UAE cries (DNS Almeida), UAE laughs: Yates wins after fabulous (Pogacaresque) solo; Roglic gets off with a scare

🚴🇪🇸 | De Ierse kampioen Darren Rafferty is zijn gewicht in goud waard vandaag. Hij rijdt zijn kopman Richard Carapaz voorbij Roglic in het klassement. Nog twee beklimmingen te gaan! #LaVuelta24 📺 Stream koers op HBO Max

Gaudu, Vine, and Yates strongest in breakaway, Carapaz with a nice effort

Carapaz had begun a nice adventure. At the start of the first time Hazallanas, he gathered a two-and-a-half minute lead over the group of Roglic. In doing so, the South American also had what may have been intentional or unconscious good fortune that Darren Rafferty had been dropped from the leading group, giving him a sort of derny on certain sections.

When Rafferty's ran out of strength - and he stood almost still! - Carapaz had to do all the work himself by now, with guys like Van Aert already released from his wheel. What could he accomplish on Hazallanas for the first time? At least in the leading group, differences arose immediately. Only Yates, Vine, and Gaudu were left, while Carapaz released other riders not working with him.

Yates starts it at 58 kilometers, Carapaz doesn't really get closer to British UAE rider

In the Roglic group, things also went fast regarding depletion. For example, white jersey wearer Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) was absent. Remarkable! The other top ten riders were there, but for how long? After all, the pace there was also slowly but surely picking up.

Read more below the photo!

🚴🇪🇸 | Nog 58 kilometer te gaan en Yates gaat er alleen vandoor. Een bijzonder moment, aangezien Gaudu al aan het lossen was... 🤔🤔 #LaVuelta24 📺 Stream koers op HBO Max

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At 58 kilometers from the finish - quite a stage we had already had! - Yates had had enough and left Gaudu (and thus also Vine) behind him. Wasn't that a bit on the early side? The Brit looked pretty good, even getting ahead of Carapaz (and the Roglic group).

Speaking of the group Roglic, the favorites again seemed to be vastly overestimating what was happening up front. Memories of what O'Connor accomplished a few days earlier were not far away, as at one point, Yates had an advantage of even six minutes (!). This allowed him to take the stage win on the one hand, but on the other hand - and this was the day before the rest day! - also, get back into the battle for the red jersey. Or did they only go full Hazallanas on the second time?

Mas outsmarted Roglic on Alto de Hazallanas

At the foot, Yates had at least a 6.30-minute lead on Roglic and as much as 2.30 minutes on Carapaz, who had thus not gotten any closer. The stage win could not slip away from him, but what could he do for the red? Differences were immediately noticeable when the Roglic group arrived on the final climb. But it wasn't Roglic who was the absolute strongest! Indeed, the Slovenian (in a polka dot jersey) dropped to the back for a moment, and at that moment, Mas took off! The Movistar Spaniard - who actually never attacks - was the strongest GC rider!

Read more below the tweet!

🚴🇪🇸 | Een wonderdag van Enric Mas? Roglic en O'Connor kunnen niet mee... 🤯🤯 #LaVuelta24 📺 Stream koers op HBO Max

Yates successfully completes unprecedented solo, Mas looks - despite near-fall - the strongest; Roglic barely loses any time

On the descent to the finish, Mas just barely crashed. How he stayed on his bike is a mystery. In any case, it cost him many seconds, and he must have been very shocked.

The stage victory went to Yates, who also collected enough points for the polka dot jersey and thus took the blue and white jersey. Carapaz finished second, followed by the group of favorites, which rejoined Vine and Mas just before the finish. But will the Spaniard be the favorite for the red jersey? It's hard to say because Yates and Carapaz are also in a very good position. And what about that wicked Roglic? Time will tell...

🚴🇪🇸 | Adam Yates wint etappe 9. Petje af voor deze inspanning! Wat gaat deze zege voor het klassement van de Brit betekenen? 🤔🤔 LaVuelta24 📺 Stream koers op HBO Max