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Ben O’Connor’s Vuelta lead down to five seconds after Lagos de Covadonga

Glory for Marc Soler, disaster for Wout van Aert

Photo by: Sirotti
September 3, 2024
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The mighty Lagos de Covadonga was the centerpiece and summit finish of Tuesday’s 16th stage of the 79th Vuelta a España, where Marc Soler took a hat trick of career Vuelta stage wins–another breakaway success–and Primož Roglič came within 5 seconds of Ben O’Connor’s red jersey. It was a terrible day for Wout van Aert, as he crashed out of the race.

The Course

Although the summit finish on mythical HC-rated Lagos de Covadonga drew the imagination, one couldn’t discount the effect of the second Cat. 1 of the day, 7.5-km, 9.3-percent La Collada Llomena.

With breakaways having the time of their lives in this Vuelta, it was natural that a big one would form on Tuesday. Sure enough van Aert, three UAE-Emirates fellows in Jay Vine, Isaac del Toro and Soler, and 13 other riders–none under an hour from the red jersey–got loose and hit the first Cat. 1 Mirador del Fito with a big lead. Van Aert serious about winning both the green and blue polka dot jerseys, crested first to restore a gap over Vine in the KOM standings.

At the midpoint of the route’s 181.5 km, the escapees’ lead was 9:30. Van Aert decided to go solo on the way to La Collada Llomena but came back in time for the climb. Movistar grabbed the reins in the peloton for the middle climb of the day, and Oier Lazcano dropped back from the breakaway to help his team streamline the red jersey group.

Three kilometers from the top, Enric Mas attacked, Roglič sewing up the tear. Fifth-place Mikel Landa was the next to skip away, Pavel Sivakov bringing him back.

The attacks on La Collada Llomena only reduced the peloton’s numbers.

Vine didn’t bother contesting the KOM points with van Aert. Van Aert and del Toro crashed on the long descent into the valley but remounted and carried on for a while before the Belgian abandoned.

Lagos de Covadonga

Now down to an intrepid dozen, the Vine breakaway started the slog up the Vuelta’s monster 6:00 ahead of a peloton that had grown slightly since the peak of La Collada Llomena. Predicatably, the breakaway shattered into pieces, and Vine, the new KOM, couldn’t hang. Filippo Zana, Max Poole and Marco Frigo distinguished themselves on the lower slopes. Frigo was swapped out for Soler.

Mikel Landa attacked again. Mist and rain veiled the proceedings. With 6 km to climb, Mas took over the pacemaking, dropping O’Connor and catching Landa.

O’Connor dropped on the Vuelta’s monster.

With Soler now solo, Mas, Roglič, Richard Carapaz and David Gaudu climbed together. Mas accelerated and Roglič didn’t like the increase in pace. O’Connor was clinging to his red jersey by the fingernails. Gaudu dropped away.

Soler was on his way to his biggest Vuelta win. O’Connor will wear the red jersey for the 11th day on Wednesday.

Could it be? With two Cat. 2 climbs in the middle of 141.5 km, Wednesday just might be one for the sprinters.

2024 Vuelta a España Stage 16
1) Marc Soler (Spain/UAE-Emirates) 4:44:46
2) Filippo Zana (Italy/Jayco-AlUla) +0:18
3) Max Poole (Great Britain/DSM Firmenich-Post NL) +0:23

2024 Vuelta a España GC
1) Ben O’Connor (Australian/Decathlon-AG2R) 65:09:49
2) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Red Bull) +0:05
3) Enric Mas (Spain/Movistar) +1:25
4) Richard Carapaz (Ecuador/EF Education-Easypost) +1:46