Marc Soler produced a superb final sprint to win stage 16 of the Vuelta a España on a dramatic day in the mountains. Primoz Roglic cut Ben O’Connor’s overall lead to just five seconds after Wout van Aert crashed and abandoned the race.
Soler (UAE Team Emirates) was first to reach the mountain finish in Lagos de Covadonga with a time of 4 hours 44 minutes 46 seconds. “Winning the Vuelta at home is something very special,” Soler told Eurosport.
The Spaniard broke away from a breakaway group five kilometers from the finish and was unstoppable. The Italian Filippo Zana (Jayco-Alula) and the Briton Max Poole (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) finished in second and third place.
“I attacked a lot, but this time I was able to finish it,” said Soler. “It was a very, very high quality breakaway, but I knew I had a chance if I got away. Max Poole was following me and the pace was fast, but I managed it.”
Primoz Roglic, who was 1 minute and 3 seconds behind Ben O’Connor at the start of the day, began to extend his lead over his title rival on the uncategorized final climb.
At one point it looked like Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) would take the red jersey, but O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) maintained his lead in the overall standings by just 5 seconds.
“A hot shower would do me good, I’m awfully cold,” O’Connor said afterwards. “I’ve got the red jersey for tomorrow, I’m going to soak it up and 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 kept it on Friday, but hopefully I can keep it for a few more days.”
Green jersey wearer Wout van Aert was forced to abandon the race after a serious crash. The Belgian rider, winner of three stages of this year’s Vuelta, injured his right knee in a fall on a slippery descent with over 50 kilometers of the Luanco stage still to go.
Van Aert (Visma Lease-a-bike) was treated by the team doctors 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 mountains classification.
On Wednesday, stage 17 offers the race leaders a breather with only two category 2 climbs on the 141.5km route to Santander.
