Vuelta Stage 15: Thibaut Pinot wins on Lagos de Covadonga

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) took victory on the summit finish at Lagos de Covadonga, a result which saw him move into seventh place overall. Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) retained the race lead after finishing third, two seconds ahead of his closest rival, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

The 178.2km stage saw 12 riders in the break of whom LottoNL-Jumbo’s George Bennett was the best-placed overall, 10m03s behind Simon Yates. Ben King, winner of stages four and nine, was also in there but everyone in the group had been caught by the lower slopes of the Lagos de Covadonga.

The final climb was significantly longer than the two summit finishes that had preceded it (11.7km at 7.2%). The nature of the climb seemed to agree with Pinot, who attacked with 6km to go.

A couple of minutes down in the general classification, his rivals were perhaps more willing to allow him a gap, but it was nevertheless a strong ride. Despite a series of attacks in the group behind, the Frenchman won by 28 seconds. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) was second.

The win was Pinot’s first in La Vuelta having already notched victories in the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia.