Vuelta a España Stage Report: Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) appeared out of the mist to take his first stage victory in the 2024 Vuelta a España. In wet conditions, the Spaniard was the strongest of a group of escapees on the climb to the Lagos de Covadonga. Among the favourites; Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale) again lost time to the other GC men, but the Australian managed to keep red jersey (by 5 seconds). During the stage, Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) crashed and had to abandon the race.
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The final kilometre of stage 16
Vuelta race director, Fernando Escartín: “Lagos de Covadonga is a well renowned climb among cyclists. This particularly long stage will feature two Category 1 climbs, Fitu and Llomena, where the riders who manage to escape will play a starring role before the climb up to Lagos. This is a potentially dangerous stage as it will take place right after a rest day, which could cost one of the favourites dearly.”
Stage 16 profile
Stage 16: The sixteenth stage finishes at the Lagos de Covadonga. The start of the stage is in the Asturian coastal town of Luanco and then goes via the hilly northern Spanish coast past Gijón to the beautiful mountain range of the Picos de Europa. Before the final HC climb, there are two Cat.1 mountains. The first is the Mirador del Fito (7km at 8.1%) after 70 kilometres and the second, the Collada Llomenia (7.6km at 9.3%). After the Llomenia there are 40 kilometres to the base of the Lagos de Covadonga for 12.5 kilometres to the glacial lakes Lago de Enol and Lago de Ercina. The Lagos de Covadonga (12.5km at 6.9%) and is a long hard climb. In the first 7 kilometres the road rises at 10%. The last part of this section has ramps of more than 15%. The last kilometres of the climb are a bit flatter and last part to the finish is downhill.
The start was at the port of Luanco
Wout van Aert said before the start that he wanted to save himself for the next stages, but the Belgian went on the attack in the first kilometres. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider was one of the first to make a break, but his escape attempt was quickly shut down. He also crashed, but got back to the peloton. Van Aert kept quiet for a while after that. It took a long time for a break to form as there were many riders who wanted to be part of it. After many attacks, 17 rider got away after more than 30 kilometres: Jay Vine, Marc Soler and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates), Marco Frigo and Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech), Max Poole (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Filippo Zana (Jayco AlUla) and… Wout van Aert were part of the escape.
Another tough day ahead for the race leader – Ben O’Connor
They were joined by William Junior Lecerf (Soudal Quick-Step), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost), Fran Miholjević (Bahrain Victorious), Felix Engelhardt (Jayco AlUla), Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Martijn Tusveld (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Dstny) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis). The lead quickly increased. At the foot of the first climb of the day, the Mirador del Fito (7km at 8.1%), the difference was 9 minutes. On the climb, the break rode steady and waited for the sprint for the KOM points. Soler and Vine tried to shake off Van Aert, but he still fast first over the line. Van Aert increased his lead in the mountain classification to 4 points. The Belgian didn’t wait on the descent.
What will the stage bring Sepp Kuss and Wout van Aert? Kuss was awarded the ‘Solidarity Jersey’ at the start of the stage
The green jersey had a lead after a fast descent and decided to push on. The Vine group were now at 1 minute, but there was no panic among the pursuers. On the flat kilometres to the Collada Llomenia (7.6km at 9.3%), the second climb on the day, the chase group caught Van Aert.
The jerseys at the start
In the GC group, no one was willing to push too hard, but the men of Decathlon-AG2R, who had been on the front for the first hours, were replaced by Movistar. The Spanish team had plans for their leader Enric Mas, the pace suddenly increased. The group of favourites was quickly reduced to about 20 riders, but there were no attacks yet.
The Vuelta leaves the coast for the Lagos
Mas attacked on the penultimate climb. His biggest competitors for the red jersey: Primoz Roglič, Mikel Landa and and overall leader, Ben O’Connor, managed to follow his move. Then there was a counter-attack from Landa, but the Soudal Quick-Step leader couldn’t get away either. When Landa was caught, the pace in the favourites group slowed down and so Valentin Paret-Peintre went back to work for his leader, O’Connor.
That man again – Pablo Castrillo Pablo (Equipo Kern Pharma)
The attacks weren’t long in coming
Wout van Aert wanted as many points as he could get for both jerseys – Green and KOM, until…
Red jersey, Ben O’Connor had his men at the front of the peloton
The damp roads in the mountains were treacherous
Wout van Aert hit the rocky face at the side of the road, he tried to ride on, but his injuries were too much and he had to abandon
The Vuelta was over for Wout van Aert
Decathlon-AG2R controlled the peloton and pulled the break back to 6 minutes at the start of the climb to the Lagos de Covadonga
Marc Soler went solo for the win
Stage winner, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates): “I narrowly missed on victory several times and finally I made it. I tried to accelerate several times [on the climb to the Lagos de Covadonga], Max Poole also tried it several times and in the end I was able to take this advantage. It’s always high level breakaways but, well, I knew I had one or two attacks and that’s all. I tried it once. Then [Poole] also maintained a strong pace and finally I set off and didn’t look behind. I dedicate this victory to my wife, my children and I’m very happy. It’s a very special victory because I haven’t won a lot with this team and after two years, winning here in La Vuelta is special.”
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Vuelta a España Stage 16 Result:
1. Marc Soler (Spa) UAE Team Emirates in 4:44:46
2. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco AlUla at 0:18
3. Max Poole (GB) dsm-firmenich-PostNL at 0:23
4. Jay Vine (Aus) UAE Team Emirates at 0:57
5. Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Cofidis at 1:02
6. Isaac Del Toro Romero (Mex) UAE Team Emirates at 1:29
7. Marco Frigo (Ita) Israel-Premier Tech at 1:35
8. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech at 1:47
9. Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar at 3:54
10. Richard Carapaz (Col) EF Education-EasyPost.
Vuelta a España Overall After Stage 16:
1. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale in 65:09:00
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 0:05
3. Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar at 1:25
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost at 1:46
5. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Soudal Quick-Step at 2:18
6. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 3:48
7. Carlos Rodriguez Cano (Spa) INEOS Grenadiers at 3:53
8. Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Den) Lidl-Trek at 4:00
9. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 4:27
10. Pavel Sivakov (Fra) UAE Team Emirates at 5:19.
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