Urko Berrade has won the 18th stage of the Vuelta a España. After a spectacular stage, he was the strongest rider from an immense breakaway, in which his team, Equipo Kern Pharma, was in a dominant position. In the favorite group, there was spectacle, but that only cost the not-fit-looking Mikel Landain the end.
The start this Thursday was in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the Basque Country. Knowing that heavy mountain stages were coming up on Friday and Saturday and that the Vuelta would end on Sunday with an individual time trial, one could almost feel that this would be the last chance for many riders to succeed on the day. So the battle was expected from the start, and the parcours lent themselves to it. Apart from a few tricky hills, no challenging mountains were planned in the first half of the stage, although it was different in part two, with two categorized climbs and a tricky final.
Huge breakaway gets space, until Euskaltel-Euskadi suddenly starts chasing....
As was often the case this Vuelta, we had a long battle ahead of the day's breakaway. Indeed, it seemed everyone wanted to be in it! At one point, the peloton broke up into five (!) pieces. However, the panic was short-lived—fortunately for the breakaway riders—but the struggle to get into the leading group continued relentlessly.
In the end, a considerable group managed to get away from the rest of the pack. At least 35 riders managed to create a gap at first. This included racers such as Jhonatan Narvaez (INEOS Grenadiers), two-time stage winner Pablo Castrillo (Equipo Kern Pharma), and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ). A few more guys joined the big group, bringing the number to a whopping 41 (!).
Well, the group was formed, and the peloton finally relented. Or did they? Euskaltel-Euskadi, the ultimate attack team, had no one with them! As if it were a sort of punishment camp, the entire team had to pound on the head of the peloton, and the lead was quickly reduced. Three minutes became one minute, and at that moment, several boys of the orange-colored brigade decided to jump. However, that plan didn't quite work out because there was plenty of action at the front as well.
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Then the 40-strong (!) breakaway group broke free and attacked frequently: Carapaz unleashed race in the peloton, home rider Landa is biggest casualty
While Marc Soler took the full prize in mountain points on the first climb of the day, not much later, it was a trio attack. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Küng, and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) took off with the three of them and quickly grabbed a one-minute lead over the nearly 40 men behind. That lead remained somewhat constant, but on Puerto Herrera, the second and last categorized climb of the day, that lead quickly dwindled. In no time, the breakaway was as one again!
The breakaway also split not much later on the slopes of the Puerto Herrera. Due to accelerations back and forth, a real battlefield ensued, with logically several groups. Soler came out first and secured the polka dot jersey, which he would take over from UAE Team Emirates teammate Jay Vine. Even in the peloton, where nothing seemed to be happening, things suddenly got interesting on the climb! Specialist Richard Carapaz (EF Educaiton-EasyPost) stepped up to the pedals on the steepest parts and went ballistic!
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Horror day for home rider Landa, who lost minutes
Did the Ecuadorian's attack make any difference? Yes, because Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) wasn't paying attention, was sitting at the back, and had to pass! Also, red jersey wearer O'Connor - not very many GC riders left - had to pass for a while but eventually found his way back.
In the end, only Basque Landa wasn't with them and probably lost minutes: his gap kept increasing, and it took a super long time for Casper Pedersen to drop out of the breakaway as a teammate and join his Spanish leader.
Read more below the video!
Landa (as the only top-ten rider) increasingly in trouble, Berrade grabs his first pro victory brilliantly
So what happened in the breakaway, which still consisted of 13 riders? Not much, because the collaboration was excellent! There was good rotation in a group composed mainly of individuals. Only Equipo Kern Pharma was "overrepresented," with Pau Miquel, Castrillo, and Berrade.
Striking fact: it was only twelve kilometers from the finish that Mattia Cattaneo had to let himself drop out of the breakaway to help Landa, who had been riding at three minutes in the meantime. A strange tactic from the team management, because wasn't this a bit late....? We saw (justified) anger from the Italian, who was denied a possible stage win.
So Cattaneo would not win, who among the dozen leaders was? On the final climb, about seven kilometers from the finish, Kruijswijk took off at the front! Berrade went with him and even went over the killer bee. Was that the decisive move? It seemed like it, as his lead grew ever so slightly, all the more so because of finishing work by his two teammates. At the finish line, Berrade had just enough left to secure the win. What a way to win your first race! Schmid finished second, while Miquel completed the EKP party in third place.
Landa could not even keep up with his group at times. The Spaniard did not look fit; what could be wrong with him? He ended up losing more than three minutes! To be continued...
Results stage 18 Vuelta a España 2024
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