing?’ A normal office worker needs the temperature set at 20 degrees or thereabouts, and I’m sure the UCI [cycling’s governing body] office will have their 20 as well.”
The medium mountain stage from Palma del Río to Córdoba was originally scheduled to cover 189.7km, but organisers removed 79.5km from the middle of the route after activating the extreme weather protocol following several days of severe heat.
Brennan added: “It’s not great, but we do it, and that’s the spectacle we put on. But it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a few bodies coming home tonight with heatstroke.”
Van Aert claimed his second win in three stages after prevailing in a five-rider sprint. The Belgian rider covered every attack from his four breakaway companions in the closing kilometres before producing a late surge just before the finish line to beat Alessandro Romele of XDS Astana and Lidl-Trek’s Thibau Nys.
“We tried to surprise the bunch by controlling the whole day. We were still there with a few strong guys, and I knew people would not expect the attack. I sensed the moment on the intermediate sprint and with Matthew [Brennan] behind there was no risk to try,” Van Aert said. “We always had a good option in the bunch. That’s how I like to race.”
Race leader Enric Mas and his main general classification rivals finished together after Movistar controlled the chase behind the decisive breakaway, and Mas will carry the red jersey into the second rest day on Monday.
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