photo credits @ La Vuelta
Urko Berrade (Equipo Kern Pharma) claimed an impressive win in stage 18 of the Vuelta a España in Maestu-Parque Natural de Izki today, after the Spanish rode clear from what remained of the day’s original 42-rider breakaway on the final climb, later crossing the line four seconds ahead of Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) and teammate Pau Miquel (Equipo Kern Pharma) – earning the young Spaniard his first pro victory.
“I hope,” Berrade said, when asked if this victory was a strategy to become famous in the international racing scene. “At the beginning of the Vuelta, our manager told me that I had to become famous. I said that It’s difficult for me, because I’m not a big media guy, but I think with this victory, maybe I have a chance.”
Meanwhile, Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was put under serious pressure by the EF Education-EasyPost’s Richard Carapaz but battled back to finish safely in the group of GC favorites over six minutes down.
But it was a day to forget for Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) after he dropped from fifth to tenth in the standings. As Carapaz put in a series of digs on the second categorized climb of the day around 50km from the finish, Landa found himself distanced.
Soudal Quick-Step sacrificed their three men in the breakaway – Mauri Vansevenant, Casper Pedersen and Mattia Cattanao – but even this extra horsepower was not enough to stem the bleeding as Landa came home 3’20” back to lose any chances of finishing on the final podium.
Earlier, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) was the first rider over the Alto de Rivas de Tereso, followed by an attack from Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) along the descent, a move that was closely marked by Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and Schmid.
From there, the trio opened up a gap of 1 minute over their chasers en route to the second ascent of the day, the Puerto Herrera.
However, the leaders were caught along the ascent by a group containing Steven Kruijswijk (Visma-Lease a Bike), Soler, Cattaneo, Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Max Poole (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Berrade, Pablo Castrillo and Miquel.
In the meantime, EF Education-EasyPost upped the ante, with Carapaz attacking towards the summit, while O’Connor was momentarily dropped.
After a move by Kruijswijk, Berrade commenced his winning counter-attacked with 6km to go, breezing across the finish seconds ahead of Schmid and Miquel.
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