00:00Welcome to the Vuelta.
00:04Things are hotting up at this Vuelta, quite literally.
00:07Extreme temperatures in the south of Spain
00:09have forced the organisers to shorten today's 15th stage.
00:13Theoretically it's one for the sprinters
00:14and Visma will be the team to beat
00:16with their dynamic duo of Juan van Aert and Matthew Brennan.
00:21It's a tricky one on a day like this
00:23because the terrain is so hard and it's also quite short.
00:27And also now with this heat, it increases a lot of things.
00:32I think we just have to react on what's going to happen in the race
00:36and make sure that we're in a good situation.
00:39Today we're heading to Cordoba,
00:41where Magnus Court took the honours in 2021.
00:44The Dane's come close to victory in his final Grand Tour before retirement,
00:48second on stage 10 and fourth on stage 11.
00:53It was not a stage I actually planned to try for the win.
01:01That year I was in the break the day before
01:03and so I was just sitting easy in the peloton all day
01:08and yeah, suddenly everything came back together for a sprint
01:14and then of course I was ready.
01:15Do you expect something like that today also?
01:19Yes, I think it can be a reduced one sprint
01:22but I expect a breakaway to go to the finish today.
01:26Jack Haig who came third overall at the Vuelta in 2021 turns 33 today
01:31and the Aussie says a shorter stage doesn't necessarily mean an easier one.
01:37I'm not expecting an easy day to be honest.
01:38I'm expecting probably quite a hard day.
01:41Generally when stages are shorter we end up racing slightly more intensely.
01:45It'll be interesting to see how the peloton reacts to the hot weather today.
01:48It's obviously very hot right now and once we get into the race we'll have to see how it goes.
01:54Stage 15 has been reduced from 190 to 110 kilometres because of the heat
01:59though there are still 1800 metres of elevation gain.
02:02It is sure to be a high-speed outing before tomorrow's rest day.
02:06Can a breakaway survive then or will it be the sprinters going head-to-head in Cordoba?
02:15They roll through kilometre zero. Stage 15 is officially underway from Parma del Rio to Cordoba.
02:21110.2 kilometres off racing and already Group Armour FDJ United are on the move and on the hunt
02:28along with UNOX Mobility and in the black kit Tudor Pro Cycling.
02:33It's going to be a fast start. You can already see the arrow shape to the peloton.
02:38A high-octane start with plenty of attacks but it only took 15 kilometres or so for a breakaway to
02:44form with 11 riders.
02:46Only one of them had won of welter stage before, Andreas Lechnesund on stage 7 of this year's edition
02:51although others like Ethan Hayter and Xavier Asparin have come pretty close.
02:55The best placed on GC, Heiss Leimreise, was more than an hour behind Enric Maas.
03:01The leaders are struggling to break free of the peloton's grip though with Wisma and Kofidis controlling for a sprint.
03:07The gap barely a minute as they reach the first climb, the Puerto de la Forestal.
03:18With the break not far up the road, Georg Steinhauser decided to try to bridge across from the bunch.
03:24The German, who was also on the attack yesterday, clearly has good legs.
03:30They soon reached the top of the climb but the road continued to rise and the peloton continued to close
03:36in.
03:36Steinhauser doing an excellent job to get across to the front of the race.
03:4170.8 kilometres to go, Georg Steinhauser has single-handedly bridged across to the front group of 11,
03:49making it a group of 12 here on stage 15 of La Vuelta.
03:59With 65 kilometres to go, the break only had 20 seconds over the peloton.
04:05It didn't look like this would be their day.
04:11The pace remaining high on this rolling terrain, with other teams looking interested at the front of the bunch, notably
04:17UAE.
04:20But it was Michael Gogol of Alpersen Premier Tech who went clear with 48 kilometres to go.
04:26The gap now just 20 seconds, but the Austrian champion was struggling to close it.
04:32Asparin driving the breakaway on in a short descent before the final climb.
04:36The Spaniard pulling away with three other riders from the original move.
04:40Fabian Weiss, Ruben Thompson and Leknesund coming across here.
04:46And it was the Norwegian who held the peloton at bay the longest, reaching the summit solo.
04:54Over the top of the Porto Artafi, it's Andreas Leknesund of UNOX Mobility who takes the three points.
05:00He's got the advantage over de Bruna.
05:04Ramses de Bruna, Gogol's team mate, catching up to Leknesund with 33 kilometres remaining.
05:09And there were more riders coming across.
05:12They would be joined by three other men after the intermediate sprints.
05:19Wout van Aert reaching the front with Alessandro Rumele and Thibaut Nace.
05:23As Visma and Lisebeik looked to surprise their rivals, they obviously still had Brennan back in the peloton.
05:29The Belgian the clear favourite to win from this leading group of five.
05:34There was a chase group behind, but they were struggling to close the gap, with the peloton now a minute
05:39and a half in arrears.
05:41The front five would contest the stage victory.
05:45Understandably, the others weren't too keen to sprint against van Aert, so several of them tried to attack in the
05:50final.
05:50Nace having a go, followed by de Bruna, but they didn't get too far.
05:55Leknesund was also unable to break free with 2k to go.
05:58The five men still together, heading under the Flamme Rouge.
06:05Andreas Leknesund who goes early.
06:07The Norwegian looking to try and outsmart the faster men in this group.
06:11He knows he's got to try something.
06:13He knows he's got to go from a long way out.
06:15While Van Aert sits second wheel, Romelli.
06:19Poised, ready, waiting to pounce.
06:22Can it be a first pro victory for the Italian on Grand Tour debut?
06:27Nice knows what it's like to race in a Grand Tour, but he's never won a Grand Tour stage.
06:31Look at this acceleration from the Belgian.
06:34Look at this from the man who thrives on the cyclocross field.
06:37It's Thibaut Neiss of Lidltrek, with 150 metres to go, who's looking for Grand Tour glory.
06:43But here comes Wout van Aert. Wout van Aert in the green jersey.
06:47It's going to be the Belgian from Visma Lisabijk who reigns supreme in Cordoba.
06:52Wout van Aert strikes and he takes it.
07:00Wout van Aert doubling up after another dominant showing from Visma Lisabijk.
07:04His second win this year and his second in Cordoba after 2024.
07:08The Belgian star is looking in ominous form three weeks before the World Championships in Montreal,
07:14while Visma now have five victories at this Vuelta.
07:19It's amazing.
07:21Most of the days that we thought we were able to win, we won actually.
07:26That's pretty impressive.
07:28On a stage like today, how we took control as a team is something to be really proud of.
07:35I have to be very grateful for the work of the boys again.
07:38Thank you very much.
07:43Van Aert taking his eighth win of the season ahead of Rommelay, Neiss, De Bruyne and Lechnersund.
07:48Alessandro Covey lead in the chase group with the peloton at nearly three minutes.
07:54Henrik Maas will go into the final week of La Vuelta with a lead of two minutes and six seconds
07:58over Felix Gall,
08:00while third place Primoz Roglic is only four seconds behind the Austrian.
08:04Van Aert now leads the green jersey standings by over 100 points,
08:08while Rommelay is just six behind Brennan in the fight for second place.
08:11No real mountains action today.
08:14Santiago Buatraga finishes week two with a 29 point lead over Van Aert.
08:21And it's game on in the youth classification with 30 seconds separating Oskar Onli and Jakob Omrazel with six stages
08:28to go.
08:30First though, it is time for an ice bath and a well-earned rest day.
08:34Do join us again when the race resumes on Tuesday and thanks for watching.
08:41We'll see you next time.
