A hard day at the Vuelta a España

Race report | Thursday 05 September 2024 - 18:58

Mikel Landa remained in the top ten overall with three stages left at this edition.

Thursday afternoon found the peloton in the Basque Country for the 179.5km stage 18 between Vitoria-Gasteiz and Maestu-Parque Natural de Izki. It was a medium-mountain day comprising two classified climbs, the toughest of which was Puerto de Herrera, coming in the last 50 kilometers.

On that steep ascent, some teams decided to put pressure on the red jersey, upping the tempo and splitting the peloton. Mikel Landa found himself distanced but tried his best to limit the losses on his way to the top of the climb, before linking up with the likes of Casper Pedersen, Mauri Vansevenant and Mattia Cattaneo, all of whom had been part of the mammoth breakaway that formed soon after the start.

The T-Rex Quick-Step guys chased hard behind the favourites’ group on this stage won by Urko Berrade (KernPharma), trading pulls at the front and doing their best to keep Mikel in contention for a good result. Thanks to their effort, the Basque remained in the top ten of the general classification ahead of Friday’s stage, which will conclude atop Alto de Moncalvillo, one of the most demanding climbs of this edition.

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Urko Berrade Fernandez
Equipo Kern Pharma
4:00:52
2 Mauro Schmid
Team Jayco AlUla
0:04
3 Max Poole
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:04
4 Aleksandr Vlasov
Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe
0:04
5 Oier Lazkano López
Movistar Team
0:04
6 Ion Izagirre Insausti
Cofidis
0:04
7 Mathias Vacek
Lidl - Trek
0:04
8 Pablo Castrillo Zapater
Equipo Kern Pharma
0:04
9 Pau Miquel Delgado
Equipo Kern Pharma
0:04
10 Steven Kruijswijk
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:11
43 Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal Quick-Step
10:00
50 Mauri Vansevenant
Soudal Quick-Step
10:00
53 Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step
10:00
64 Casper Pedersen
Soudal Quick-Step
14:27
72 Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
15:14
75 Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step
15:14
78 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
15:14
125 Kasper Asgreen
Soudal Quick-Step
19:52

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