Castrillo wins Vuelta stage 15, Roglic closes on O'Connor

2 months ago 13

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Pablo Castrillo claimed his second victory in the mountains on stage 15 of the Vuelta a Espana, as Primoz Roglic closed on overall leader Ben O’Connor in the race for the red jersey.

The Spaniard broke clear towards the end of the last climb and held off Russian rider Aleksandr Vlasov in a thrilling finale on the punishing slopes of the Cuitu Negru.

Meanwhile, Roglic crossed the line alongside fellow general classification hopeful Enric Mas 38 seconds ahead of O'Connor, who was distanced as the gradient ramped up to 24% about three kilometres from the finish.

Australia's O'Connor now holds a slender 43-second advantage over three-time champion Roglic going into the final week, which concludes with an individual time trial in Madrid next Sunday.

Mas is third in the GC standings two minutes and 23 seconds down, with Adam Yates the highest-placed British rider in 11th, more than five minutes adrift.

Speaking about his second win in four days, 23-year-old Castrillo, who has been linked with a move to Ineos Grenadiers, said: "The truth is I didn't expect it. This morning I came with the intention to make the break and see how it would go, but I didn't expect to get there in a position to win.

"The first victory was unbelievable but to get a second one is a dream."

1. Pablo Castrillo (Spa/Equipo Kern Pharma) 3hrs 45mins 51secs

2. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus/Red Bull - Bora-Hansgrohe) +12secs

3. Pavel Sivakov (Fra/UAE Team Emirates) +31secs

4. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +1min 04secs

5. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull - Bora-Hansgrohe) Same time

6. Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl - Trek) +1min 09secs

7. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education - EasyPost) +1min 13secs

8. Sepp Kuss (US/Visma-Lease a Bike) +1min 22secs

9. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal-Quick-Step) +1min 27secs

10. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama-FDJ +1min 37secs

1. Ben O'Connor (Aus/Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale) 60hrs 19mins 22secs