2 September, 2016, Urdax-Dantxarinea (ESP)
Danilo Wyss came close to claiming his first Grand Tour stage win on stage 13 of the Vuelta a Espana, which saw him sprint for second place behind solo winner Valerio Conti (Lampre-Merida).
Wyss was one of 12 riders to make the day’s breakaway and unlike previous stages when the peloton has controlled the break, the bunch was happy to let the group go clear.
With all 12 riders more than one hour behind race leader Nairo Quintana on the General Classification, the group established a huge gap and finished almost 34 minutes in front of the peloton.
The attacks from the breakaway started with 25km to go, which saw multiple riders go clear, including Wyss, before eventually coming back together. Conti attacked inside the final 20km and managed to go clear, crossing the line 55 seconds in front of Wyss’ group.
Wyss battled it with three other riders of the original breakaway in the sprint for second place.
With the large gap between the breakaway and peloton on the finish line, BMC Racing Team now leads the team classification, 14’01” in front of Astana Pro Team.
Quotes from the Finish Line
Danilo Wyss:
“For me it was a really good day. I knew this stage would be a good day for a breakaway like this and it was a really good situation with all of the guys out of GC, really far. It was a good parcours for me with some climbs but not too hard, so I was really looking at the other guys and I knew I had a good shot today. When I saw Conti going at 20km to go, I thought maybe he was going to kill himself but obviously he was really strong.”
“I was feeling really good and I was really hoping that we would catch Conti in the final and I could go for the stage in the sprint. We didn’t catch him, I still got the second place with a good sprint at the end. For me I’m often one of the workers in BMC Racing Team so I don’t have many opportunities like this. It’s a good day for me but I’m a bit disappointed to miss this victory.”
Valerio Piva, Sports Director:
“It was a good move from Danilo Wyss. We have tried from the beginning and today was clear that there was also a chance, and Danilo was in the breakaway so it was perfect. There was no GC danger and he was strong. But I think Conti was clever and also strong because he immediately made a gap. You also need to have some luck in this situation. Danilo was strong and was good for the second place, which is also good for us. With this move we jump now to the head of the team classification so that it also something good for the team. We need to try again. I think we are good and not far from a victory, but we need to try again the next day and focus on the GC with Samuel Sanchez. But of course to win a stage is also an objective.”
Race Profile
Vuelta a Espana
Stage 13: Bilbao > Urdax-Dantxarinea(213.4km)
Top 3: 1.Valerio Conti (Lampre-Merida), 2. Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing Team), 3. Sergey Laguntin (Team Katusha)
BMC Racing Team Top 3: 2. Danilo Wyss, 55. Ben Hermans, 62. Samuel Sánchez
BMC Racing Team Top 3 on GC: 10. Samuel Sánchez, 19. Ben Hermans, 20. Darwin Atapuma
