Vuelta a Espana: Majka claims stage 14 at La Pandera

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Rafel Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) soloed his way to the finish atop the first 'especial'-rated climb of the Vuelta a España to win Saturday's 14th stage from the early break. Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) earned runner-up honours, 27 seconds down, with Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) taking third at 31.

Race leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) came home fourth just behind Nibali and retained his race lead.

The long and difficult climb had its effect on the overall rankings. While the top two easily held on to their places, the rest of the top 10 changed around. Esteban Chavez (Orica-Scott) put up a strong effort with an early attempt to jump away, but couldn't keep up in the end and dropped to fifth, 2:39 down. Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) who finished in the same time as the Nibali group, moved up to third, 2:17 behind Froome with Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha), also in that group, now sitting fourth at 2:25.

Fabio Aru (Astana) lost an additional 30 seconds on Froome as he struggled on the climb. Contador may have dropped some seconds to Froome at the end, but still moved up to eighth overall, at 3:19.

Majka was the sole remaining rider from a breakaway group which formed early in the 175km stage. Originally a ten-man group with a gap of over seven minutes, the gap was down to three minutes as the second climb of the day started. That split the group, and soon there were only five in the lead. The steep start to the final climb saw the group fragment, and Majka started his solo flight with 10 kilometres to go.

In the overall standings, Froome now has a lead of 55 seconds over Nibali, who picked up a time bonus of 4 seconds after beating the red jersey to third on the stage, while Chaves slips two places to 5th overall behind Kelderman and Zakarin.

How it unfolded

It was another hot day as the peloton set off one man short after Axel Domont (AG2R-La Mondiale) abandoned overnight.

It took about 20 kilometres for the day's break to form. When Rafal Majka, Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Simon Clarke, Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates), Bart De Clercq (Lotto-Soudal), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis), Stefan Denifl (Aqua Blue Sport) and Ricardo Vilela (Manzana Postobon) finally made the break from the field, Team Sky seemed happy to let the group established a lead.

Majka and company soon had a five-minute gap on the course which basically climbed most of the way, going from 120 meters at the start to 1830 meters at the mountaintop finish atop the Sierra de la Pandera. The gap also kept ascending, and reached seven minutes as king of the mountains Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac) led the group over the day's first climb, the category 3 Puerto el Mojon.

Meanwhile, the Dutch youngster Sam Oomen (Sunweb), who began the day 13th overall, had to abandon after becoming ill overnight.

With 80 kilometres to go, Bahrain-Merida, Trek-Segafredo and Astana moved to the front of the peloton and picked up the pace, and the gap dropped dramatically, hitting just over 4:30 with 50 kilometres remaining.

The final two climbs were soon looming, and with Katusha at the front, the peloton picked up the pace yet again. The gap was only three minutes with 30 kilometres left to go.

Konrad attacked on the ascent of the category 2 Alto de Locubin, and the break split behind him. He continued up accompanied by Costa, Majka, De Clerq, and Villella. Katusha still pulled a reduced peloton along, with the gap continuing to fall.

Marc Soler (Movistar) was the first to jump from the field, but his move didn't last long, and riders dropped from the early break began to drop back into the main field. The mountain points went to Villella, Majka, and Costa, with the peloton crossing over only 1:55 back.

Very soon the final climb started. La Pandera, the first hors categorie climb of this year's Vuelta, is 12 kilometres long, with narrow, steep and badly paved roads and an average gradient of 7.3%. The five leaders hit the lower slopes with a lead of just under two minutes.

The climb started out very steep, with a narrow street going up through the city streets of Valdepeñas de Jaen, and the field exploded. Up front, Villella had to drop back and was soon absorbed by the field, and Konrad too eventually fell back, but only after a fine stint of pace-setting in support of Majka. With 10 kilometres to go, Majka was solo in the lead, with the field 1:20 behind him. He was able to build the gap up as he climbed, with Costa trailing some 40 seconds back.

Sky eventually took over the lead work again, with Wout Poels setting the pace in support of Froome, but Majka's lead stayed around the 1:20 mark. Costa was caught by the field with just over 4 kilometres to go.

Bardet then attacked, followed by Movistar's Carapaz. Esteban Chaves jumped to join them and while Bardet was soon dropped, they were quickly joined by Contador and Nibali. The gap was not large, however, and soon Contador and Nibali set off on their own in pursuit of Majka.

Majka had 1:08 with three kilometres still to climb. Froome, having lost his Sky helpers, took over the chase himself, catching Contador and Nibali in the company of Miguel Angel Lopez. As the pace dropped, Kelderman, Chaves, and Zakarin also joined up with this elite red jersey group once again.

When Kelderman launched a tentative attack with two kilometres to go, Lopez responded and then put in a fierce acceleration of his own. By that point, Majka had 40 seconds in hand, and he stoutly defended his lead up, metre by metre.

He had 32 seconds over Lopez at the flamme rouge, with Froome and company at 54 seconds. Contador, Froome and Nibali crossed under the marker together, with Kelderman and Chaves not far behind.

Majka easily maintained his lead to the end, with Lopez taking second and Nibali leading the group of favourites over the line some 30 seconds later. Contador had to drop back near the end and again lost a few seconds.

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