Van Aert wins his second stage amid Cordoba heat

MADRID, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) won the 15th stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycle race on Sunday to take his second stage win.

The extreme heat in the south of Spain led to race organizers cut 80 kilometers from the stage, reducing it to just 110 kilometers with two third category climbs and with the start of the stage also delayed as temperatures topped 40 degrees centigrade.

A shortened stage and a lack of specialist sprinters left in the race to encourage teams to chase down escapees meant a breakaway was always likely and 11 riders quickly went up the road, although with Matthew Brennan and Wout van Aert clear favorites to take the stage, the Visma-Lease-A-Bike squad wasn't willing to let it get much more than a minute ahead.

His team was able to put Van Aert into the break, which was reduced to five riders by the time the race began to descent into Cordoba.

Thibau Nys (Lidl Trek) looked to attack Van Aert with three kilometers left to ride and was chased down before Andreas Leknessund (Uno X Mobility) also looked to ride off the front, knowing his sprint isn't as good as the Belgian's.

Van Aert chased down Leknessund with ease and when Nys launched the sprint, he latched on his wheel and overtook him to take the stage in the closing meters.

Enric Mas (Movistar) retains his lead of just over two minutes going into Monday's rest day, with the race returning to action on Tuesday with another rolling stage over 181 kilometers from Cortegana to Palos de la Frontera. ■