Marc Soler won at the top of yet another misty mountain on the Vuelta a España, taking victory at Lagos de Covadonga on stage 16. The UAE Team Emirates rider attacked as part of the day's early break to win solo ahead of Filippo Zana (Jayco-AlUla) and Max Poole (dsm-firmenich PostNL).
It looked as though Ben O'Connor would lose his lead to Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) after he was dropped by the favourites group on the wet and misty final climb to the finish, but the Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale rider hung on to finish with five seconds to spare.
Soler has been active in the breaks all race long, and although he has managed three podiums up to now, the win remained elusive. In fact, wins have been somewhat thin on the ground for the Spaniard during his three seasons at UAE-Team Emirates, as he alluded to in a very brief post-stage interview.
"I didn't win a lot with this team, and after two years, winning here at the Vuelta is very special," he said. His only other victory with the team is, in fact, another Vuelta win, from 2022.
It was also a day that saw Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) crash out as he descended the penultimate climb of Collada Llomena. He came down heavily on a bend with two others, sustaining deep cuts to his right knee.
The team posted on social media: "It is with a heavy heart that we can confirm Wout van Aert has abandoned the Vuelta a España during a crash on stage 16. Updates to follow."
How it happened
Soler was one of the first riders, along with Van Aert, to begin attacking as the break sought to establish itself in the early part of the stage. The group swelled in size to become 15 riders with around 150km to go, and had opened up a gap of more than 10 minutes after with 105km to go.
The break began to ship riders on the penultimate climb – the Collada Llomena – and halfway down the descent, with rain setting in, Van Aert crashed alongside Isaac Del Toro (UAE-Team Emirates) and Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlUla), which spelled the end of the Belgian's race. The other two were able to continue.
The race became ever more attritional from that point on, both in the break and in the group of favourites, which had thinned down considerably on the Llomena.
Come the final climb to Covadonga, Max Poole, who looked one of the strongest present, attacked with 8.3km to go, taking Soler – once again on the hunt for a stage – with him. They were joined by Filippo Zana with 5.8km to go, at which point the trio had around 30 seconds on the rest of the early break.
Soler attacked with 4.3km to go, opening up a small gap on his two companions as the rain came down, and held on to win by 18 seconds.
Back in the favourites group, an initial hard attack by Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) was countered by Enric Mas (Movistar) – the latter succeeded in taking most of the key players with him, apart from O'Connor who began to lose touch.
All the riders fought through damp and thoroughly un-Spanish conditions which only got worse as they neared the top of the climb.
With around 2.5km to go Primož Roglič became the virtual leader on the road and it looked inevitable that the red jersey would change hands, but O'Connor managed to stem the time before making up a bit of ground to finish 57 seconds down on Roglič and cling to the lead by five seconds.
Results
Vuelta a España 2024, Stage 16: Luanco > Lagos de Covadonga, 181.5km
1. Marc Soler (Spa) UAE-Team Emirates, in 4:44:46
2. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco-AlUla, +18s
3. Max Poole (Gbr) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +23s
4. Jay Vine (Aus) UAE-Team Emirates, +57
5. Ion Izagirre (Spa) Cofidis, +1:02
6. Isaac Del Toro (Ita) UAE-Team Emirates, + 1:29
7. Marco Frigo (Ita) Israel-Premier Tech, +1:35
8. Matthew Riccitello (USA) Israel-Premier Tech, +1:47
9. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar, +3:54
10. Richard Carapaz (Ecu), at s.t.
General Classification after Stage 16
1. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, in 65:09:00
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +5s
3. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, +1:25
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:46
5. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal Quick-Step, +2:18
6. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +3:48
7. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +3:53
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +4:00
9. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:27
10. Pavel Sivakov (Fra) UAE Team Emirates, +5:19
