Marc Soler gained on the prime of one more misty mountain on the Vuelta a España, taking victory at Lagos de Covadonga on stage 16. The UAE Group Emirates rider attacked as a part of the day’s early break to win solo forward of Filippo Zana (Jayco-AlUla) and Max Poole (dsm-firmenich PostNL).
It regarded as if Ben O’Connor would lose his result in Primož Roglič (Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) after he was dropped by the favourites group on the moist and misty closing climb to the end, however the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale rider held on to complete with 5 seconds to spare.
Soler has been lively within the breaks all race lengthy, and though he has managed three podiums so far, the win remained elusive. Actually, wins have been considerably skinny on the bottom for the Spaniard throughout his three seasons at UAE-Group Emirates, as he alluded to in a really transient post-stage interview.
“I did not win rather a lot with this staff, and after two years, profitable right here on the Vuelta could be very particular,” he stated. His solely different victory with the staff is, actually, one other Vuelta win, from 2022.
It was additionally a day that noticed Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) crash out as he descended the penultimate climb of Collada Llomena. He got here down closely on a bend with two others, sustaining deep cuts to his proper knee.
The staff posted on social media: “It’s with a heavy coronary heart that we will affirm Wout van Aert has deserted the Vuelta a España throughout a crash on stage 16. Updates to comply with.”
The way it occurred
Soler was one of many first riders, together with Van Aert, to start attacking because the break sought to ascertain itself within the early a part of the stage. The group swelled in dimension to turn into 15 riders with round 150km to go, and had opened up a niche of greater than 10 minutes after with 105km to go.
The break started to ship riders on the penultimate climb – the Collada Llomena – and midway down the descent, with rain setting in, Van Aert crashed alongside Isaac Del Toro (UAE-Group Emirates) and Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla), which spelled the top of the Belgian’s race. The opposite two have been capable of proceed.
The race grew to become ever extra attritional from that time on, each within the break and within the group of favourites, which had thinned down significantly on the Llomena.
Come the ultimate climb to Covadonga, Max Poole, who regarded one of many strongest current, attacked with 8.3km to go, taking Soler – as soon as once more on the hunt for a stage – with him. They have been joined by Filippo Zana with 5.8km to go, at which level the trio had round 30 seconds on the remainder of the early break.
Soler attacked with 4.3km to go, opening up a small hole on his two companions because the rain got here down, and held on to win by 18 seconds.
Again within the favourites group, an preliminary onerous assault by Mikel Landa (Soudal Fast-Step) was countered by Enric Mas (Movistar) – the latter succeeded in taking a lot of the key gamers with him, other than O’Connor who started to lose contact.
All of the riders fought via damp and completely un-Spanish situations which solely bought worse as they neared the highest of the climb.
With round 2.5km to go Primož Roglič grew to become the digital chief on the street and it regarded inevitable that the purple jersey would change arms, however O’Connor managed to stem the time earlier than making up a little bit of floor to complete 57 seconds down on Roglič and cling to the lead by 5 seconds.
Outcomes
Vuelta a España 2024, Stage 16: Luanco > Lagos de Covadonga, 181.5km
1. Marc Soler (Spa) UAE-Group Emirates, in 4:44:46
2. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco-AlUla, +18s
3. Max Poole (Gbr) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +23s
4. Jay Vine (Aus) UAE-Group Emirates, +57
5. Ion Izagirre (Spa) Cofidis, +1:02
6. Isaac Del Toro (Ita) UAE-Group Emirates, + 1:29
7. Marco Frigo (Ita) Israel-Premier Tech, +1:35
8. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +1:47
9. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +3:54
10. Richard Carapaz (European), at s.t.
Basic Classification after Stage 16
1. Ben O’Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, in 65:09:00
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +5s
3. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, +1:25
4. Richard Carapaz (European) EF Schooling-EasyPost, +1:46
5. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal Fast-Step, +2:18
6. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +3:48
7. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +3:53
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +4:00
9. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:27
10. Pavel Sivakov (Fra) UAE Group Emirates, +5:19
