2024 Vuelta a España S16-S17 Summary

Vuelta S16: Marc Soler breaks away to win, O'Connor leads by just 5 seconds

Polka dot jersey and green jersey winner and 3 stage winners of this race Wout Van Aert met with misfortune again, the Belgian crashed on the descent and retired.

Marc Soler won the 16th stage at Covadonga Lake, another victory on the misty mountaintop. UAE Team Emirates rider Marc Soler attacked in the breakaway earlier in the day and eventually won ahead of Team Jayco AlUla's Filippo Zana and Team DSM's Max Poole.

Ben O'Connor was expected to lose his lead over Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) after being dropped by the peloton on the final climb. Still, he fought back and finally defended his red jersey by 5 seconds.

The big news came mainly from Van Aert (Visma–Lease a Bike), who crashed on the penultimate descent of the Corrada Jomena.
Wout Van Aert suffered no broken bones in his Vuelta crash. The three-time stage winner had to withdraw from the race due to severe pain in his knee, caused by a deep wound. The wound requires intensive care. Wout will return to Belgium to continue his recovery. His next goal is the World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland on September 29. What this crash means for his hopes there remains to be seen. Van Aert rode at the front of the breakaway group throughout yesterday’s stage, was one of the earliest breakaway riders of the day, and even attacked from the front after the early breakaway had exceeded 10 riders. As of yesterday, Van Aert has won three stages at the Vuelta and taken another four podiums, wearing the sprint jersey for most of the time.
Hopefully, he will recover from his injury soon, Visma hasn’t been very lucky this year.

Stage results

 

Vuelta S17: Groves sprints to victory, the overall classification is about to enter a decisive battle

Groves takes over the green jersey after Van Aert retires, and the Australian now has the green jersey locked in.

Kaden Groves (Alpecin–Deceuninck) won third stage in a sprint on Wednesday's 17th stage.
The Australian took over the sprint green jersey after Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) retired, sprinting past Pavel Bittner (dsm-Firmenich PostNL) in the final rain.

"It was a difficult day," said Groves. "The ground was dry at the beginning but wet at the end because of the rain, so it made the race very dangerous."

In the final few kilometers, three riders broke away from the peloton and tried to stage a Rafi-style surprise victory. But such a plan did not work, and they were caught by the oncoming sprint train in the last few hundred meters.
Groves said the final attack was "not unexpected".

"The rest is all hills, so we have to push hard on flat stages like today. This is my last chance in this race, and we have a super-motivated team who did a great job at the start, controlling the breakaway and securing the final sprint line-up. To reward them with a third win is very special."

The overall standings remained unchanged on stage 17, with Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) continuing to lead the race. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was second with a gap of 5 seconds, and there were two summit finishes and a time trial to go.

Stage Results

Overall Results