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Former world champion Mads Pedersen notched up his third victory in this year’s Vuelta a España on Friday, proving quickest in a big bunch sprint at the end of stage 19.
The Danish rider bolstered an already-unassailable lead in the green jersey competition, beating Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious), Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and others into Talavera de la Reina. The stage profile featured just two ascents of the category two Puerto del Piélago climb and with the second of those being followed by 42 mainly downhill kilometres to the finish line, the general classification contenders kept their powder dry.
Race leader Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) consequently holds his two minute, seven seconds advantage over Enric Mas (Movistar Team), with third-placed competitor Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) a distant five minutes, 14 seconds back.
They will go head to head on Saturday’s tough mountain stage to the top of the Puerto de Navacerrada. Sunday’s concluder in Madrid is not expected to change the general classification, meaning that Saturday is the final showdown between Evenepoel and his rivals.
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[ Evenepoel wins at Vuelta a España to consolidate lead with three stages to go ]
Meanwhile Ireland’s Matthew Teggart was crowned the winner of the intermediate sprints classification at the Tour of Britain. The WiV SunGod rider had a dominant lead in the competition at the end of Thursday’s stage and looked poised to keep the white jersey until Sunday’s concluder. However his victory came three days early when race organisers cancelled the remainder of the event following the death of Queen Elizabeth.
At home, British rider Kate Richardson grabbed the Rás na mBan stage win she narrowly missed out upon on Wednesday and Thursday, proving best of a five-woman group at the top of The Cut. The Alba Development Road Team rider outsprinted Alex Morrice (Team LDN-Brother UK), Becky Storrie (Cams-Basso), Lieke van Zeelst (Greenmount Cycling Academy) and Zoe Langham (Pro-Noctis-Rotor-Redchilli Bikes) to take the victory.
The race blew apart on the tough 95.9km stage from Portlaoise, with a nine-strong chasing group finishing 19 seconds behind and the next riders scattered further back. Kelly Murphy (Ireland) finished in the chasing group and was best of the Irish riders in 12th place.
Van Zeelst took the race leader’s jersey on Thursday when she won stage two and defended that lead on Friday by finishing in the front. She remains five seconds ahead of Richardson, runner-up on stages one and two, and is now 22 seconds ahead of the next two riders, Langham and Storrie.
Murphy is best Irish rider in 12th place overall, one minute and one second back. Richardson leads both the points classification and the queen of the mountains competition.
The five day, six-stage race continues on Saturday with a hilly 92 kilometre race from Killkenny to Piltown. It then concludes on Sunday with a 2.5km morning time trial at Kilkenny Castle and then a criterium at the same venue.
Rás na mBan
Stage 3 Portlaoise to The Cut: 1 Kate Richardson (Alba Development Road Team) 95.9km in 2 hours 40′39″, 2 A Morrice (Team LDN – Brother UK), 3 B Storrie (Cams-Basso), 4 L van Zeelst (Greenmount Cycling Academy), 5 Z Langham (Pro-Noctis – Rotor – Redchilli Bikes) all same time, 6 M Wilkinson (Team BoomPods) at 19″, 7 E MacLean-Howell (Tofauti Everyone Active), 8 A Mrugal (Cardinal – Classic Cycling) both same time
Best domestic-based Irish rider: 1 Caoimhe O’Brien (Cycling Leinster) 2 hours 42′58″, 2 E Porter (UCD) same time, 3 A Carroll (Brother U.K Orientation Marketing) at 23″, 4 C McCarthy (Cycling Ireland Women’s Commission) at 45″, 5 A Tyler (Cycling Ulster) at 1 min 52″
Young rider: 1 Kate Richardson (Alba Development Road Team) 95.9km in 2 hours 40′39″, 2 A Morrice (Team LDN – Brother UK), 3 E MacLean-Howell (Tofauti Everyone Active) at 19″, 4 M Yeoman (Tofauti Everyone Active), 5 B Morrow (Cams-Basso) both same time
Queen of the Hills: Category one climb of Wolftrap: 1 Zoe Langham (Pro-Noctis-Rotor-Redchilli Bikes) 12 points, 2 B Storrie (Cams-Basso) 10, 3 K Richardson (Alba Development Road Team) 8, 4 E MacLean-Howell (Tofauti Everyone Active) 6, 5 D Shrosbree (Cams-Basso) 4 Category one climb of The Cut: 1 Kate Richardson (Alba Development Road Team) 12 points, 2 A Morrice (Team LDN – Brother UK) 10, 3 B Storrie (Cams-Basso) 9, 4 L van Zeelst (Greenmount Cycling Academy) 6, 5 Z Langham (Pro-Noctis – Rotor – Redchilli Bikes) 4
Team classification: 1 Cams-Basso 8 hours 2′35″, 2 Pro-Noctis-Rotor-Redchilli Bikes at 2′3″, 3 Tofauti Everyone Active at 2 min 19″, 4 Ireland at 2′43″, 5 IBCT-RDL Team at 3′2″
General classification after three stages: 1 Lieke van Zeelst (Greenmount Cycling Academy) 6 hours 48′47″, 2 K Richardson (Alba Development Road Team) at 5″, 3 Z Langham (Pro-Noctis-Rotor-Redchilli Bikes) at 22″, 4 B Storrie (Cams-Basso) same time, 5 A Mrugal (Cardinal-Classic Cycling) at 36″, 6 D Shrosbree (Cams-Basso) at 41″, 7 M Wilkinson (Team BoomPods) same time, 8 M Yeoman (Tofauti Everyone Active) at 43″
Womenscycling.ie best young rider overall: 1 Kate Richardson (Alba Development Road Team) 6 hours 48′52″, 2 M Yeoman (Tofauti Everyone Active) at 38″, 3 E Maclean-Howell (Tofauti Everyone Active) at 43″, 4 A Morrice (Team LDN – Brother UK) at 49″, 5 B Morrow (Cams-Basso) at 1 min 6″
Best Irish domestic rider overall: 1 Amelia Tyler (Cycling Ulster) 6 hours 54′5″, 2 C O’Brien (Cycling Leinster) at 1′17″, 3 E Porter (UCD) at 2′06″,4 C McCarthy (Cycling Ireland Womens’s Commission) at 2′45″, 5 A O’Brien (Cycling Ireland Women’s Commission) at 4′33″
Sport Ireland Points classification: 1 Kate Richardson (Alba Development Road Team) 28 points, 2 L van Zeelst (Greenmount Cycling Academy) 17, 3 Z Langham (Pro-Noctis-Rotor-Redchilli Bikes) 13, 4 A Morrice (Team LDN-Brother UK) 13, 5 L Gillespie (Ireland) 10 IVCA Wickow 200 Queen of the hills: 1 Kate Richardson (Alba Development Road Team) 33 points, 2 D Shrosbree (Cams-Basso) 32, 3 Z Langham (Pro-Noctis-Rotor-Redchilli Bikes) 31, 4 L van Zeelst (Greenmount Cycling Academy) 20, 5 B Storrie (Cams-Basso) 18
Team classification: 1 Cams-Basso 20 hours 28′15″, 2 Pro-Noctis – Rotor – Redchilli Bikes at 2′38″, 3 Tofauti Everyone Active at 2′56″, 4 IBCT-RDL Team at 3′46″, 5 Ireland at 3′48″
Paddy Doran best Irish team classification: 1 Cycling Ulster 20 hours 59′22″, 2 Cycling Ireland Women’s Commission at 7′53″, 3 UCD at 9′08″, 4 Cycling Leinster at 32′38″, 5 Cycling Munster at 2 hour 17′44″
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