Vuelta S6: Winning the stage with a 6:13 lead, Ben O'Connor wears the red jersey, and the Vuelta a España overall result is full of highlights
O'Connor won the Vuelta a España stage 6 with a huge advantage, completing the three major tour stage wins and taking the overall lead from Primož Roglič. The Vuelta S6 was an unexpected stage, starting from the Carrefour supermarket, O'Connor achieved a stunning turnaround, and the overall result was confusing!
Ben O'Connor (Decathlon–AG2R) won the red jersey in the sixth stage of the Vuelta a España and completed his third consecutive Grand Tour stage victory. The Australian was initially part of a 13-man strong breakaway group but rushed to the finish line with Keith Lemreth (dsm-firmenich PostNL) 55 kilometers in the mountainous terrain of Andalucia. O'Connor was clearly in great form and dropped his Dutch breakaway partner on the penultimate climb of the day, the triple-category Puerto Martinez. After dropping Lemreth, O'Connor didn't let up and continued to charge towards the finish, knowing that his lead in the red jersey would be huge at the end of the day.
O'Connor will leave his current team, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, at the end of the season, after agreeing on a move to Jayco-AIUla. But in his final Grand Tour appearance for the French-registered team, he became the 111th rider to win all three majors in professional cycling. As he crossed the finish line, he pumped his fist in excitement, knowing that he had upended the Vuelta and sent a strong statement of intent to his rivals. O'Connor now holds a 4m 51s lead over Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) in second place.
Race Process
On Thursday, a cycling race started for the first time inside a supermarket - Carrefour.
After a chaotic start, a breakaway group of 13 riders eventually built up, including several climbing specialists. As the pace of the race increased on the route to Yunquera, with four categorized climbs, the initial breakaway began to unravel. With 55km to the finish, the acceleration of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and DSM-Firmenich PostNL split the lead group in two, and suddenly the riders were scattered between the two and the chasing group.
A three-man chase group was hot on O'Connor and Lemreth on the category three climb Puerto Martinez, but O'Connor and his Dutch breakaway partner didn't let up. O'Connor attacked hard, two kilometers from the summit, and immediately left Lemreth behind. With 26km remaining, Israel-Premier Tech, Kern Pharma, and Movistar were the next riders to go. Bellard dropped out as the heat took its toll on the climbs of Puerto Martinez. O'Connor continued to push forward, increasing his lead significantly to over six minutes ahead of the peloton and becoming the virtual race leader. The Australian was one and a half minutes ahead of Lemreth at the summit of the Puerto Martinez climb, with Frigo close behind.
As the pursuers slid down the descent, Frigo fell to the ground after overturning. Meanwhile, O'Connor did not let up and continued to maintain his one-minute lead over Lemreth, who was the next rider to go. O'Connor led the group by 6 minutes and 35 seconds as he started the final climb up Yunquera. With 8km to go, he had increased his lead over Lemreth by 30 seconds, but he kept riding hard, knowing that his lead in the overall classification was growing. As he charged into the final kilometer, the Australian was nearly seven minutes ahead of the group and two minutes ahead of Lemreth. The 28-year-old crossed the finish line with his arms raised, turning the race upside down.
Meanwhile, Lemreth was falling behind him, caught up by Frigo. The Italian finished second, more than four minutes behind O'Connor, with Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) third on the day. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), who led the race going into stage six, finished 6:31 behind the stage winner, dropping to second overall.
Jersey of Honor
Overall Red Jersey O'Connor Decathlon–AG2R
Sprint Champion Green Jersey Wout Van Aert Visma–Lease a Bike
Mountain Champion Polka Dot Jersey Sylvain Moniquet Lotto–Dstny
Best Young Rider Florian Lipowitz Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe
Stage Results
Overall Score
Vuelta S7: Red Bull riders lead Red Bull riders, Van Aert wins again, GC battle intensifies
Primož Roglič led the GC battle, before defending champion Sepp Kuss created a winning opportunity for his teammate.
Visma-Lease a Bike took his second stage win of the Vuelta, winning from a severely reduced mini-sprint group.
When Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe launched a series of attacks on the secondary climbs and gained extra seconds at the summit, the lead group was whittled down to 30 riders, with a key absentee being Van Aert's chief sprint rival, Alpecin-Deceuinck, who had fallen off the group after crashing at the top of the climb. Defending champion Sepp Kuss rode hard for teammate Van Aert in the final stage to keep the attacks under control - especially Marc Soler of UAE Team Emirates - and ensure Van Aert could sprint from this reduced group.
Van Aert certainly did, and he also had to thank Red Bull’s Aleksandr Vlasov for shutting down a last-gasp attack by Emirates’ Pavel Sivakov. Van Aert sprinted all out and beat Lidl-Trek and Kern Pharma by a clear margin.
