Adam Yates pulled off a Pogacaresque masterpiece on day nine of the Vuelta a España. The UAE Team Emirates Briton was the strongest rider from a large breakaway group and went on a solo ride to win the stage, which meant he also did exceptionally well for the GC. Primoz Roglic had a disappointing day, while Enric Mas (more about him later) seemed the strongest in the group of favorites. Richard Carapaz was also surprised: the Ecuadorian went on the attack with 88 kilometers to go and finished second behind Yates.
The day before the first day of rest, the riders had a challenging mountain stage ahead of them. In the first 100 kilometers, it was a bit up and down, but then there were three challenging climbs with the Puerto de el Purche (8.9 km at 7.6%) and twice the Alto de Hazallanas (7.1 km at 9.5%). Some even talked about a possible queen's stage since the percentages were relatively high. A lot to look forward to! However, the spectacle had to occur without Joao Almeida of UAE Team Emirates: the Portuguese leader was unable to start due to a coronavirus infection;
Large breakaway, including Van Aert and Yates gets quite some leeway
Once again, it was one big spectacle when we discussed the "who is going to get in the breakaway of the day?" scenes. Immediately after the start signal was given in Motril, there was an attack. Among others, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) and Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) tried very hard initially. First, they were unsuccessful, but a few attempts later, they—and many others—were successful.
A group of 24 managed to get away from the rest. Among them are Soler and Van Aert, but also UAE teammates Adam Yates - probably the leader on duty - and Jay Vine, as well as Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek), Kasper Asgreen (T-REX Quick-Step) and Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck). The big group soon got a nice gap "gift"; therefore, dsm-firmenich PostNL-boys Gijs Leemreize and Max Poole decided to cross at the last minute. Not much later, the leading group of 26 was a fact!
Carapaz starts early on and gets excellent support from EF teammate Rafferty, UAE puts all on Yates
There were quite a few relatively dangerous men - for the GC, that is - in the breakaway. For example, Yates, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), and Poole did well. The peloton also let the gap increase to more than five minutes, so a battle on two fronts seemed to unfold.
With a five-minute lead, the breakaway began the first climb of the day, the Puerto de el Purche. On the slopes of that climb, the tête de la course completely fell apart, mainly due to the high pace of UAE man Soler. Vine also lent a hand, clarifying that with that team, all is on Yates. For example, Van Aert tried to hang on for a long time but couldn't follow.
Pretty soon, only nine guys left, while Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) was already getting on the pedals! What was that Ecuadorian up to so early? He was already a minute and a half ahead of the rest of the favorites in no time. There, especially Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe (Roglic) set the pace. On to the first of two ascents on the Hazallana!
Read more below the video!
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!
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!
Roglic did not lose much time but was still hanging on by a few dozen meters. In the meantime, several other guys had joined the ex-ski jumper. They included O'Connor, Felix Gall, Mikel Landa, and Carlos Rodriguez. And that suited Roglic just fine as Gall rode hard for the red jersey holder.
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...
Results stage 9 Vuelta a España 2024
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