One week after his stage victory on Les Praeres thanks to a breakaway, Louis Meintjes attacked again in the fifteenth stage of the Tour of Spain, which ended on top of the Sierra Nevada (23km) at more than 2500 meter of altitude.
The South-African rider was part of a breakaway of 29 riders, who maintained an advantage of around five minutes during the main part of the race. This gap started to melt in the final 50 kilometer, when the peloton accelerated in the approach to the Alto del Purche, the penultimate climb.
Louis Meintjes then resisted to the return of the favorites until the three last kilometers of the final climb and finished ninth. He climbed to eleventh place in the general classification, only five seconds away from the top ten.
Estonian rider Rein Taaramäe accompanied the best climbers in the peloton for a long time and crossed the line in sixteenth place. He will start the final week in 22nd place in the general classification.
« It looks like I have a flair for joining the early breakaway in this Vuelta. Just like last week, I showed up in the front when the breakaway was formed. The leading group was big, so it wasn’t easy to maintain a good cooperation. As a consequence I had to work quite a lot together with the other GC contenders to maintain a decent gap to start the final climb. At the finish I managed to keep most of the GC riders behind me. I can be satisfied about my day, even though I was hoping for a second stage win. I am now eleventh in the provisional classification at only a handful of seconds from the top ten. I hope to keep the momentum to gain at least one position in the classification before Madrid. I’m still convinced that this is a big challenge, as all riders in front of me are serious contenders. »