Stage 7 was mostly quiet, with only one solo breakaway, but on the finishing circuit around Cordoba came the Alto del 14% (7.4km, 5.6%) climb, where Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe tore up the script. Roglič, perhaps irritated by having lost the red jersey by such a large margin the previous afternoon, launched repeated accelerations and collected six extra seconds at the summit before reducing the group to begin closing the gap on Ben O’Connor (Decathlon–AG2R), who was present on his first race in red.
Kuss gained four seconds on the climb, while Richard Carapaz (EF Education–EasyPost) gained the final two seconds. But Red Bull’s attack plan partially failed as Florian Lipowitz, fourth overall, fell behind, 17 seconds. Other riders also lost time to varying degrees, with Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) losing a minute and Kean Ettedbrooks (Visma–Lease a Bike) of Visma–Lease a Bike being blown out and losing eight minutes.
O’Connor continues to hold a 4:45 lead over Roglič. “I’m happy with how I felt and how the race went”. “I didn’t expect the race to blow up like that,” said Van Aert, who spent most of his winners’ interview praising Kuss, even though Kuss had his overall target to consider.
“Kuss did a really amazing thing. I don’t know if people realize what it’s like to lead a race like this on a flat road if you’re under 60kg. I had goosebumps on the wheels and I just wanted to get it done. “Part of the importance of not only winning but also performing as a team in our team is that everyone has to sacrifice themselves for the others,” continued Van Aert. “Having the defending champion of this race leading the race for you is a great example of our team philosophy and I’m really proud of that. ”
The race process
The 180.2km Archidona to Cordoba stage was ignited by one rider: Euskaltel-Euskadi. The Spaniard became the only rider to dare to break away and set off on a solitary solo journey. He was given a relatively free space and built an eight-minute advantage after 40km, but it was manageable for the two teams, Visma and Alpecin–Deceuninck, who set the pace in the peloton. The gap gradually narrowed over the undulating mountain roads, shrinking to five minutes at 100km and less than three minutes at 50km. However, the gap really closed when they first approached the finish line in Cordoba.
Isasa crossed the finish line, which doubled as a sprint point, just 30 seconds faster than Groves, who narrowly beat Van Aert to second place in the green jersey standings. Isasa was then engulfed by the UAE team, who were struggling to approach the 14% Alto del Ascent, but Red Bull ignited the race. Giovanni Aleotti and Daniel Martínez both rushed to the front, and Lipowitz's brief attack perhaps foreshadowed his own struggles. Roglič accelerated to disrupt the race, and then Vlasov took over, putting pressure on Alsman and Etterd Brooks. Roglič accelerated again 1.5 kilometers from the summit, and soon only 20 riders were left, although there were hesitations and speculative attacks. Roglič accelerated a third time 500 meters from the summit and rushed all the way to the finish line, earning a bonus of 6 seconds.
With 25km left, only 20 riders were at the front, including Van Aert, with heavy losses behind him. Groves was already a minute behind, and had hit the back wheel of Nairo Quintana at the top of the hill – all his hopes were gone. As a small group made their way back to the front on an undulating plateau, UAE attacked, first through Sivakov and then Soler, who opened up a 20-second lead. With no other teammates in the group, Kuss began to work for Van Aert early. Van Aert tried to create a surprise with an attack of his own but was overpowered by UAE, with Kuss returning to his impromptu leader role, slowly pulling Soler back with 3.5km to go. Sivakov then dropped a bomb less than a kilometer from the finish line. With Kuss already exhausted, this could have been trouble for Van Aert, but Vlasov, perhaps thinking Roglič could sprint for the win, began a full-on pursuit.
He did so about 250 meters from the finish, which was the perfect springboard for Van Aert to launch his attack, calling the victory "a big win" in his career.
Jersey
Red Jersey for Overall Ben O'Connor Decathlon–AG2R
Green Jersey for Sprint Wout Van Aert Visma–Lease a Bike
Polka Dot Jersey for Climbing Sylvain Moniquet Lotto–Dstny
Best Young Rider Antonio Tiberi Bahrain Victorious
Stage Results
Overall Results
Vuelta Stage 8: Roglič wins again, pressure mounts on O'Connor
Slovenian beats Enric Mas in the uphill sprint for second place, Ben O'Connor retains the lead but is 46 seconds behind the stage winner.
Primož Roglič (Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) sprints to his second stage win of the year on Stage 8 of the Vuelta, beating Enric Mas (Movistar Team) on the steep uphill finish of Serra de Cazorla. The short and steep 4.8km final climb was tailor-made for three-time Vuelta champion Roglič, who took full advantage, attacking with 2km to go to battle Mas for the win, while Mikel Landa (SOQ) finished close behind his fellow Spaniard in third. Race red jersey holder Ben O'Connor (Decathlon–AG2R) finished 17th on the stage, 46 seconds behind Roglič.
