Pablo Castrillo wins his 2nd Spanish Vuelta stage as Ben O’Connor loses more ground to Primoz Roglic

CUITU NEGRU, Spain (AP) — Pablo Castrillo claimed his second stage win in the Spanish Vuelta on Sunday, while Primoz Roglic moved closer to overall leader Ben O’Connor despite a 20-second penalty for sheltering behind a team car.

Race officials handed the penalty to Roglic, a three-time Vuelta champion, after analyzing images of the race and determining that he drafted behind the car.

Castrillo, a 23-year-old rider from team Kern Pharma, grabbed the 15th-stage victory after a mountainous 143-kilometer (89-mile) route over three peaks to the special-category summit finish atop the infamous Cuitu Negru.

The win came three days after Castrillo prevailed at the Manzaneda summit to honor team founder Manolo Azcona, who passed away that day.

“The truth is I didn’t expect it,” Castrillo said Sunday. “This morning I came with the intention to make the break and see how it would go but I didn’t expect to get there in a position to win. The first victory was unbelievable but to get a second one is a dream. I think it’s the best Vuelta possible. I don’t know what else to say.”

Roglic wasn’t able to grab the red jersey from O’Connor but moved closer to the overall lead with another strong climb. He is 1 minute, 3 seconds behind O’Connor.

“I guess I’ve proven wrong the people who expected me to lose the jersey. I had a pretty good day,” O’Connor said. “It’s a bit of a shame that I exploded a bit at the end but that’s gotta be one of the most horrible endings to a climb that I’ve ever done, it was disgusting. It was kind of only one attack and that was Primoz, super impressive, then it was very much man against man that climb.”

Riders will get a rest day on Monday. The race finishes in Madrid on Sept. 8.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports