PUERTO DE ANCARES, Spain (AP-CP) 鈥� sa国际传媒's Michael Woods won the mountainous 13th stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Friday, while Primoz Roglic took another bite out of the race lead held by Ben O鈥機onnor.
Woods dropped the other breakaway riders and finished the 176-kilometre (109-mile) route from Lugo to a category-one finish at Puerto de Ancares 45 seconds ahead of runner-up Mauro Schmid.
It was the third career win at the Vuelta for the cyclist from Ottawa.
"I鈥檓 on Cloud 9 right now," the 37-year-old Woods said. 鈥淢y big goal was to win a race with this Canadian jersey. I鈥檝e had a tough season this year with illness and I鈥檝e had a tough race with some bad luck, a lot of mechanicals, crashes and mistimed moments. So, this is a big moment of catharsis, a big moment of relief. The pressure has been building and to get this win now, I鈥檓 on cloud 9.
鈥淚t鈥檚 my third Vuelta stage win and I鈥檓 really proud of that. Just the Giro d鈥橧talia stage win is missing. I鈥檓 not getting any younger so it鈥檚 always nice to win at this age. I鈥檓 going to savour this one.鈥�
Behind him, Roglic attacked the group of title challengers and opened up gaps ahead of all OF them. He carved almost two minutes out of O鈥機onnor鈥檚 lead, who has seen the nearly five-minute lead he established on Stage 6 shrink to 1:21 over the three-time Vuelta champion.
The three-week race stays in northwestern Spain on Saturday for Stage 14, a mountainous 200-kilometre ride from Villafranca del Bierzo to Villablino. It finishes in Madrid on Sept. 8.
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