Romain Bardet put on a phenomenal ride to win the mountainous Pico Villuerca's Stage 14 and also took over the lead of the mountains classification. Emerging from the breakaway he scored his first Vuelta stage win and only his second career win outside France, following the Tour of Burgos earlier this month. It was also his first grand tour stage win in four years.
"Honestly, I really took it climb by climb because we had the feeling on one really wanted to commit in the breakaway so I had a really hard time to catch the guys in front of us on the last climb. I think in the end we played it really smart with Matt, our coach, he told me exactly when to attack on the steepest and make it as if the finish was just there and it was a 200 metre race. I gave it a good go, I opened a gap and just committed to the finish.
Everyone in the peloton is a bit tired but at the moment the spirit is also super high in the team. We already had two stage wins, multiple podiums with Alberto and everyone is really focused. I'm so happy to be part of such a good team. We're really enjoying ourselves and try to do our best every day and I'm so happy to take a stage win for the team. It's been a really good Vuelta for us so far and we'll keep trying for more."
-Romain Bardet.
"Romain made it into a really nice breakaway for us and the gap grew out quickly. There were quite a few attacks going into the finish but we just waited. We tried to stay calm in that moment and just pick our moments where we could really make a difference.
Romain was being heavily marked so we really had to also use the parcours and Romain's strengths to make that difference. We did a really good job there and it's nice to get our third victory of the Vuelta. There are a lot of people in the team working hard on and off the bike who really deserve the credit for the performances here in Spain."
-Matt Winston. Team DSM coach.
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