LOJA, Spain (AP) — Wout van Aert won his fourth career stage at the Vuelta a Espana amid scorching heat on Friday, while Enric Mas kept the red jersey.
On a hot and sunny day in southern Spain, Van Aert beat fellow breakaway rider Valentin Paret-Peintre to claim the hilly 192-kilometer (119-mile) jaunt from Almuñécar to Loja.
The elite Belgian rider stopped the clock at 4 1/2 hours. It was Van Aert’s first win of this edition after he won three stages in 2024. It added to his long list of triumphs, which includes 10 stages of the Tour de France and several one-day classics.
It was also the fourth team win for Team Visma Lease a Bike at this edition.
Mas, the Movistar leader, kept his lead of 1 minute, 45 seconds over four-time former winner Primož Roglič. They crossed in a group some three minutes after Van Aert.
Riders had to handle more heat as thermometers recorded 36 degrees (97 F) in Loja, where the stage finished. One rider compared the heat to having a “hair drier blowing in your face.” Another said he spent the day pouring water over himself at every opportunity.
“It was a very tough stage because of the heat and the hard pace,” American rider Sepp Kuss of Visma Lease a Bike told broadcaster RTVE in fluent Spanish. “If you tried to attack, you just cracked. But we all had to compete in the same conditions. I must also thank the organizers for adding extra spots where we could grab water. If not, it would have been impossible.”
Mas has led the grand tour since Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar withdrew following a crash last Saturday.
Mas has finished the Vuelta as runner-up on three occasions, in 2018, 2021 and 2022. He is trying to become the first Spanish rider to win the home race since Alberto Contador in 2014. The key to Mas finally coming out on top will likely rest on him having a big enough lead to withstand Roglič during a time trial on Stage 18.
Friday’s Stage 13 was just south of Granada, where the three-week race will finish on Sept. 13.
On Saturday, riders face a 154-kilometer (95-mile) stage from Jaen to Sierra de la Pandera.
“Our goal tomorrow is just keeping the red shirt for the next day,” Mas said.
This year’s Vuelta is entirely in southern Spain and without any of its classic mountain finishes in the country’s greener north.
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