WORTH THE WAIT! 🔥 | Men's La Vuelta Stage 13 Race Highlights |

Hello and welcome to Highlight of Stage 13 of the Vuelta a España from Almonica to Loja, 192.8km. Sepp Kuss signing autographs, Smalls all round, Richard Carapaz looking fresh and Primoz Roglic looking cool, as was this man as well. The man in green, Wout van Aert, relaxed ahead of the start, as was Matthew Brennan. Enric Mas leading the race in red, Wout van Aert in the points jersey, Boitrago in the mountains and Onley in white. Yesterday was so hard. First hour I was just looking at someone's back wheel. You couldn't do anything about it. You pour a bottle of water over your head and literally 30 seconds later you're super hot again. I'm not going to lie. It was a tough day out yesterday and I think people who say it was okay, they're lying. It was so hot and humid, but we're here, we're still standing and ready to fight again. Looking forward to it. What would be a good day for you today? I think today we can probably also see another breakaway going for the victory. I think today we try our best to put Stefan Küng in the break. I think it can be a good day for him and then we see if it's a group like yesterday with 30 riders. For sure we want to also try to put somebody else, but our main goal is to put Stefan in. You as a team, you've beat Wout van Aert in a breakaway previously in this Vuelta. It seems like you have to beat a few guys to beat him, doesn't it? As I know, we didn't have a win yet. Yes, we have won, but I think it's a big thrill for today and I think the break will not go without him. Not an easy day for sure. There's obviously the hard climb at the beginning and I think a lot of it depends on Visma. I can't see them wanting to control and obviously van Aert is strong enough to get in the break himself. I kind of expect a break. Obviously, we're not going to tell all our plans, but I think it's complicated terrain. That first climb especially is very hard and it's a difficult stage to control, I think. We have guys who go very well uphill and guys like me who find a suited terrain in the second part of the stage. We definitely want to go for it today. Let's have a closer look at what's on the menu on stage 13. A hilly day, 3,404 metres of elevation gain, a tough climb at the start, the high point midway through and then a kicker towards the end with 37.4km to go. Three riders were forced to abandon early in the race, Muhlberger, Busato and Sintjens. It was an active start, very fast indeed. A big split of riders went clear over the first climb of the day and eventually we had 40 riders clear and from that there was a split of 10 riders at the front, including some very big names indeed. Meanwhile, Movistar were leading the chase behind for Enric Mas and because Matheus Skelmos was in the move, EF Education and Easypost were chasing too. There was a crash though, Axel Lorenz slipped out on a corner. The man from net company Ineos receiving medical attention and shortly afterwards managing to get back. Also Davidella Cruz coming up as well, the former red jersey wearer in the Vuelta, thankfully did get back but ultimately it was going to be a difficult day for him. Meanwhile, Enric Mas was looking calm, cool and collected in red, being looked after by his teammates. The gap at 4.40 as Davidella Cruz managed to get back to the clutches of the peloton. Coming towards the first intermediate sprint of the day with just under 48km to go is Matty Brennan defending the position of Wout van Aert, taking maximum points, 20 points in the bag for the British rider. Meanwhile behind there was a chase, so this is group two on the road, being led by Tudor Pro Cycling but further up the road on the final climb of the day, Kevin Vermaak put in a big attack but it was Matthew Brennan, three stage wins to the good already, showing he can climb as well as sprint. But the gap was coming down, Andreas Leknesen then taking things into his hands and attacking near the top with about 2.3km to go. He opened up a little bit of a gap at this point. It was still furious chasing from behind, Leo Bizieu, the young Frenchman from the Catalan CMA CGM, bridging across and taking everybody else with him. Meanwhile, in the chase group on the road, it was Wout van Aert in the green jersey trying to bridge across to the gap. Filippo Zana was the first to jump across for pseudo quick step. Things were getting very tactical indeed. The bunch at this point, 4.27 down. Taking the points over the top was the American, riding for UEA Team Emirates in a depleted team. And just over the top though, Wout van Aert again on the offensive, making sure that Bismarck and Lisebyte were always in control. It was going to be an aggressive, fast and furious finale with the race continually ebbing and flowing. Eventually, a group did go clear containing Jarno Vidal there for Intermarché. Kevin Vermaak was there too. Valentin Parimpantra also in the mix. Two riders there though, importantly, Wout van Aert and Matty Brennan for Team Bismarck-Lisebyte. Taking a feed with just under 20km to go, van Aert looking round, Finn Fischer-Blak also in the mix. Meanwhile, the peloton were at five minutes, but other teams started to get involved in the chase. The Catalan CMA still because of the threat being posed by Matthijs Schilmos. Coming in to the last 20km, Kevin Vermaak was on a good day. Kept on trying his hand, but was immediately shut down by the man in green, Wout van Aert was hungry. Just under 4km to go, van Aert went again on a small drag. Incredibly, the only rod that could go with him was the pure climber Valentin Parimpantra and within just a few pedal strokes, both were clear, but it was van Aert who was forced to lead out. And we've seen surprises before. What a Vuelta we are watching, and all the pressure here is on Wout van Aert. Parimpantra has nothing to lose, we're coming up to the final couple of hundred metres, the Frenchman launches his sprint, it's likely uphill to the line, Parimpantra's in front, but here comes Wout van Aert, Wout van Aert at the front, and Wout gets what he wants finally at the Vuelta. Trying, trying, trying, but now with a win, and what another victory it is for Wismar Lisebæk. Wismar Lisebæk then with four wins, Mathieu Brennan mopping up in third place just ahead of Jarno Vidar and Vincenzo Albanese. Wonderful teamwork from team Wismar Lisebæk, Wout van Aert giving Brennan a big hug, he finally gets what he wanted, and that was a stage win in the Vuelta once more. Four wins then in the Vuelta for Wout van Aert over the years. The peloton crossed the line, three minutes adrift, Enric Mas safely in red. There was nothing that Valentin Parimpantra could do in the end, Wout van Aert showing a clean pair of heels for his first win in this race, adding to his tally in the points competition in the process. So van Aert takes the win ahead of Parimpantra, Brennan, Vidar, Albanese, Fischer-Black, Vermaak, Busier, Dolby and Zahner. It was a pretty great race from us as a team. I would almost say a masterclass of our philosophy. This was really a win together. We tried to be with as many guys as possible in that break. With Bruno and Mehdi there, it was super good to race. Mehdi was always in the front, putting me and Bruno in a good position so we could sit on in that big group, but we knew it would be very difficult for him to pull that off in a small group there, so we decided to put the pressure on and try to jump over. I jumped over with quite some climbers, created a new situation immediately after the downhill and then just with ten guys, with me and Mathieu there, I think it was really nice to play that game. I'm quite speechless for a while. I think it's been a long time coming and I think to do that work today for him, it's actually sweeter than a win, so yeah, chapeau to him and well done everyone in the team. Enric Mas, though, stays in front, 1.45 lead over Primoz Roglic. Tejada moves up one place because of the absence of Muhlberger and Skrmoza takes back time but stays in seventh. It was a big group, I think 42 riders in the front and we just controlled the break there in between two and four minutes and then the other teams came to help us. Let's have a look ahead at what's in store for the riders on stage 14 of the Vuelta, another hilly day, 4,500 metres of elevation gain, 154.5km from Jaen to Sierra de la Pandera, a brutal mountain top finish atop the Sierra de la Pandera. But today belongs to Wout van Aert.