Marc Soler found a superb late surge to win stage 16 of the Vuelta a España, on a dramatic day in the mountains with Primoz Roglic cutting Ben O’Connor’s overall lead to just five seconds as Wout van Aert crashed out of the race.
Soler (UAE Team Emirates) was first to reach the summit finish at Lagos de Covadonga, in a time of 4hr 44min 46sec. “To win at home in the Vuelta is very special,” Soler told Eurosport.
The Spaniard burst clear of a breakaway group with five kilometres of climbing to go and he proved unstoppable. Italy’s Filippo Zana (Jayco-Alula) and Britain’s Max Poole (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) came home in second and third place respectively.
“I’ve attacked a lot but this time I was able to finish it off,” Soler said. “It was a very, very high-quality breakaway, but I knew that if I got away I had a chance. Max Poole followed me and the pace was high behind, but I did it.”
Primoz Roglic, who trailed Ben O’Connor by 1min 3sec at the start of the day, began to build a lead over his title rival on the uncategorised final climb.
At one stage, it looked as though Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) would take the red jersey, but O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) dug in to keep the overall lead by just 5sec.
“I could do with a hot shower, I’m absolutely freezing,” O’Connor said afterwards. “I have the red jersey for tomorrow, I’m going to soak it up, enjoy it as much as I can, because I’m not sure it’s going to last that long. I’d be surprised [if I keep it] on Friday, but hopefully I can have it for a couple more days.”
The green jersey wearer, Wout van Aert, was forced to abandon the race after a heavy crash. The Belgian rider, winner of three stages of this year’s Vuelta, injured his right knee after falling on a slippery descent with more than 50km of the stage from Luanco still to race.
Van Aert (Visma Lease-a-bike) received treatment from team medics but was unable to continue. The green jersey now goes to Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) while fellow Australian Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) leads the mountain classification.
On Wednesday the 17th stage offers some respite for the race leaders with just two category-two climbs along the 141.5km route to Santander.
