The Belgian Wout van Aert (Visma) has claimed his third stage win in the 2024 Vuelta a España in Baiona, proving himself to be the strongest (by far) of the day’s breakaway on a difficult terrain in the south of the province of Pontevedra.
There have been no significant changes in the overall standings and the Australian Ben O’Connor (Decathlon) remains in the lead. In fact, in this 10th stage there has not even been any movement among the favourites for the final victory.
La Vuelta 2024 | Stage 10 summary
After the day of rest and with less heat that last week in Andalusia, many riders resumed the race on Tuesday with the intention of taking the breakaway in a ideal terrain for adventurers which included four mid-mountain ports and 3,000 m of accumulated elevation gain.
A fast-paced start and a calm end
From the start in Ponteareas, there were several UAE cyclists and Visma cyclists particularly active, in particular with Marc Soler in the first case and Van Aert in the second.
The two of them, along with William Junior Lecerf (T-Rex), opened a small gap on the last ramps of the Alto de Fonfría and on the descent they were joined by Juri Hollman (Alpecin) and Quentin Pacher (Groupama).
But the counterattacks continued from behind and after 30 km Van Aert’s group was barely half a minute ahead. It was not until km 75 of the stage when the peloton let the quintet go. with a truce that was already definitive.
With 30km to go, Van Aert took advantage of the intermediate sprint, just at the foot of the last mountain pass, Mougás, and He tested his teammates. Only Pacher accompanied himThe Frenchman, who at 32 years of age has not yet made his debut as a professional, tried his luck on a steep slope at the entrance to Baoina, but Van Aert showed his power and beat him without any surprises in the sprint.
In fact, this has seemed One of the easiest of Van Aert’s 49 victories on almost any type of route.
General classification after the 10th stage
O’Connor is equally satisfied with the Herentals TBM, who maintains a lead of 3 minutes and 53 seconds over Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Red Bull), 4.32 over Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF) and 4.35 over Spaniard Enric Mas (Movistar). [Ver clasificaciones de la Vuelta 2024].
On Wednesday, the 11th stage will start and finish in Padrón with a 166 km route through the south of the province of La Coruña, again with 3,000 m of accumulated positive gradient and four mountain passes (two third-class and a double pass to Aguasantas, second-class).
