Urko Berrade has won in Maeztu (Álava) the 18th stage of the Cycling Tour of Spainthe third for his Kern team in the race that has experienced a very intense day where there has also been a fight between the contenders for the final victory.
Ben O’Connor (Decathlon) remains in the lead and Mikel Landa has been the biggest loser after being cut off at the port of Herrera and not having the help of his teammates from the T-Rex team in time.
La Vuelta 2024 | Stage 18 summary
In The last chance for many cyclists In this Vuelta, before the three decisive stages, there was chaos from the start in Vitoria-Gasteiz. After an hour with endless attacks and the peloton completely broken up, a very large breakaway finally formed with 42 men and none of them dangerous for the general classification.
Only three teams were left without representation, including Euskaltel-Euskadi, with wounded pride He began to pull the peloton in pursuit. Two of his best men launched a counterattack on the Alto de Rivas de Tereso (2nd category), but were unable to link up with the leaders.
Three of the first group left the descent. very big rollers like Stefan Küng (Groupama), Mauro Schmid (Jayco) and Mathias Vacek (Lidl), but they were neutralized at the start of the Port of Herrerathe key point of this stage through the lands of Alava, which in this case was climbed from the Rioja side (1st category).
T-Rex’s late and questionable reaction
That was where the breakaway was selected, but also where the contenders for the final victory had to squeeze themselves out after the EF team bets on Richard CarapazThe Ecuadorian tried several times and finally, on the last ramp, he dropped O’Connor. With two companions ahead of him waiting just after the banner on the mountain, 40 km from the finish, they went all out, but Decathlon was also able to reorganise and managed to re-connect with the red jersey.
Chaos at T-Rex: Landa is cut off and Cattaneo is stopped when he had a chance of victory in the final kilometers
The idol of the local fans, the man from Vitoria Mikel Landa, stayed a little earlier and he did not find enough help to get back into the group of favourites. Surprisingly, the two team-mates ahead of him, who had already dropped off the front of the race – after having worn themselves out between the two positions in pursuit of the three escapees – took a long time to wait to pull him up while the leading group was being replaced by the teams that had benefited from the crisis of the team that had been fifth in the race until then.
And in an already incomprehensible way, the director of T-Rex (better known by the usual name of Soudal) He then ordered Mattia Cattaneo to stopthe rider who was left among the 13 who were going to play the stage shortly before the end.
In that group Kern was the only team with more than one man. Specifically, with three! Berrade took advantage of Steven Kruijswijk’s attack on the last steep slope before Maetzu and counterattacked to go solo towards the finish line while his teammates dried up any attempts at a reaction in a perfect team effort.
Vuelta classification
This is the third stage victory for the Pro-Continental team (second division), which runs the Vuelta as a guest; and, at 26 years old, the first as a professional for the Navarrese Berrade.
Behind, Landa arrived 3:20 behind the best in the general classification and lost five positions while O’Connor continues to maintain a a meager 5-second lead over Primoz Roglic (Red Bull); while Enric Mas (Movistar) is 1:35 behind and Carapaz 1:46 behind. [Ver clasificaciones de la Vuelta 2024]
On Friday the 19th stage will go from Logroño to Alto de Moncalvilloa first-category climb in La Rioja that will be remembered for the spectacle that Roglic and Carapaz put on there in 2020.
