Joao Almeida won his first Vuelta a Espana stage on a brutal mountain finish but couldn't shake off Jonas Vingagaard, who retains his overall lead after stage 13, while it was a contrasting day for the Irish pair in action.
The top two in the general classification battled it out for the stage win, leaving the rest behind in the final 5km. Almeida did all the work on the climb and stayed ahead of Vingegaard in the sprint to the line.
On a gruelling 202km route that concluded on the intimidating Alto de L'Angliru, Almeida kept his nerve to hold off the Dane. However, he couldn't make significant inroads on the man in the red jersey, with the gap reduced by four seconds to 46 seconds, with Tom Pidcock now drifting back to more than two minutes off the lead.
It was a day when Irish representation was halved, with EF Education – EasyPost's Archie Ryan failing to make it to the start line at Cabezon de la Sal.
Ryan, who has enjoyed a couple of top-10 stage finishes, was forced to withdraw "due to a muscular strain in his right glute" and has returned home for rehabilitation.
He started the day 73rd in the overall classification.
It was much more positive for Eddie Dunbar, however. The Team Jayco AlUl cyclist came home 27th, just over nine minutes down on Almeida. The result moves the 29-year-old eight places up the GC, with Dunbar now sitting 33rd overall.
With four mountain stages to follow, the Cork native will be hopeful of maintaining that momentum with eight stages remaining.
