09 Sep 2023

Castro fourth in Vuelta break as Magnus moves up at ToB

Related riders

Vuelta a Espana - Stage 14 » Sauveterre-de-Béarn › Larra-Belagua, 156.2km Tour of Britain - Stage 7 » Tewkesbury › Gloucester, 170.9km

Jonathan Castroviejo put in a typically classy ride at the Vuelta a Espana to claim fourth place from the stage 14 breakaway.

The Grenadier was active in the difficult early going to ensure he slipped away as part of the day's escape group. Castroviejo settled into a pack of nine on the Puerto de Larrau, but moved up as the stage wore on.

With two riders up the road going on to contest the stage win, Castro found himself riding with Michael Storer (Groupama-FDJ) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny) in a battle for the top-five. The trio were able to hold off the chasing GC pack, with Castroviejo coming in fourth behind Van Eetvelt.

Up ahead Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick-Step) claimed an impressive solo victory after accelerating clear of Romain Bardet (Team DSM) on the final ascent.

Magnus Sheffield sprinted to eighth place as the Grenadiers took on the penultimate stage of the Tour of Britain.

With narrow gaps on the general classification, we saw a day of attacking on the road to Gloucester.

Ben Turner kicked things off, counter-attacking following an early move from Connor Swift. The rangy Brit eventually ended up in a group of five, out front for much of the day.

On the run-in that meant the Grenadiers were able to follow the counter-attacks, with Sheffield and Carlos Rodriguez covering moves on the hilly ramps.

Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was active and Turner dug deep to get on his wheel with 12km to go as he accelerated and bridged to the front. Rodriguez crashed briefly amid a battle for positions on the climb, but was able to quickly remount.

With Turner slipping back, Sheffield made his way into a select chasing group, finishing eighth as the eventual sprint was won by Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X).

The result ensures the race will go down to the wire in Wales on Sunday. Sheffield jumped up to sixth place overall and sits just three seconds back on Van Aert. The result also saw the American move into the white Young Rider jersey.