2015 Vuelta a España, Stage 12 to Stage 21
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The 2015 Vuelta a España was a three-week Grand Tour cycling race that took place principally in Spain between 22 August and 13 September 2015; two stages also took place partly or wholly in Andorra.[1] The final ten stages took the race from the mountains of Andorra to the conclusion of the Vuelta in Madrid. After the first eleven stages, Fabio Aru (Astana) held the race lead, around half a minute ahead of Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) and Tom Dumoulin (Team Giant–Alpecin).
Stage 12 was a flat stage, won by Danny van Poppel (Trek Factory Racing). Stage 13 was won by Nelson Oliveira (Lampre–Merida) from the breakaway; it was followed by a series of three consecutive summit finishes. The first of these was won by Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing Team), as Aru and Rodríguez gained time on Dumoulin. Rodríguez won stage 15, putting him just one second behind Aru, while Dumoulin again lost significant time. Stage 16 was the final summit finish of the race and the final stage of the second week. It was won by Fränk Schleck (Trek Factory Racing), again from the breakaway. Rodríguez gained further time on Aru and took over the race lead, though only by a single second, while Dumoulin again lost time. The following day was a rest day.
The final week of the race began with an individual time trial on stage 17. This was Dumoulin's speciality and he won the stage by over a minute, with all his rivals for the general classification even further behind. He moved into the race lead, three seconds ahead of Aru, while Rodríguez dropped to more than a minute off the race lead. The subsequent three stages were all won by the breakaway, with Aru and his team trying to attack Dumoulin throughout. They were won by Nicolas Roche (Team Sky), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale) and Rubén Plaza (Lampre–Merida) respectively. Plaza's victory came after a 117-kilometre (73 mi) solo breakaway. On the same stage, Aru was finally able to escape from Dumoulin, who lost nearly four minutes and fell to sixth place, while Aru took the overall lead. Stage 21, the final stage of the race, was a sprint stage that took the riders into Madrid. It was won by John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin), while Aru sealed his overall victory ahead of Rodríguez and Rafał Majka (Tinkoff–Saxo).