Cyclist Philipsen wins cold, wet, windy Stage 15 in Vuelta

MADRID -- The longest stage of the Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race on Thursday produced more drama than expected with Jasper Philipsen of UAE-Team-Emirates claiming a hard-fought win at the end of a testing day in difficult conditions.

The 230.8 kilometers between Mas and Pueblo de Sanabria in northwest Spain could have seen the riders look to conserve their strength with half an eye on Saturday's decisive mountain stage. Perhaps expecting the peloton to look to save energy, a 12-man group looked to launch an early breakaway on a day that included five draining third category climbs, headwinds and plenty of rolling country to tire the riders' legs.

Mattia Cattanio (Deceuninck Quick Step) attacked from the escape group with 30 kilometers left to ride and was able to open a gap of a minute and 20 seconds over the final climb, where the weather also closed in with wind and driving rain soaking and chilling the already tired riders.

The peloton overhauled Cattanio with three kilometers left in the stage, but with no team able to organize a proper lead-out the stage was decided by strength in a final kilometer which dragged uphill.

The 22-year-old Philipsen, who had finished second on Stage 4, was able to hold off the change of Pascual Ackermann (Bora Hansgrohe) and Jaspar Steimle (Deceuninck Quick-Step) to claim the stage to his delight and the emotion of his team-mates.

Meanwhile, there were no changes in the overall standings with Prioz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) maintaining his 39-second advantage over Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and Hugh Carthy (Education First) going into Friday's 162-kilometer stage between Salamanca and Ciudad Rodrigo, which contains a second and a first category climb on another day expected to be affected by wind and rain.