The Australian still holds a comfortable lead of 3:49, but the worry is that Roglič was able to eat away at that advantage easily on a relatively easy day, while the challenges ahead could be much tougher. Landa’s performance vaulted him up to fifth overall, while the biggest loser of the day was UAE Team Emirates’ João Almeida, who struggled early in the final stage and lost 4:53, dropping from third overall to 26th.
“I was in a lot of pain, it was a tough day. But at the end, the opportunity came and I took it,” Roglič said at the finish. “You know, you just give it your all. It was tough, it was hot. I was lucky to have a good day.”
Speaking of his overall time advantage, he said: “Of course, but it’s only today. We’ll enjoy it, but maybe tomorrow I’ll lose another 10 seconds, but that’s the race and we’ll see what happens next.”
The race process
The race started with a long breakaway. Although a few groups managed to break away, the overall teams controlled the situation and did not allow any threatening breakaways to succeed.
It wasn’t until nearly 50km into the race that a group emerged that seemed to be able to hold out, with Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla), Keith Lemreth (DSM), and Arod Tejada (Astana) joining the pack, which quickly grew to eight. The peloton eventually seemed content to let the group go, and they quickly built a four-minute lead.
Tejada’s presence meant that the group had to manage the gap to the breakaway riders somewhat, as the Colombian was just 6:57 off the red jersey at the start of the day. As a result, Decathlon–AG2R set a relatively fast pace at the front of the pack.
On the first climb midway through the stage, Decathlon–AG2R and Israel-Botai struggled to close the gap, and despite good cooperation from the eight leading riders, their lead was reduced. At the top of the climb, Schmid attacked to take the maximum mountain points, and he and Tejada briefly broke away from the breakaway group to the front, but the lead group reunited on the descent.
Green jersey rider Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) took a small fall on the descent but quickly got up and continued riding, escorting Kean Ettedbrooks, who had struggled on both days of the race, at the back of the pack.
As the road began to rise again, through a small valley and some small undulations before the final climb, the lead group continued to attack each other, but the break remained at a gap of three and a half minutes as they approached the final 30 kilometers of the stage. The final climb is officially only 4.8 kilometers, but most of the final 25 kilometers are uphill, leading to Cazorla. Israel-Botte was still chasing and steadily closing the gap, but the stage victory was still undecided. Ineos Grenadiers’ Tiemann Arensmann was one of the riders to be dropped before the finish, falling away from the peloton as he suffered from heat stroke. A crash took out some others, including Lidl–Trek’s Giulio Ciccone, as the race became intense at the front but fragmented at the back.
With 13km remaining, Lazkano launched an attack that took out Tejada and Vegarito, dropping their lead to under two minutes. Reaching the start of the final climb 5km from the finish, the three leaders were a minute ahead of the pack, with Tejada immediately starting to accelerate but the group still staying together.
As the pack reached the climb, Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe surged to the front, but a crash on a bend took several riders out of contention, including Red Bull’s Alexander Vlasov, splitting into a smaller group that included red jersey O’Connor, white jersey Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victory), defending champion Sepp Kuss and Roglič.
Roglič began to push on the steeper part of the climb, as the group closed in on the lead, with the Slovenian starting to pull a small gap on O’Connor, with Enric Mas close behind. Roglič and Mas passed Tejada, the last survivor of the breakaway, 900 meters from the finish. Mas attacked first, but Roglič then easily passed the Spaniard to win.
Jerseys
Red jersey for the overall result Ben O'Connor Decathlon–AG2R
Green jersey for the sprint winner Wout Van Aert Visma–Lease a Bike
Polka dot jersey for the climb winner Primož Roglič Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe
Best young rider Antonio Tiberi Bahrain Victorious
Stage Results
Overall Results
Vuelta S9: Adam Yates wins with a long solo, UAE returns to the overall race | Vuelta 2024
British rider Adam Yates won stage 9 of the Vuelta with a stunning performance after a nearly 60km solo. After this tough race, Adam Yates quickly rose in the overall standings, while Ben O'Connor continued to lead the overall.
British rider Adam Yates won the ninth stage of the Vuelta with a long solo and significantly improved the overall ranking. He attacked from about 60km before the finish and successfully broke away from the peloton.
In second place was Richard Carapaz (EF Education–EasyPost), who chased hard and successfully joined the breakaway group, thus shortening the gap to the overall leader and successfully squeezing out Enric Mas (Movistar Team) into third place overall.
