Vuelta a Espana: Wells wins stage 14, Roglic retains lead

Tim Wellens claimed his second victory of the 2020 Vuelta a Espana and Primoz Roglic retained his lead of the race on Wednesday.

Wellens won stage five in Sabinanigo last month and the Belgian crossed the line first again at the end of a gruesome stage 14 in Ourense.

The Lotto Soudal rider left enough in the tank to come out on top in a sprint finish ahead of Michael Woods, Zdenek Stybar and Dylan van Baarle on the 204.7km route from Lugo

After tackling a category three climb of the Alto de Abelaira late in the stage, Marc Soler tried to go solo with 20km to go but he was reeled in.

Stybar, Wellens and Soler worked well together at the front before they were joined by Woods and Van Baarle put in some powerful late work.

It was Wellens who had the pace to double his tally of stage victories in this year's race, which Roglic is in a great position to win for the second successive year.

The Jumbo-Visma rider finished in the peloton to stay in the red jersey, which he regained with time-trial victory on Tuesday, with a 39-second advantage over Richard Carapaz.

Hugh Carthy remains 47 seconds adrift of Slovenian Roglic, who was 10th on stage 14.

Second #LaVuelta20 stage win for @Tim_Wellens in Ourense #CaptainsofCycling pic.twitter.com/TU8qevd3QW
— Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) November 4, 2020

STAGE RESULT

1. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) 4:37:05 2. Michael Woods (EF Pro Cycling) same time 3. Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck-Quick Step) same time 4. Dylan van Baarle (INEOS Grenadiers) same time 5. Marc Soler (Movistar) +00:11

CLASSIFICATION STANDINGS

General Classification

1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 53:57:05 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) 76 2. Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) 30 3. Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) 28

What's next?

Breakaways will be expected on long, demanding 230.8 km 15th stage from Mos to Puebla de Sanabria on Thursday, with the peloton likely to have their work cut out trying to contain riders who escape on a winding route.