It worked on the third attempt: Lennard Kämna wins the ninth stage of the Vuelta. He has now celebrated a day win in all three Grand Tours.
Showed his extraordinary qualities again: Lennard Kämna. AFP via Getty Images
Lennard Kämna threw up his arms and patted his chest after charging up the muddy slope at Collado de la Cruz. The former World Junior Champion completed his Grand Tours triple to single-handedly win the ninth stage of the 78th Vuelta on Sunday. After his victories in the Tour de France in Villard-de-Lans (2020) and the Giro d’Italia on Mount Etna (2022), he was now able to celebrate the third of the three major cycling tours. Kämna won 184.5 kilometers from Cartagena to Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca with a lead of around 30 seconds on Italian Matteo Sobrero.
“Two minutes completely over my limit”
“I’m really happy about it. I’ve worked so hard over the past few months. That’s exactly what I’ve prepared for. I’m happy to be back after the Giro,” said Kämna, adding: “We weren’t allowed to do too much Wasting energy. I still had some power left in the tank. I was completely over my limit for two minutes.”
So it worked on the third try. The 26-year-old already had victory in mind on the third stage before he was caught around 1.5 kilometers from the finish. And also on the sixth stage, Kämna had tried his luck in a breakaway group in vain.
But this time no one caught up with him. A good five kilometers before the finish, Kämna attacked on the 8.2-kilometer final climb with an average incline of 5.4 percent from a breakaway group originally made up of eight riders and confidently drove alone to victory. Sobrero, who will drive together with Kämna in the Bora-hansgrohe team next season, was unable to counter the start. “The climb was tricky. It went up and down. It was difficult to find the momentum,” said Kämna.
The Vuelta victory was still missing for Kämna in his collection. At the 2020 Tour de France, Kämna triumphed in Villard-de-Lans, and in 2022 he won the Giro stage on Mount Etna. Kämna was the seventh German professional to complete the stage triple, before him Rudi Altig, Dietrich Thurau, Marcel Wüst, Andre Greipel, Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb had succeeded – Jan Ullrich’s only Giro success was denied.
Kiss continues in red
The ninth stage had hardly any impact on the overall standings. The American Sepp Kuss, who actually started the race as a noble helper for Tour Champion Jonas Vingegaard and Giro winner Primoz Roglic, continues to wear the red jersey. The three superstars Remco Evenepoel, Roglic and Vingegaard crossed the finish line almost at the same time.
After the first rest day, the individual time trial over 25.8 kilometers awaits on Tuesday. The duel between the Belgian time trial world champion Evenepoel and Vingegaard, who had dominated the competition in the fight against the clock, promises great excitement.
9. Etappe Cartagena – Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca (18 km):
1. Lennard Kämna (Fischerhude) – Bora-hansgrohe 4:28:59 hours; 2. Matteo Sobrero (Italy) – Team Jayco AlUla +13s; 3. Chris Hamilton (Australia) – Team DSM – Firmenich + 1:12 min.; 4. Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eritrea) – Lidl Trek + 1:00; 5. Jon Barrenetxea Golzarri (Spain) – Caja Rural-Seguros RGA + 1:37; 6. Rubén Fernández (Spain) – Cofidis; 7. Jonathan Klever Caicedo Cepeda (Ecuador) – EF Education-EasyPost + 2:11; 8. Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spain) – Burgos – BH + 2:41; 9. Enric Mas Nicolau (Spain) – Movistar Team + 3:18; 10. Aleksander Vlasov (Russia) – Bora-hansgrohe + 3:11; … 49. Emanuel Buchmann (Lochau/Austria) – Bora-hansgrohe + 9:26; 53. Felix Engelhardt (Kempten) – Team Jayco AlUla + 11:14; 80. Jasha Sütterlin (Freiburg im Breisgau) – Bahrain Victorious + 13:45; 100. Nico Denz (Waldshut-Tiengen) – Bora-hansgrohe + 14:28; 101. Jonas Koch (Schwäbisch Hall) – Bora-hansgrohe + 14:24; 102. Ben Zwiehoff (Essen) – Bora-hansgrohe; 120. Jason Osborne (Mainz) – Alpecin-Deceuninck + 16:36; 121. Maurice Ballerstedt (Berlin) – Alpecin-Deceuninck + 16:43; 141. Kim Alexander Heiduk (Oeschelbronn) – Ineos Grenadiers + 16:46
