Vuelta a España: Roglic slashes O’Connor’s lead as Woods wins stage

Michael Woods clinched victory on the 13th stage of the Vuelta a España on Friday with a decisive late breakaway, but the more significant news in the difficult mountains of northwestern Spain was Primoz Roglic cutting Ben O’Connor’s lead in the overall standings by almost two minutes. The Australian now holds the leader’s red jersey by just 1min 21sec.
“I was pretty cooked. Sad times but I’m still in red so at least it’s a good thing,” said O’Connor, who finished 33rd in the stage for Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale, compared with Roglic’s 16th for Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe. “Tomorrow, I’ll just try to do my best to recover, have another day in the red jersey and see how Sunday goes.”
Woods, meanwhile, excelled on the route from Lugo to Puerto de Ancares, securing his fourth Grand Tour stage win and his third in La Vuelta.
A leading group of five remained tightly packed as they approached the final, gruelling ascent. However, Woods, riding for Israel–Premier Tech, broke free 4.5km from the finish.
Switzerland’s Mauro Schmid finished second, trying but unable to match Woods’s pace in the mountains, while the local audience cheered as the Spaniard Marc Soler claimed third place.
“It’s been a tough race. And this is a big moment of catharsis, a big release. The pressure has been building and to get this win now, I’m on cloud nine,” Woods said. “I knew that as long as I had the guys within striking distance I had a shot at winning because the climb really suited me.
“I didn’t want to go as early as Mauro did but then I had to. It was a long 4km to be alone.”
The 37-year-old Canadian pointed to the red maple leaf on his Canadian champion jersey as he crossed the finish line, celebrating his hard-fought and strategic win.