(Reuters) – Jonas Vingegaard went solo on a brutal uphill finish to win stage 16 of the Vuelta a Espana as race leader and Jumbo-Visma team mate Sepp Kuss struggled in the finale on Tuesday.
The Danish Tour de France winner took off like a rocket with just under 4km remaining on the steep climb to Bejes and no other rider was able to stay on his wheel.
Vingegaard powered to the line 43 seconds ahead of Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates) and Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) who was 49 seconds in arrears.
American Kuss held on to the red jersey but finished more than one minute behind Vingegaard and now leads the standings by only 29 seconds. Primoz Roglic completes a Jumbo-Visma top three and is 1:33 behind Kuss.
The Jumbo-Visma team were reeling earlier on Tuesday after the news that their rider Nathan van Hooydonck was in hospital after suffering life-threatening injuries in a car accident at home in Belgium after falling ill at the wheel.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
