Jai Hindley has battled into podium contention at the Vuelta a Espana - but Australia's only active Grand Tour winner was still consigned to just a bit part on a day when Joao Almeida won a fabulous duel to triumph on one of cycling's most fearsome climbs.
Hindley, the 2022 Giro d'Italia winner, finished third on the fiendish L'Angliru ascent, nearly half a minute behind Almeida and race leader Jonas Vingegaard, who went wheel-to-wheel in the denouement of Friday's 202km 13th stage from Cabezon de la Sal.
The Perth rider's effort shot him up from seventh to fourth place in the GC, three minutes behind Vingegaard, 2:14 behind Almeida and now just 42 seconds adrift of third-placed Tom Pidcock.
