Maxime Monfort was third in the nineteenth Vuelta stage. Gougeard won the stage from Medina del Campo to Avila, he escaped from a group of 24 riders.

The stage seemed to become a battle on two fronts: for the stage and for important seconds on GC. After six kilometres a group with Maxime Monfort and Tosh Van der Sande took off. They soon had an advantage of more than sixteen minutes. On the second category climb, with top nineteen kilometres from the finish, first Machado and then Gougeard got away solo. In the chase Monfort was accompanied by Moinard, Amador and Machado but they couldn’t catch  Gougeard. Oliveira came back and sprinted to the second place. Monfort was third. Bart De Clercq finished in the group of favourites and remains fourteenth.

“Luckily, it didn’t take as long as in the previous stage before a group escaped, it already happened after six kilometres," Monfort said. "I have to say that the cooperation in the group of 24 was very good. That happens rarely in such a large group. It was only in the run-up to the second category climb that Machado attacked. I tried to race attentively and together with Moinard and Amador I could chase Gouegeard who had jumped away from us. In the last two kilometres of the climb I had a difficult moment, but I really believed we would catch him in the descent. But he could stay ahead, so he probably was the strongest. I gave all I got, but the third place was the highest possible result.”