Vuelta a Espana: Philipsen triumphs as riders toil on stage 15

Jasper Philipsen took the honours at the end of a stage fought amid miserable conditions at the Vuelta a Espana.

For Thursday's 15th stage, the riders took on the 230.8-kilometre slog from Mos to Puebla de Sanabria into a near-relentless headwind, with long spells of rain adding to the difficulty.

Deceuninck-Quick Step's Mattia Cattaneo had the lead up and over the final climb of a long day, with riders in the saddle for more than six hours, but the Italian was swallowed up by the chasing pack.

It was Philipsen who had the legs to provide the strongest sprint finish, the UAE Team Emirates star surging nearly a full bike length clear of German duo Pascal Ackermann and Jannik Steimle, who joined him on the podium.

Organisers neutralised the General Classification late on, with timings for the overall standings taken 3km from the finish.

That meant there was no change at the business end of things, with Primoz Roglic still leading the GC ahead of Richard Carapaz and Hugh Carthy.

The win for Philipsen will exorcise the demons of his agonising near-miss on stage four, when he was overtaken on the line by Sam Bennett.

Etapa 15 - Stage 15 | #LaVuelta20Vive el último kilómetro de la victoria de @JasperPhilipsen gracias a @CarrefourES Live the last km. of Jasper Philipsen's victory thanks to @CarrefourES #CarrefourConLaVuelta pic.twitter.com/3KtDvjBm4a
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) November 5, 2020

STAGE RESULT

1. Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) 6:22:36 2. Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) same time 3. Jannik Steimle (Deceuninck-Quick Step) same time 4. Fred Wright (Bahrain-McLaren) same time 5. Dion Smith (Mitchelton-Scott) same time

CLASSIFICATION STANDINGS

General Classification

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 60:19:41 2. Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) +00:39 3. Hugh Carthy (EF Pro Cycling) +00:47

Points Classification

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 178 2. Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) 113 3. Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) 111

King of the Mountains

1. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) 89 2. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) 34 3. Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) 30

What's next?

The riders take on the 162km route from Salamanca to Ciudad Rodrigo on stage 16. It's a hilly one with a category-one climb around 30km from the finish line.