Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) wins the fifteenth stage of the Vuelta a España from Vegadeo to Monforte de Lemos (167.8km).

A massive breakaway of 50 riders formed on the first two categorized climbs of the day; Philipsen also attempted to join, but his move was too late and he gave up.

The attackers immediately gained a wide lead over a group that showed no interest in closing the gap. On the Alto de Barbeitos, Vine and Vervaeke broke away from the breakaway, building a maximum lead of 3 minutes.

With 50km to go, however, Lidl-Trek and Movistar began working to close in on the counterattackers, in favour of Pedersen and Aular.

The race is all at the front, with the red jersey group trailing by almost 15 minutes. On the steep climbs with 30 km to go, Buitrago , Bernal , and Pedersen break away and lead a small group of seven riders. The seven riders work together and catch up with the leading pair at 7 km to go.

At the front, despite being uncooperative, they managed to battle for the victory in the sprint, with Pedersen , the clear favorite, claiming his first win at this Vuelta. Aular and Frigo made the podium today.

ORDER OF ARRIVAL

1 PEDERSEN Mads Lidl - Trek 4:02:13

2 AULAR Orluis Movistar Team ,,

3 FRIGO Marco Israel - Premier Tech ,,

4 BUITRAGO Santiago Bahrain - Victorious ,,

5 DUNBAR Eddie Team Jayco AlUla,,

6 BERNAL Egan INEOS Grenadiers,,

7 VERVAEKE Louis Soudal Quick-Step ,,

8 VINE Jay UAE Team Emirates - XRG 0:08

9 SHEFFIELD Magnus INEOS Grenadiers *0:00

10 SEGAERT Alec Lotto 0:23