Madrid (AFP)

The French Kenny Elissonde inherited the red jersey on the Tour of Spain after the fall of the leader Rein Taaramäe in the final of a 5th stage won in the sprint by the Belgian Jasper Philipsen on Wednesday in Albacete.

The calm within the peloton was as flat as the profile of the day between Tarancon and Albacete, until a huge fall 12 km from the end, involving a hundred riders, many of whom ended up on the mat.

The leader of the general, the Estonian Taaramäe, was one of the main victims: sent to the ground, he was only able to leave for more than 1 min 30 behind the peloton, lonely while the final packaging was being prepared.

A gap too large to hope to return and which offered the red jersey on a plateau to Kenny Elissonde (Trek), 30, who had been starting from the 3rd stage in 2nd place, 25 seconds behind the rider of the Intermarché team.

The Frenchman knows the Tour of Spain well, where he won the most prestigious success of his career, at the top of the legendary Angliru in 2013.

So few favorites were taken in the fall, Romain Bardet, leader of the DSM team, appeared very marked, arriving more than 12 minutes behind the winner of the day, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin).

- 2nd success for Philipsen -

The Belgian won in Albacete his second success in this Vuelta after that gleaned in Burgos, already ahead of the other sprinter in form of this edition, the Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck), winner the day before in Molina de Aragon.

Second success on La Vuelta for the Belgian Jasper Philipsen, winner of the 5th stage in Albacete, August 18, 2021 JOSE JORDAN AFP

With an expected arrival in the usually windy lands of Castile-La Mancha, in Albacete, the riders could nevertheless expect the race to be rather animated by the edging of the teams contending for the general classification.

But the wind, present but oriented in a direction not very conducive to major maneuvers, left the sprinter teams alone, who were able to manage the race.

Three men, however, tried their luck from kilometer zero, led by the Basque Oier Lazkano (Caja Rural), who left his two breakaway companions, first Pelayo Sanchez (Burgos BH) at 35 km from the term, then Xabier Mikel Azparren (Euskaltel Euskadi) 22 km away, before being caught by the peloton about fifteen kilometers from the finish line.

Elissonde will already have to fight to defend her 1st place on Thursday during the 6th stage, which cracks in the Valencian community, along the 158.3 km connecting Requena to Alto de la Montana de Cullera.

If the route does not involve any real difficulty, the finish is located by the sea, at the top of a demanding 3rd category hill, 1.9 km long at 9.4% average.

© 2021 AFP