Urko Berrade (Equipo Kern Pharma) secured his first professional victory on stage 18 at the Vuelta a España.
The Spaniard broke away from what was left of an original 42-rider breakaway on the final climb located 6km from the finish and then crossed the line four seconds ahead of the chase-group sprint won by Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) and teammate Pau Miquel (Equipo Kern Pharma) in Maestu-Parque Natural de Izki.
"I hope," Berrade said, when asked if this victory was a strategy to become famous in the international racing scene. "At the beginning of the Vuelta, our manager told me that I had to become famous. I said that It's difficult for me, because I'm not a big media guy, but I think with this victory, maybe I have a chance."
On a day that put pressure on red jersey Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), he managed to maintain his overall lead by five seconds ahead of runner-up Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and 1:25 ahead of third-place Enric Mas (Movistar) and 1:46 ahead of fourth-place Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).
In what was a major change in the overall classification, Mikel Landa (T Rex Quick-Step) was distanced from the group of GC favourites over the day's category 1 climb, Puerto Herrera. He finished the day 10 minutes behind the stage winner and 4:20 behind the GC group, slipping to 10th place overall now at 5:38 behind O'Connor.
"No, I had absolutely no idea," said O'Connor when asked if he had anticipated the attacks from Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) on the slopes of the Puerto Herrera, who saw himself struggle to hold the gap and that had distanced Landa.
"In the end, it was to the benefit of all of us in front, but it was not easy. You could see how fast we were riding; it was full. It wasn't an easy stage at all, to be honest, but there have been no easy days at the Vuelta a España this year.
Asked if the tough racing will have an impact on the final stages, O'Connor said. "Probably not. We've raced every single day and everyone is just tired. Somehow, I'm still managing to crack out some pretty good numbers. I don't think it makes any difference now. I'm still in the lead and it's nice to have it for another day. I've loved it and I've enjoyed it a lot."
The Vuelta a España continues with an uphill finish in Alto de Moncalvillo on stage 19 on Friday, the last mountain stage 20 into Picón Blanco on Saturday, and the stage 21 individual time trial on Sunday.
How it unfolded
The peloton tackled a 179.5km medium mountains stage 18 from Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Basque Country to Maestu-Parque Natural de Izki at the Vuelta a España that included two categorised ascents: category 2 Alto de Rivas de Tereso (11.1km at 3.4%) at the 81km mark and category 1 Puerto Herrera (5.6km at 8.3%) at the 134.5km mark.
Only five seconds separate the current overall leader O'Connor from runner-up Roglič at the start of the stage, but while the day looked suited to a breakaway or a reduced group sprint, the climbs had the potential to shake up the GC.
While echelons formed in the opening kilometres of the stage, it wasn't until the 122km-to-go mark that a large breakaway split from the front of the field.
The front group of 42 riders pushed their gap out to nearly three minutes over the first categorised ascent of the day Alto de Rivas de Tereso with Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) taking the mountain points over the top. Back in the field, Euskaltel-Euskadi, who missed the move, set the pace in an attempt to try and close the gap.
As the breakaway settled in, the main peloton cruised through the feed zone at what appeared to be a more relaxed pace with Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale on the front to protect Ben O'Connor.
Up ahead, it was Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) who was the first to attack out of the front 42-rider group, and he was joined by Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla). The trio held just over 20 seconds ahead of the chasers at the 50km-to-go mark on the slopes of the category 1 Puerto Herrera.
The three were then joined by Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Mattia Cattaneo (T Rex Quick-Step), Steven Kruijswijk (Visma-Lease a Bike), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrohe), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Max Poole (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Urko Berrade, Pablo Castrillo and Pau Miquel (all three from Equipo Kern Pharma), to form a reshuffled lead group of 13.
Soler, again, picked up the mountain points over the top of Puerto Herrera and moved into the overall lead of the polka-dot jersey classification. Behind the 13 riders upfront, the rest of the original 42-rider group fragmented, while the main field with red jersey O'Connor were more than 10 minutes back from the leaders on the road.
Landa dropped, O'Connor under pressure as GC race ignites on Puerto Herrera
Among the main field with the GC favourites, Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) was the first to attack on the Puerto Herrera. It proved to be the most decisive GC move of the day, and it eventually saw O'Connor struggle and Landa drop.
Carapaz was quickly joined by Enric Mas and Carlos Canal (Movistar), Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates), Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Primož Roglič and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Quentin Pacher and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla).
O'Connor was initially distanced over the top, but he eventually made his way back into the group on the descent with teammates Victor Lafay and Valentin Paret-Peintre.
The chase also caught several of the original breakaway riders, including James Shaw and Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), who moved to the front to help Carapaz on the descent, pulling the group further from a distanced Landa, who lost valuable time and fifth place in the overall standings.
Landa's two teammates, Casper Pedersen and Mauri Vansevenant, desperately tried to manage the gap to the GC group ahead, but they lost several minutes.
Meanwhile, the GC group continued to swell to 23 riders as they picked up some riders who were dropped from the original breakaway, but they were still positioned more than eight minutes behind the breakaway of 13 with 20km to go.
In what appeared to be a decision made too late in the game, T Rex Quick-Step ordered Cattaneo to drop out of the breakaway and assist Landa in the chase to reduce the gap to the GC group with 10km to go.
Berrade's solo surprise
The breakaway, now only 12 riders, hit the day's final climb with 6km to go, holding 6:45 ahead of the GC chase group, all with a shot at a potential stage victory.
Kruijswijk was the first to attack, quickly joined by Berrade, but partway up the climb, the Spanish rider dropped his Dutch rival to go solo over the top.
Berrade pushed his lead out to 10 seconds as Kruijswijk was reabsorbed into the group behind and several riders, including Küng, struggled to hold the fast pace on the descent toward the finish.
Without looking back, Berrade continued to pick up valuable seconds and had 15 seconds in hand with 1km to go, but even as the chase pulled back some of that time, he crossed the line with the stage victory, his first win since turning pro in 2019.
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