‘What are we doing?’: Brennan’s anger at racing in 44C heat as Van Aert wins shortened stage
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‘It wouldn’t surprise me if some got heatstroke’
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Spain’s Enric Mas retains leader’s red jersey
Britain’s Matthew Brennan expressed his disbelief at the extreme heat riders had to endure on Sunday during stage 15 of the Vuelta a España. His Visma Lease a Bike teammate Wout van Aert took a sprint win in Córdoba after the stage was shortened because of high temperatures.
“It’s 41 degrees average,” Brennan said. “When I was on the climb at the start it was 44, and at that point you start thinking: ‘What are we doing?’ A normal office person has to have the temperature set at 20 degrees or whatever, and I’m sure that the UCI [cycling’s governing body] office will have their 20 as well.”
The medium mountain stage from Palma del Rio to Córdoba was originally scheduled to cover 189.7km, but organisers removed 79.5km from the middle of the route on Saturday after activating the extreme weather protocol following several days of severe heat.
Brennan said: “It’s not great, but we do it, and that’s the show we put on. But it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a few bodies coming home tonight with heatstroke.”
Van Aert claimed his second victory in three stages after winning a five-rider sprint. The Belgian covered every attack from his four breakaway companions in the closing kilometres before producing a late surge just before the finish line to beat Alessandro Romele, of XDS Astana, and Lidl-Trek’s Thibau Nys.
“We tried to surprise the bunch by controlling the whole day. We were still there with a few strong guys, and I knew people would not expect the attack. I smelled the moment on the intermediate sprint and with Matthew [Brennan] behind there was no risk to try,” Van Aert said. “We always had a good option in the bunch. That’s how I like to race.”
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The race leader Enric Mas and his main general classification rivals finished together after Movistar controlled the chase behind the decisive breakaway and Mas will carry the red jersey into the second rest day on Monday.
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