Cycling: Marc Soler won the 16th stage of the Vuelta a Espana, which was rained on during the final climb. The Spaniard from the UAE Team Emirates was repeatedly distanced by his companions, but fought back again and again and finally won. In the battle for the red jersey, Ben O'Connor and Primoz Roglic are now separated by just five seconds.
Marc Soler fights his way to stage victory
Is it acting or just pure fighting spirit? Marc Soler (UAE) won the 16th stage over 181,5 kilometers from Luanco to the Lagos de Covadonga. The Spaniard was left behind several times and his body language revealed that he could not ride another meter. In the end, however, he kept coming back and attacked again until he was able to shake off his last companions. Around five minutes later, the favorites reached the finish. There, they managed to Primois Roglic (Bora – hansgrohe) not, Ben O'Connor (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale) to take the red jersey. Now only five seconds separate the Slovenian and the Australian. Meanwhile, teammate Florian Lipowitz (Bora – hansgrohe) lost the white jersey of the best young professional again.
Van Aert crashes and has to abandon the Vuelta
A total of 17 men went on the offensive after about an hour of racing today and formed a strong breakaway group. wout van aert (Visma – Lease a Bike) was able to secure some points for his mountain jersey, he fell on a descent about 50 kilometers from the finish. Two of his companions, the German Felix Engelhardt (Jayco – AlUla) and the Mexican Isaac del Toro (UAE), slipped in the left-hand bend and slid against a rock face. While the two were able to continue, Wout van Aert had to abandon the race. This means that the leader in the mountains classification and points classification, as well as four-time stage winner of the Vuelta a Espana 2024, is out. The points classification will be taken over by Caden Groves (Alpecin – Deceuninck) and the mountain classification Jay Vine (UAE).
Mas attacks early
Already at Collada Llomena Enric Mas Nicolau (Movistar) plucked up the courage and attacked for the first time. Before that, he let his team increase the pace, so that the element of surprise fizzled out. All the strong classification riders were able to follow without any problems, but lost some of their helpers. The gap to the breakaway group suddenly shrank from over ten minutes to under seven minutes, but the favorites were no longer able to intervene in the battle for the day's victory. This was won by Marc Soler (UAE). The Spaniard defeated the rainy final climb with Max Poole (dsm-unternehmenich PostNL) and Filippo Zana (Jayco AlUla) his last companions, although he himself had already been left behind several times.
O'Connor defends his red jersey
The final climb up the favorites group was initially Mikel Landa (Soudal – Quick-Step) went on the offensive. The Spaniard was able to gain a lead of several seconds. But as a fellow countryman Enric Mas Nicolau (Movistar) increased the pace in the steepest section of the mountain, the gap was quickly closed again. Leader Ben O'Connor (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale) fell victim to this increase in pace. Primois Roglic (Bora – hansgrohe) stayed with him, he was able to gain more time together with Soler. But it was still not quite enough for the red jersey.
What Victoria!
“Qué magicia go LAGOS DE COVADONGA!”Entre la niebla aparece Marc Soler (@solermarc93) to conseguir la Victoria que tanto ha perseguido a lo largo de toda #LaVuelta24 #VueltaRTVE3s
To take off your hathttps://t.co/oz2HSTHcCI pic.twitter.com/csdvJKI9Oe
- Teledeporte (@teledeporte) September 3, 2024