Photo: Twila Federica Muzzi

The Steps

1st – Oscar Rodriguez (Euskadi - Murias)

2nd – Rafal Majka (Bora - hansgrohe) @ 0:19

3rd – Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing Team) @ 0:30

 

. 🇪🇸 Duro se queda corto para describir el Final en Alto + Viral de #LaVuelta18 . 🇬🇧 The word hard is not enough to describe the Most Viral Final of #LaVuelta18 . Etapa / Stage 1️⃣3️⃣ Candás. Carreño > Valle de Sabero. La Camperona . #LaVuelta18 . 📸 @photogomezsport

The Jerseys

Red - Jesus Herrada (Cofidis)

Green - Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

Polka Dot - Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis)

 

Podéis seguir la etapa de la @lavuelta , hoy el tramo final se desarrolla en territorio 💯 % @pedalesdeleon !!! #pedalesdelmundo #pedalesdeleon #pedalesdelasminas #pedales #pedals #btt #ruta #rutabtt #lavuelta #picosdeeuropa

. Etapa / Stage 1️⃣3️⃣ Candás. Carreño > Valle de Sabero. La Camperona . #LaVuelta18 . 📸 @photogomezsport

En estos momentos en @lavuelta hay una fuga de 32 corredores, con un tiempo de ventaja ante el pelotón de 6'15" donde viene el lider Jesús Herrada, entre los 32 pedalistas figuran B. King (Dimensión Data) quien se encuentra a 7'04" de la roja y Luis Ángel Mate (Cofidis) el cual continúa buscando los puntos de la montaña y asegurando aun más la camiseta, la fuga ya esta coronando el 1er puerto de 1ra categoría. 📸 @photogomezsport #lavuelta18 #lavueltaaespaña #lavuelta #stage13 #etapa13 #cycling #ciclismo #news #noticias

The GC

1st - Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) 

2nd - Simon Yates (Mitchelton - SCOTT) @ 1:42

3rd - Nairo Quintana (Team Movistar) @ 1:50

4th -Alejandro Valverde (Team Movistar) @ 1:54

5th - Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) @ 2:23

6th - Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First - Drapac p/b Cannondale) @ 2:33

7th - Jon Izagirre (Bahrain Merida) @ 2:35

8th - Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale) @ 2:40

9th - Steven Kruiswijk (Team LottoNL-Jumbo) @ 2:44

10th - Emanuel Buchmann (Bora - hansgrohe) @ 2:47

 

¡Enorme Óscar Rodríguez! El escalador navarro se ha impuesto en La Camperona en una fuga de muchísimo nivel por delante de Majka y Teuns. ¡Menudo debut de Euskadi-Murias en La Vuelta! Jesús Herrada ha cedido 1'40" respecto a los primeros hombres de la general, pero mantiene el liderato. 📸Luis Ángel Gómez/@photogomezsport #cycling #cyclinglife #cyclingphotos #ciclismoafondo #bike #cyclist #cyclingshots #cyclingpics #ciclismo #roadbike #bicycle #roadcycling #cyclinglove #instacycling #cyclingfans #cyclingday #vueltaaespaña #lavuelta2018 #LaVuelta18 #oscarrodriguez #orodgar #euskadimurias #fuga #escapada #lacamperona

The Route

"Leg-breaking" doesn't even begin to describe Stage 13's finish at La Camperona, thanks to a hellish final few kilometres. But it's the icing sugar on a difficult day of climbing,

Midway through the 175km stage, the peloton also covered the Category 1 Puerto de Tarna (16.8km @ 4.9%), before a long valley and then the final climb to La Camperona that housed the finish.

La Camperona. I feel like it's missing an "r". #lavuelta #vuelta #vueltaaespaña #sbscycling #cycling

The Key Point

La Camperona averages 6.5% at 8.8km, but the final 2.5km reared up at 17%. With sustained sections at 20%, it was a super difficult finish. 

The first half of the climb averaged less that 4%, but after that gradual interruption, it became very very nasty.

 

The Break

Another stage and a another big breakaway, as 32 men established themselves in a move off the front. Rafal Majka, Thomas De Gendt, Ben King, Bauke Mollema, Dylan Teuns, Illnur Zakarin, Gorka Izagirre and KOM Leader Luis Angel Mate were the key names, as the group raced out to a maximum 6:00 lead.

They started the climb all together, with just under 4:00 lead over the Movistar-led peloton

 

The Finish

Marcus Burghardt spent the first half of La Camperona on the front of the break and set a strong pace. He was working for Rafal Majka, who was likely the favourite for the stage. Burghardt swung off with 3km to go, and Majka attacked 500m later, stringing the bunch out.

Majka dropped everyone initially, however Dylan Teuns soon bridged up to him and set the pace for the leading pair. They looked like the strongest, but out of nowhere,  Oscar Rodriguez of Euskadi - Murias bridged across.

Rodriguez immediately dropped his two World Tour colleagues, with a surprising turn of pace as he went under the flamme rouge. 

Neither Majka or Teuns could get anywhere near the Spaniard, who rode to the line for his, and his team's, biggest ever win.

Behind, the GC group was thinned out significantly, and in the final kilometre, Nairo Quintana attacked to take time over all the other favourites. Simon Yates was hot on his tail, as the two looked significantly stronger than the others.

 

 

The Votes

3 - Oscar Rodriguez. Grand Tour stage wins don't grow on trees - Rodiguez and his Pro Conti Euskadi team ahve gotten more out of today than several World Tour Teams will

2 – Nairo Quintana. Nairo is just chipping away here. He looks content to continually take 30 seconds on most summit finishes at the moment, and it's working pretty well for him

1 – Rafal Majka. Majka probably needed to win with the amount of work that McCarthy and Burghardt did in the break for him, but he still rode reasonably well for second place. He's a strong chance of a stage win in week 3 here

Leaders: Valverde (6), King (5), Herrada, Mate, Viviani (4), Bouhanni, Clarke, De Marchi, Dennis, Gallopin, Geniez, Kwiatkowski, Mollema, Quintana, Sagan (3), De Plus, Mollard, Postlberger, Rodriguez, Rhestrepo, S Yates, (2), Campenaerts, Cortina, Majka, Pinot, Porte, Rolland, Van Baarle, Woods (1), De Gendt (-1)

The Movers and Shakers

It's hard to rate anyone but Quintana as the strongest man here at the moment, having dropped everyone today; that followed on from a strong performance on Stage 9 too. He's only 8 seconds back from Yates, and the hot favourite right now.

A man that's not getting much talk has been