Emotional Vingegaard dedicates stage win to Van Hooydonck: "I wanted to win for my best friend"

Jonas Vingegaard impressively won the sixteenth stage of the Vuelta a España. After the breakaway was caught just before the final climb to Bejes, the Danish leader of Jumbo-Visma unleashed his attack four kilometers from the finish line. In no time, Vingegaard had built up a substantial lead, and he gloriously soloed to a brilliant victory. As he crossed the finish line, it became clear that he dedicated his win to Nathan Van Hooydonck, who was involved in a serious accident in Belgium earlier that morning.

Many cycling fans had expected the battle for the general classification to truly ignite on the slopes of the Angliru, but that turned out not to be the case. In the flash interview, Vingegaard was asked whether his attack was planned or a surprise move. "I don't really know. I'm just happy that I was able to win," the Scandinavian kept it vague.

Vingegaard does not yet want to look ahead to monster stage with Angliru

"Earlier today, we received terrible news about Nathan," he continued. "I really wanted to win for my best friend. Fortunately, we've heard that he's doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances. That's a huge relief for myself and the team. Hopefully, he can recover quickly."

The two-time Tour de France winner also made significant gains in the overall classification, moving more than a minute closer to the red jersey wearer, Sepp Kuss, his teammate at the killer bees. Tomorrow, when the mythical Angliru will be tackled, he just might overtake the slender man from Colorado. "For now, I just want to enjoy this stage win," Vingegaard said about it. "I prefer not to look ahead just yet."

Valter: "It's great that we were able to honor Nathan"

While Vingegaard mentioned that Van Hooydonck is doing well under the circumstances, Attila Valter revealed more information. "At the foot of the final climb, the team informed us through the radio that Nathan has woken up and is feeling okay," he told Eurosport. Jumbo-Visma has not officially confirmed the news through its channels yet.

"We need to dedicate this stage to Nathan," Valter continued. "I know he's awake, I don't know if he's already watching the Vuelta again. I hope he can do that again soon. This victory is for him." The situation surrounding Van Hooydonck brought out something extra in the Jumbo-Visma riders. "We give it our all every day, but today maybe we gave 110 percent. I felt really good today and wanted to give everything, fight to the finish. It's beautiful that we could honor Nathan. Our thought in the bus this morning was that we wanted to show how much we care about him."