Team dsm-firmenich take another brilliant Vuelta stage win with Alberto Dainese

Always going to be a day for the fast-men of the bunch, Team dsm-firmenich positioned their finisher Alberto Dainese perfectly, who powered to the stage win in Íscar on stage 19 on Friday. American Sepp Kuss retains race lead

A controlled stage, the peloton always had the four rider breakaway under control and Team dsm-firmenich kept their proverbial powder dry for the final.

Alberto Dainese narrowly avoided a crash in the final kilometre to sprint to victory on stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana.

Green jersey holder Kaden Groves, who has won two stages this year, was among several riders to go down on a straight 2.2km run to the finish in Iscar.

Navigating some nervousness in the bunch, the team moved up well as a group, bringing fast finisher Dainese to the fore. Making sure they were in position around the last corner before the long final straight, the lead-out dropped off Dainese at the front. Opening up the afterburners, Dainese kicked hard and surged to the stage win in the sprint finale. Sitting up to celebrate as he crossed the line, it was a fine reward for Team dsm-firmenich after some great teamwork throughout the day.

“We did a super job,” explained an elated Dainese, “We looked back at the sprints that we did in the first few weeks, where we went wrong and what we can then do today, and we executed the plan perfectly. It was really unlucky to lose Sean and Max in the crash, but until that point they kept me in the perfect position and where we wanted to be. We knew it was a headwind in the finish so I let Ganna and a few of the other guys open it up early and then waited for my moment. I’m super happy to finish it off today. I really wanted to end the season and my time with the team in a good way; this feels really special because of that. I put a lot of pressure on it because it is one of the last sprints I’ll do, but it was great to take the win. I want to say thanks to the whole team; they did a great job today and this is for them.”

American Sepp Kuss finished safely in the peloton to retain the overall lead.

The 29-year-old still leads Jonas Vingegaard by 17 seconds, with their Jumbo-Visma team-mate Primoz Roglic just over a minute behind Kuss in third.

They are now following team orders to help Kuss clinch his first Grand Tour win, with Jumbo-Visma set to become the first team to win all three Grand Tours in the same year after Roglic won the Giro d'Italia in May and Vingegaard retained his Tour de France title in July.

Kuss is not quite assured of victory yet as Saturday's penultimate stage takes the riders into the hills over 208km around Madrid and will feature 10 categorised climbs.

VIDEO: 2023 La Vuelta Stage 19 Highlights

2023 La Vuelta Stage 19 Top 10

1  DAINESE Alberto Team dsm - firmenich 3:42:09
2  GANNA Filippo INEOS Grenadiers 0:00
3  VAN DEN BERG Marijn EF Education-EasyPost 0:00
4  CIMOLAI Davide Cofidis 0:00
5  GARCÍA CORTINA Iván Movistar Team 0:00
6  BALLERSTEDT Maurice Alpecin-Deceuninck 0:00
7  ASKEY Lewis Groupama - FDJ 0:00
8  HOFSTETTER Hugo Team Arkéa Samsic 0:00
9  BARCELÓ Fernando Caja Rural - Seguros RGA 0:00
10  KOCH Jonas BORA - hansgrohe 0:00

2023 La Vuelta GC after Stage 10

1  KUSS Sepp Jumbo-Visma 69:14:04
2  VINGEGAARD Jonas Jumbo-Visma 0:17
3  ROGLIC Primož Jumbo-Visma 1:08
4  AYUSO Juan UAE Team Emirates 4:00
5  LANDA Mikel Bahrain - Victorious 4:19
6  MAS Enric Movistar Team 4:30
7  UIJTDEBROEKS Cian BORA - hansgrohe 7:37
8  VLASOV Aleksandr BORA - hansgrohe 8:35
9  ALMEIDA João UAE Team Emirates 10:34
10  BUITRAGO Santiago Bahrain - Victorious 12:34