MADRID: Spain’s Pablo Castrillo pushed through the pain barrier to take stage 15 of the Vuelta a Espana on Sunday, his second stage win, while Primoz Roglic took more time off race leader Ben O’Connor.

The 23-year Castrillo had already won Thursday’s 12th stage but this was the biggest victory of his young career.

“It’s something I couldn’t even dream of,” said Castrillo, stunned by the victory. “I didn’t think it was possible to achieve this (two wins) in this Vuelta.”

Castrillo (Kern-Pharma) was part of a leading trio on the gruelling Cuitu Negru climb to the finish and made his move with three kilometres to the end of the 143-km ride from Infiesto to Valgrane-Pajares.

In the final kilometre he glanced over his shoulder to see Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hans­grohe) appear through the fog, but Castrillo found another burst of energy to hold off the Russian, with Pavel Sivakov of France coming in third.

“When Vlasov came in, I took a little rest, I took a little breath and once again I decided to speed up and I did it,” Castrillo said.

Three-times former champion Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) finished fifth, coming in 38 seconds ahead of the red jersey, Australia’s O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), who now holds a slender 43-second lead going into the final week.

The riders have a rest day on Monday before setting off on stage 16, a 181 kilometre route from Luanco on the Asturian coast to the iconic ascent to the Lakes of Covadonga which takes in two intermediate climbs.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2024