Adam Yates from Britain distinguished himself by securing a solo victory in the ninth stage of the Vuelta a España on Sunday. Despite joining an early breakaway group, the cyclist, riding for UAE Team Emirates, struck out on his own with 58km remaining and managed to fend off Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz from EF Education-EasyPost, finishing 1min 39sec ahead.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Ben O’Connor clinched third place and maintained his overall lead after he outpaced Mikel Landa of Soudal Quick-Step and Florian Lipowitz from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe at the finish line. This triumph added another four bonus seconds to his lead, leaving him 3min 53sec ahead of three-time former champion, Primoz Roglic of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
In the overall rankings, Eddie Dunbar from Ireland ranked 27th, moving to 23rd and Darren Rafferty slid into the 76th place improving to 95th. Carapaz’s solo chase paid off by boosting him to the third overall spot while Yates moved from 27th up to seventh in the general classification after his triumph in the first Vuelta stage.
The riders faced a formidable challenge in this year’s toughest race yet, a demanding 178.5km journey from Motril to Granada, featuring three category-one climbs and two gruelling assents of the Alto de Hazallanas. Wout van Aert ignited the initial attack, leading to a breakaway group of 26 riders. However, Yates along with his UAE team-mates Marc Soler and Jay Vine accelerated the pace and shed riders on the first ascent. The lead group fractured even more, leaving just three as they climbed the Alto de Hazallana for the first time before Yates went solo.
Yates succeeded in extending his advantage, while behind him, Roglic’s squad increased their speed to break up the main group. However, O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), despite losing nearly a minute from his lead the day before, remained resolute.
Enric Mas from Spain (Movistar) tried to break free to secure his overall third position, but was caught a kilometre from the end. O’Connor demonstrated he had abundant energy reserves by securing the third position, leaving Roglic at eighth place.
Following a day off on Monday, the next leg of the journey, stage 10, will be a 160km journey from Ponteareas to Baiona on Tuesday, entering another mountain stage. – Guardian