Miguel Lopez (Astana) won his second stage of the Vuelta a España, soloing in to win at Alto Hoya de la Mora on Sunday's stage 15. Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha), who jumped from the favourites' group near the end, was second, with Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) third.
Chris Froome, who finished fifth, built up his overall lead over Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida), now 1:01 down. Zakarin’s attack moved him up to third at 2:08, with Kelderman falling to fourth at 2:11.
The Sky rider’s overall lead was never endangered on the difficult mountainous stage. A break was allowed to get away, but it shattered on the first climb, as did the peloton. From there, a variety of riders moved to the front and sought their luck. Adam Yates (Orica Scott) took off alone on the closing climb and looked to have it locked up, but Lopez bridged across to him, and the Briton seemed to abruptly run out of energy.
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Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) also put in a glorious acceleration, and he was joined by Lopez in his attack. They had a lead of up to a minute and a half over the ever-smaller Froome group, but the younger Colombian rider jumped again, with Contador having nothing left to answer with. The Trek-Segafredo rider finished at 1:25.
"It's been a magnificent day. With all the work the team did, the team has been up to the task," Lopez said. "Today we decided to attack with Contador. When Contador went, I went with him, but I had some doubts because it was a pretty long and demanding climb. With a final at above 2,000 metres it was really hard. So I had my doubts – but I found myself with the necessary strength and here we are."
How it unfolded
Stage 15 was short but most definitely not sweet, with many metres of climbing and a fearsome mountaintop finish. In addition, the temperatures were high enough that the time limit for finishing was extended.
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