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'He's a superstar' – Wout van Aert wins two-up sprint to claim stage 13 of Vuelta a España Visma-Lease a Bike rider takes team's fourth stage win of the race Wout van Aert beat Valentin Paret-Peintre in a two-up sprint to win stage 13 of the Vuelta a España on Friday afternoon. The pair were part of a mega breakaway that formed in the first part of the 192km stage and swelled at one point to 43 riders – more than a quarter of the entire peloton. The group had whittled down to nine riders by the time of the finale, during which Van Aert charged ahead with 3.7km to go. Soudal Quick-Step's Paret-Peintre chased the Visma-Lease a Bike rider, swapping through turns, but could not match his speed down the finishing straight in Loja. "I had it a little bit in my mind [to attack when I did]," Van Aert said in his post-stage TV interview. "I saw the profile and I knew there was this last kicker coming into the village. "This distance [ed. 3.7km out], a lot of the time, is when people start to think about the sprint. If you’re able to open up a gap, then they don’t want to close it for each other any more. It was close enough to the finish to be worth it. "With Valentin, I had a nice companion. He gave me a few turns, and it was nice to battle to the line together." The victory marked Visma-Lease a Bike's fourth at the race, the first three courtesy of Matthew Brennan, who closed down attacks late on to help set up his team-mate. The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox! "He's a superstar," Brennan said of Van Aert after the stage. "I’m really happy that I could do my bit to get him the victory that he deserves in this race." The win notably came two years and a day after the Belgian abandoned his debut Vuelta following a crash on a descent that left him with a season-ending knee injury. Enric Mas (Movistar) continues to lead the general classification by one minute and 45 seconds over Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe). How it happened With a category-one summit finish to come on Saturday, Friday’s lumpy stage 13 always looked destined for a breakaway. The organisers classified the stage as a “medium mountains” stage, with 3,400m elevation split over three ascents: a category-one followed by two category-twos. A large breakaway formed on the first climb within the opening 30km of racing out of Alumuñécar. As other riders bridged across, the group then grew and grew, counting 43 at its most – one of the largest breakaways of the season. Attacks then splintered the front pack until only nine riders remained, namely Van Aert and his 20-year-old team-mate Brennan. "Me and Matty in a group like that, we both have a chance," Van Aert said afterwards. "But we’re also able to sacrifice it for each other." This time, having benefitted from the Belgian's lead-outs earlier in the race, it was over to Brennan to turn helper. The Briton latched onto four attacks in the final 8km – two by Léo Bisiaux (Decathlon CMA CGM) and two by Simon Dalby (Uno-X Mobility) – to keep Van Aert in contention, and give him space to counter. "To do that work today for him is sweeter than a win," Brennan later said. After crossing the line first, Van Aert capped his victory by pulling Brennan into a celebratory hug. The pair sit first and second in the points classification, which Van Aert leads by 65 points. There were only minor changes to the general classification on the stage; Clément Berthet (Groupama-FDJ United) entered the top 10 in tenth following the withdrawal of ninth-placed Gregor Mühlberger (Decathlon CMA CGM), who crashed out. Results Vuelta a España stage 13: Almuñécar > Loja (192.8km) 1. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, in 4:34:00 2. Valentin Paret-Peintre (Fra) Soudal Quick-Step, at same time 3. Matthew Brennan (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +24s 4. Jarno Widar (Bel) Lotto Intermarché 5. Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) EF Education-EasyPost 6. Finn Fisher-Black (NZl) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe 7. Kevin Vermaerke (USA) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, all at same time 8. Léo Bisiaux (Fra) Decathlon CMA CGM, +28s 9. Simon Dalby (Den) Uno-X Mobility, +32s 10. Filippo Zana (Ita) Soudal Quick-Step, +45s General classification after stage 13 1. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar Team, in 45:08:51 2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +1:45 3. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon CMA CGM, +2:06 4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +3:53 5. Oscar Onley (GBr) Netcompany-Ineos, +4:29 6. Jakob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain-Victorious, +4:59 7. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +5:32 8. Sepp Kuss (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike, +7:58 9. Harold Tejada (Col) XDS-Astana, +8:33 10. Clément Berthet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United, +11:06 Tom joined Cycling Weekly as a news and features writer in the summer of 2022, having previously contributed as a freelancer and been host of the TT Podcast. He is fluent in French and Spanish, and holds a master's degree in International Journalism. An enthusiastic cyclist himself, Tom likes it most when the road goes uphill, and actively seeks out double-figure gradients on his rides. His best result is 28th in a hill-climb competition, albeit out of 40 entrants. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.