The general classification leaders battled for third place in the sprint, with red jersey rider Ben O'Connor (Decathlon–AG2R) winning at the finish, ahead of Primož Roglič (Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe).
After João Almeida withdrew from the race due to the coronavirus before the start of the stage, Emirates sent three riders to join the 26-man early breakaway group on the day, setting the stage for Yates' solo attack.
Despite attempts by riders such as Mas to launch attacks, the general classification battle never really got underway, with all the favorites crossing the line at the same time after the peloton regrouped. Several riders lost time in the overall classification, with Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl–Trek), Lennart Van Ettervelt (Lotto–Dstny), and Cristián Rodríguez (Arkéa-Samsic) all falling out of the top ten, while white jersey rider Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victory) retired after the stage.
After a few losses in the first week, Yates has now improved to seventh in the overall classification, 5 minutes and 30 seconds behind O'Connor. However, he said after the race that he was "not interested in the overall classification" and was only pursuing the stage win.
Yates said: "I have never been so tired before. It was so hot outside. I had cramps since last time and didn't know if I could continue. I have had a lot of bad luck in the Grand Tours over the years and I didn't know if I could do it, but I am really happy that I can finally win another Grand Tour stage."
"First, we had a very good teamwork with Mark and Jay in the breakaway group. They created great opportunities for me, and Vine also did a great job of keeping a very high speed, and then in Hazaranas, he pushed very hard until it was just me and Godou. Then I saw him suffering in the heat, and I was suffering too, but I knew I had to take this opportunity, and from then on I just kept on suffering until the finish line."
"To be honest, I am not interested in the overall result, today is all about the stage win. I gave it my all and we had nothing to lose."
Race process
Today, the race in stage 9 was very intense at the beginning. Green jersey rider Wout Van Aert launched a breakaway shortly after the starting flag fell, and then other riders joined. Considering there were three Category 1 climbs in the second half of the stage, this was a difficult stage that favored a strong breakaway.
Within just a few kilometers, Van Aert had pulled out a small group of riders, which quickly expanded and after 10km, there were 24 riders ahead of the peloton.
UAE Team Emirates was the strongest represented team in the breakaway, along with riders from other pelotons including Kasper Asgreen (SOQ), David Godeau (FDJ), and Chris Harper (Jayco AlUla), but notably absent from the leading team's Decathlon AG2R and Red Bull.
Another team not in the initial breakaway was DSM, but they sent out Kees Lemreiser and Max Poole to chase the lead group, which they did after 25km, by which time the lead group had built up a lead of more than five minutes.
For much of the first half of the stage, things remained stable, with the lead group working well together and the peloton maintaining a steady gap until approaching the three finishing climbs.
On the first climb, as expected, UAE Team Emirates took the lead in the lead group, trying to reduce the group and create favorable conditions for Yates, who also had a chance to move up the GC rankings again. Knowing this, Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe worked in the peloton to try to protect Roglič’s overall position.
UAE’s pace was so fast that before even halfway up the climb, they had reduced the lead group to just nine riders – their three riders plus Godou, Stefan King (FDJ), Darren Rafferty (EF Education–EasyPost), Torstein Træen (Bahrain-Victory), Pablo Castrillo (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Harper. At the back, Richard Carapaz (EF Education–EasyPost) launched a breakaway from the peloton, joining James Shaw, who had dropped from the lead group, and Rafferty, who soon gave up the race and waited for his teammate. At the bottom of the first descent, they found themselves between the lead group and the peloton.
On the second climb – the first ascent of Alto de Hazallanas – the lead group quickly broke apart, with Vine, Yates and Godou continuing to push on the early slopes. With Carapaz closing in quickly, Yates was on his own 4.3km from the summit and 40 seconds ahead of his nearest pursuer at the top, continuing to widen the gap. When he started the second ascent of Alto de Hazallanas 30km from the finish, Yates was 2min 48sec ahead of the group consisting of Godou and Carapaz and 6min 40sec ahead of the severely reduced peloton of GC riders.
Halfway up the climb, Enrique (Movistar Team) attacked the red jersey group, passing a small group of just seven main GC riders, including O'Connor, Roglič, and Landa. The Spanish rider looked in good form and crossed the summit in a favorable position, but a sway on the descent disrupted his rhythm and on the flat, he was caught up by the GC group in the battle for third place.
The favorites battled for third place, with O'Connor narrowly beating Mikel Landa (SOQ) after his failure on stage 8, a positive sign.
Jersey
Red Overall Ben O'Connor Decathlon–AG2R
Green Sprint Wout Van Aert Visma–Lease a Bike
Polka Dot Adam Yates UAE Team Emirates
Best Young Rider Florian Lipowitz Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe
Stage Results
Overall Results
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