As it happened: Crosswinds fail to materialise as the sprinters take stage 16 at the Vuelta a España
Cortegana to La Rábida. Palos de la Frontera, 181.1 km
Good morning and welcome to stage 16 of the Vuelta a España, we’ll be bringing you live coverage throughout the day.
It looks like one for the sprinters today, with the vast majority of the 181.1km between Cortegana and La Rábida. Palos de la Frontera all downhill.
The race rolls out at 1:05pm local time.
There are no classified climbs today, though there are not far off 2,000m of vertical ascent as the race heads south down to the coast.
We’re still in Andalucia for today’s stage, right down in the far south-west, very close to the Portuguese border.
After days of ridiculously high temperatures, the peloton have the tiniest bit of respite today, with maximum temperatures forecast only at 34º.
Visma-Lease a bike have dominated the sprints at this year's Vuelta and Matthew Brennan is surely a favourite for today's stage.
The British sprinter is one who's been critical of racing in such hot weather.
It's not just the heat Brennan with have to worry about today, it's windy down near the finish, with a cross tailwind from 23km to go, then cross head from 12km.
This could be an exciting, nervy finish.
And we're rolling! We have 4.6km of neutral before we get going. The day after the rest day will there be a huge fight for the break, or will teams accept that a bunch finish is inevitable?
Almost all the climbing comes in the opening half of the stage and after the downhill start the rolling terrain starts.
With 5km done, that's where we are now, so expect the attacks to begin.
And there they go! Eight riders are trying to get away.
Bryan Coquard is one of only two sprinters not in the Vimsa-Lease a Bike team to have won one of the bunch sprints in this Vuelta, so naturally the Cofidis rider was in demand this morning.
And that group of eight?
They're caught.
Now we have another group with a tiny advantage, this time it's five riders.
The gap is creeping up, but they are being chased, with Visma-Lease a Bike and - strangely - UNO-X at the front. It could be that the Scandinavian team are interfering with the chase.
Whoever's doing the chasing, the breakaway's lead is increasing. It's now 1:10 seconds. Is it all done so quickly?
The front of the race is over an early unclassified peak and onto the rolling terrain which characterises the course until just after the half-way mark.
Sunday's stage 15 presented a very different route to today's, but the breakaway was never allowed any real advantage, Visma-Lease a BIke holding close. Will they do that again?
The gap is still only 1:40.
It was a hugely impressive performance from Wout van Aert to take the win on Sunday.
But he said; "I'm not coming back, I can't maintain this statistic."
We have a pretty strong group up in that breakaway. Tody, with plenty of experience.
American, Kevin Vermaerke has been incredibly active this Vuelta, though perhaps because his team are down just four riders.
"To be honest, that was not the plan at all" he said of his solo move on stage 14.
The breakaway's advantage really has settled now, Vermaerke, Madouas, Dalby, Sütterling and Thalmann lead by 2:40.
Of the other breakaway riders, Madouas is the most successful in terms of victories. The Frenchman has seven to his name, though the 2023 Bretagne Classic is his most recent.
He's a one team man too, he joined Groupama in 2018.
We have a split in the bunch. They've come over a small climb but the gradients aren't too steep and the descent is far from technical.
It's warming up too, it's 34º and approaching the maximum forecast temperature.
Today isn't the first breakaway for Sütterlin, he was up the road on stages 14 and 10. the 33-year-old is super strong, has a huge engine and is very experienced.
At only 23, Simon Dalby is the youngest in the leading group and is an accomplished climber. In his second year at WorldTour level, the Dane is also a serial breakaway rider, up the road on stage 13 and in other stage races this year.
A few months older than Sütterlin, Swiss rider Roland Thalmann is 33, but only began at ProTeam level in 2023. His only career win came in 2022, taking a stage in the 2.2 level Tour d'Alsace.
It's 35º out there now, that's hot.
Visma-Lease a Bike seem to be in control though.
Why are Visma bringing the break back so soon?
The chances are they want to get breakaway into a more controllable position, but not so close that others can bridge across and create chaos.
The gap has settled now, and the peloton sit 1:25 behind the leading group of Vermaerke, Madouas, Dalby, Sütterling and Thalmann.
Meanwhile Timo Roosen has abandoned, leaving Picnic-PostNL with only four riders.
We're descending from the hilly section of the race now and the next 80km are very flat indeed. the wind is still blowing, though it's only around 20kph inland.
