Marc Soler discovered an excellent late surge to win stage 16 of the Vuelta a España, on a dramatic day within the mountains with Primoz Roglic reducing Ben O’Connor’s general result in simply 5 seconds as Wout van Aert crashed out of the race.
Soler (UAE Crew Emirates) was first to achieve the summit end at Lagos de Covadonga, in a time of 4hr 44min 46sec. “To win at dwelling within the Vuelta may be very particular,” Soler informed Eurosport.
The Spaniard burst away from a breakaway group with 5 kilometres of climbing to go and he proved unstoppable. Italy’s Filippo Zana (Jayco-Alula) and Britain’s Max Poole (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) got here dwelling in second and third place respectively.
“I’ve attacked quite a bit however this time I used to be capable of end it off,” Soler stated. “It was a really, very high-quality breakaway, however I knew that if I received away I had an opportunity. Max Poole adopted me and the tempo was excessive behind, however I did it.”
Primoz Roglic, who trailed Ben O’Connor by 1min 3sec in the beginning of the day, started to construct a lead over his title rival on the uncategorised ultimate climb.
At one stage, it appeared as if Roglic (Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) would take the pink jersey, however O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) dug in to maintain the general lead by simply 5sec.
“I may do with a sizzling bathe, I’m completely freezing,” O’Connor stated afterwards. “I’ve the pink jersey for tomorrow, I’m going to soak it up, take pleasure in it as a lot as I can, as a result of I’m undecided it’s going to final that lengthy. I’d be stunned [if I keep it] on Friday, however hopefully I can have it for a pair extra days.”
The inexperienced jersey wearer, Wout van Aert, was pressured to desert the race after a heavy crash. The Belgian rider, winner of three levels of this yr’s Vuelta, injured his proper knee after falling on a slippery descent with greater than 50km of the stage from Luanco nonetheless to race.
Van Aert (Visma Lease-a-bike) acquired remedy from group medics however was unable to proceed. The inexperienced jersey now goes to Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) whereas fellow Australian Jay Vine (UAE Crew Emirates) leads the mountain classification.
On Wednesday the seventeenth stage provides some respite for the race leaders with simply two category-two climbs alongside the 141.5km path to Santander.
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