Overall standings after the 9th stage:
1. Sepp Kuss (USA) – Jumbo-Visma 35:23:30 hours; 2. Marc Soler (Spain) – UAE Team Emirates +43s; 3. Lenny Martinez (France) – Groupama-FDJ + 1:02 min.; 4. Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) – Soudal Quick-Step + 2:24; 5. Mikel Landa Meana (Spain) – Bahrain Victorious + 2:29; 6. Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) – Jumbo Visma; 7. Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen (Denmark) – Jumbo-Visma +2:35; 8. Enric Mas Nicolau (Spain) – Movistar Team; 9. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spain) – UAE Team Emirates +2:45; 10. Joao Almeida (Portugal) – UAE Team Emirates +2:55; … 26. Lennard Kämna (Fischerhude) – Bora-hansgrohe + 19:09; 32. Emanuel Buchmann (Lochau/Austria) – Bora-hansgrohe + 24:49; 45. Ben Zwiehoff (Essen) – Bora-hansgrohe + 38:25; 61. Felix Engelhardt (Kempten) – Team Jayco AlUla + 48:39; 73. Jonas Koch (Schwäbisch Hall) – Bora-hansgrohe + 59:13; 106. Jasha Sütterlin (Freiburg im Breisgau) – Bahrain Victorious + 1:18:20 hrs; 116. Nico Denz (Waldshut-Tiengen) – Bora-hansgrohe + 1:22:09; 137. Jason Osborne (Mainz) – Alpecin-Deceuninck + 1:33:17; 151. Kim Alexander Heiduk (Oeschelbronn) – Ineos Grenadiers + 1:40:33; 152. Maurice Ballerstedt (Berlin) – Alpecin-Deceuninck + 1:40:38
Mountain classification, status after the 9th stage:
1. Eduardo Sepulveda (Argentina) – Lotto Win 21 Pts.; 2. Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) – Soudal Quick-Step 20; 3. Jesus Herrada Lopez (Spain) – Cofidis 12; 4. Matteo Sobrero (Italy) – Team Jayco AlUla 11; 5. Sepp Kuss (USA) – Jumbo-Visma 10; 6. Lennard Kämna (Fisherman) – Bora-hansgrohe 10; 7. Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen (Denmark) – Jumbo-Visma 10; 8. Damiano Caruso (Italy) – Bahrain Victorious 9; 9. Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) – Jumbo-Visma 8; 10. Jon Barrenetxea Golzarri (Spain) – Rural Box-Insurance RGA
Sprint rating, status after the 9th stage:
1. Kaden Groves (Australien) – Alpecin-Deceuninck 158 Pkt.; 2. Andrea Vendrame (Italien) – AG2R Citroën Team 66; 3. Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) – Soudal Quick-Step 62; 4. Andreas Lorentz Kron (Dänemark) – Lotto Dstny 62; 5. Geoffrey Soupe (Frankreich) – Team TotalEnergies 61; 6. Marc Soler (Spanien) – UAE Team Emirates 60; 7. Marijn Van Den Berg (The Netherlands) – EF Education-EasyPost 57; 8. Edward Theuns (Belgium) – Lidl-Trek 55; 9. Juan Sebastian Molano Benavides (Kolumbien) – UAE Team Emirates 48; 10. Orluis Aular (Venezuela) – Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 47; … 50. Maurice Ballerstedt (Berlin) – Alpecin-Deceuninck 10; 59. Felix Engelhardt (Kempten) – Team Jayco AlUla 6; 66. Ben Zwiehoff (Essen) – Bora-hansgrohe 3
Team ranking, status after the 9th stage:
1. Jumbo-Visma (Netherlands) 105:39:46 hrs; 2. UAE Team Emirates (United Arab Emirates) + 1:07 min.; 3. Bahrain Victorious (Bahrain) +4:38; 4. Bora-hansgrohe (Germany) + 7:58; 5. Movistar Team (Spain) + 27:48; 6. Soudal Quick-Step (Belgium) + 35:58; 7. Ineos Grenadiers (Britain) +45:20; 8. Groupama-FDJ (France) + 45:27; 9. EF Education-EasyPost (US) +53:58; 10. Astana Qazaqstan Team (Kazakhstan) +57:35; … 17. Team DSM – Firmenich (Germany) + 1:32:52 hrs.
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