Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen won the 19th stage of the Vuelta a Espana in a bunch sprint as overall leader Jonas Vingegaard extended his general classification advantage over Joao Almeida.
After 160km of relatively flat riding from Rueda to Guijuelo in central Spain, Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) burst to the front near the finish to power to his third stage win at this year’s Vuelta.
Denmark’s Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek crossed the line in second.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard finished safely further back in the pack after picking up four bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint in Salamanca 60km from the finish as main rival Almeida (UAE Team Emirates XRG) was caught napping.
RM Block
Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar, racing for Jayco AlUla, finished the stage one minute 26 seconds back on Philipsen.
Saturday’s penultimate stage is a mountainous route offering the last realistic chance for Almeida to catch Vingegaard for the overall GC win, with the Dane holding a 44-second advantage.
