La Vuelta A thrilling stage 15 to Cuitu Negru

Cuitu Negru, Astorias: With three kilometers to the finish line begins the infernal stretch of Cuitu Negru, with an average slope of 14% and ramps of up to 24%. Add in mist/fog it was the perfect stage for debutant Pablo Castrillo to pull off another dream-like win as his lower budget Kern-Pharma squad defeating the top WorldTour competitors, Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) and Alessandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) in a thrilling finale to stage 15.

“I was already satisfied with the first stage victory. Anything that would come after would be a bonus. I am speechless. Winning this second stage, on a climb like this and with such tough rivals, is something incredible. I cannot explain it. I didn’t think I could ever win. This is like a dream. It was so steep and I never imagined I could match these two high-level rivals. I tried to anticipate and when Vlasov came up to me I thought all was lost. But I saw his face how much he was suffering, and I was able to finish it off. I dedicate this victory again to Manolo, the entire team and my family. It is something that I will remember all my life.”

-Pablo Castrillo

"I though the finish line never would arrive. We still have a lot of Vuelta left."

-Enric Mas is now third overall, 2:03 from Ben O'Connor.

"I'm still in the lead, so okay, I'll take it. I'm going to rest tomorrow, try and enjoy it if I can, and then tackle Lagos de Covadonga (on Monday)."

-Ben O'Connor is hanging onto the lead @ 1:03 

Downward journey: It beats going up

Look back: Laurent Fignon, Bernard Hinault & Julian Gorospe - 1983 Vuelta a Espana

"I had a pretty good day. It's a bit of a shame that I exploded a bit at the end but that's got to be probably one of the most horrible endings to a climb I've ever done. It was really disgusting. You just felt like you were going nowhere, and you couldn't see anything with the fog as we

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