A bit of an issue for UAE Team Emirates' rider Doman Novak who had a musette stuck in a wheel. He's and going though.
Visma-Lease a Bike have been on the front all day long, they seem to have huge confidence in Matthew Brennan for the sprint finish, and rightly so.
Right behind them in the stretched out bunch are Movistar, keeping race leader Enric Mas safe.
We're approaching the day's intermediate sprint which comes with 66km to go. The breakaway will take honours there, they still lead by 1:15.
No surprise but it's getting warmer as we head south and closer to the coast. It's now 36º, warmer than forecast.
There's a short 'climb' coming up now, it's nothing serious, just 4.5km averaging 2.4% gradient, it won't trouble anyone in the race.
For the first time the leaders' advantage drops below one minute, Vermaerke, Madouas, Dalby, Sütterling and Thalmann lead by only 50 seconds with 55km to go.
Visma have reinforcements at the front now, Cofidis are there and even Primož Roglič's Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe squad are close by.
Under 40 seconds for the breakaway
The peloton, and Visma in particular, are just playing with this breakaway, grinding away at them, but they're not caught until they're caught.
But it's Cofidis on the front at the moment, with Red Bull also adding some firepower to Visma's effort.
The racing will get very interesting very soon, in the village of Barrohondo when they sweep left at a roundabout and the crosswinds hit from the right side.
The next roundabout is where those crosswinds will start, the buch are leaving nothing to chance and they have the breakaway in sight.
The race has taken the turn and the oace is up, but iis the wind high enough. Surely someone will try something.
We're alongside the estuary of the Rio Tinto, but the road is quite protected and there's nothing doing in the crosswinds. So far.
Seems as though the break might be left to dangle for the while, they sitting just 30 seconds up the road with 31km to go.
Will the breakaway be caught before they reach the town? That lead is coming down again, 19 secinds with 29km to go.
A roundabout with a touch more than 26km remaining sees the race head into the town of Palos de la Frontera, where there’s all the road furniture you’d expect in a town. It’s technical, with the threat of cross tailwinds straight afterwards.
The gap has been allowed to increase again, it's 31 seconds, they'll reach the town at the front of the race.
Mind you, a lot of teams are fighting for their place on the road now.
A crash in town, with Ivo Oliveira down.
Just eight seconds for the breakaway now.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe have taken control now, Visma have melted away. Are Red Bull working for a sprint or in the hope of splitting the race in the wind and taking time out of Enric Mas?
At 12km to go we go almost all the way round the roundabout and head towards the finish and into a cross headwind almost alongside the coast.
Once again the road is well protected from any wind, but it's not by the coast, with few in the way of buildings until very close to the finish.
Visma are back at the front, controlling the pace and protecting Brennan. Cofidis are there too, with Bryan Coquard looking for a second stage win and a career second Grand Tour victory.
Once again Visma are in complete control, this bodes well for another win for the Dutch squad, but they've done a lot of work, other teams will be looking to take advantage of that.
Coming to the almost dead turn roundabout now, it's at 12km exactly.
Once they're round they'll have some protection in the trees, but it opens out.
Round the roundabout and it’s virtually straight all the way now, the next right turn coming 1.4km from the line.
Red Bull are on the front, but Visma are close by. Van Aert is close to the front with Brennan on his wheel.
A number of teams are up there, Visma, Bahrain Victorious, Red Bull among them. Soudal-QuickStep are there with their full team, Alberto Dainese their man for the sprint.
The road is very wide here and the peloton is seething with a number teams able to fight for position. This can be dangerous.
The pace is very high, but the race is strangely calm in the run up to the sprint finish.
Remember we have the roundabout at 1.4km to go.
At 500m to go we’ll see the final turn before the line, it’s a left hander, but it’s not a tight turn, though positioning here will be key.
UNO-X are at the front now, but still Visma maintain position, what a ride.
There's a central reservation between the Soudal QuickStep part of the bunch and the rests of the peloton.
The roundabout has caused a split, but all the sprinters are there
Van Aert hits the front on the exit of the final bend and delivers a brilliant lead out to the 125m metre mark. No one can come round Brennan who makes it four wins and six for Visma-Lease a Bike.
Bryan Coquard takes second place, with Vito Braet (Lotto-Intermarché) in third.
As for race leader Enric Mas (Movistar), his lead remains unchanged after Tuesday's stage, and barring disaster he should be untroubled on Wednesday. Mas's time with come on Thursday when he'll need to defend his GC lead in the 32.1km individual time trial.
