Vuelta a España: Adam Yates stamps authority on stage 9 solo victory

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After an entertaining opening eight stages, the first week of the Vuelta a España culminated with a bang in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, with the stage 9 victory going to Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), author of a long-range raid on a day of audacious attacks and general classification re-shuffles.

Yates, battered and bruised so far in this Vuelta, started the day 9:27 down on GC, with his team suffering the overnight blow of losing third-placed João Almeida to COVID-19. But they came out swinging, Yates one of three UAE riders in a 26-man breakaway that they proceeded to decimate on the opening category 1 climb of El Purche ahead of the double ascent of the fearsome Alto de Hazallanas.

Despite having Jay Vine for company, Yates didn’t hang around for the second ascent, dropping his last fellow escapee, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), more than than half-way from the top of the first, and nearly 60km from the line. From there, he simply soloed over the mountain, back down and around to tame it once again, and then down into Granada to celebrate a sensational victory.

Not just that, but it was one that launched him back into GC contention, 20 places up the standings in fact, with the red jersey Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) finishing alongside key favourite Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) nearly four minutes in arrears.

Crossing the line in between, in second place, was Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), very much in the same boat as an author of a long-range roll of the dice that paid out with GC gains. The former Giro d’Italia champion, starting the day 6:44 down, shot out of the peloton on El Purche and proceeded, with impressive help from tactically-positioned teammates, to rip his way through the scattered breakaway. 

The only person Carapaz could not catch was Yates, but it was still one hell of a ride as the Ecuadorian crossed the line 1:38 down, but still more than two minutes up on the red jersey group. He's now third overall, having started in 18th. 

It was that small red jersey group that ended up contesting third place after a dramatic second ascent of Hazallanas in which Enric Mas (Movistar) attacked, gained a minute, but then threw it away on the descent into Granada. 

Instead, it was O’Connor who won the sprint for third place - and four bonus seconds - on a day he’ll be mightily pleased with after his struggles the previous afternoon. Roglič had looked ominously good 24 hours prior but his inability to follow Mas or sprint for the bonuses would indicate yet another shift in momentum at this Vuelta.

By the time they crossed the line, Yates’ panicked appeals for “water!” had been heeded and he was beginning to get his breath back after digging to the darkest depths of his reserves. 

“I never suffered like this before,” he said. “It was so hot out there. From the last climb I was cramping and I didn’t know if I could go. I’ve had a lot of bad luck in Grand Tours over the years and I really didn’t know if I could make it, but I’m just so happy I could finally win another Grand Tour stage.”

As for the GC gains, which have propelled him from 27th into seventh, “I don’t give a shit about GC today,” was the curt reply. 

“It was all about the stage. I was just going full gas. We really had nothing to lose. I just suffered all the way to the line.”

The GC shake-up

This opening and entertaining Vuelta took another wild turn in the Sierra Nevada. The two men who have commanded our attention at the top of the standings, O’Connor and Roglič, played out another shift in fortunes. Though closely matched, Roglič’s fightback was curtailed, and O’Connor actually added four seconds to his lead, which now stands at 3:53. 

There are, however, two new and dangerous riders much closer than before. Carapaz’s gamble was richly rewarded with a jump into third place at 4:32, just three seconds up on Mas, who could and really should be in that position. The Spaniard will take heart from the way he out-climbed the red jersey group but will kick himself for overcooking a corner which saw his descent into Granada unravel. 

Mas still has a decent buffer over Mikel Landa (T Rex-Quick-Step) in fifth at 5:17, while Roglič’s top domestique here, Florian Lipowitz rallied without providing huge assistance to sit sixth at 5:29. Just one second behind him is the resurgent Yates, who is only a minute off the podium and has all to play for now. 

Yates is tied for time with O’Connor’s right-hand man, Felix Gall, impressive again here, while Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) sits at 6:00 and Gaudu 10th at 6:30, the Frenchman’s breakaway move yielding no gains over the red jersey but allowing him to rise six places nonetheless. 

The day’s big loser was the white jersey Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), who had been in fourth and did not finish the stage. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto Destiny), Cristian Rodríguez (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Mathias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) were three others who slipped out of the top 10 after failing to follow the red jersey group on the second ascent of Hazallanas.

How it unfolded

After yesterday’s long battle for the breakaway, there was once again no shortage of interest in the day’s escape, but this time around it formed in much simpler fashion. The green jersey Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) was the main instigator, attacking immediately and opening a gap before being joined by one small group of riders after another. 

Before long, 24 riders were away and the peloton let the gap yawn open. Team dsm-firmenich-PostNL, who missed the boat, suddenly panicked and fired Max Poole and Gijs Leemreize up the road, but that didn’t reignite things and instead the pair made their way across calmly and quickly to make it a 26-rider breakaway. 

In there were: Adam Yates, Jay Vine, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Ruben Fernandez, Jesus Herrada, Jonathan Lastra (Cofidis), Patrick Konrad, Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek), David Gaudu, Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), Darren Rafferty, James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost), Quinten Hermans, Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Felix Engelhardt, Chris Harper (Jacyo-AlUla), Pablo Castrillo, Pau Miquel (Kern-Pharma), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Oscar Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), Kasper Asgreen (T Rex-Quick-Step), Torsten Traeen (Bahrain Victorious), Jonas Gregaard (Lotto Dstny) and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar).

As the road rose from sea level on the coast at Motril up towards Granada, via several ramps, the gap opened out beyond four minutes as O’Connor’s Decathlon AG2R men dictated proceedings in the peloton. The race proceeded in calm fashion all the way to the city that sits at the base of the Sierra Nevada, with the double ascent of the Alto de Hazallanas preceded by the opening platter of the Puerto de El Purche (8.9km at 7.6%). 

Red Bull took control of the bunch on the approach as they prepared to set their tempo on the climb, and the gap dropped back towards the four-minute mark, but UAE - the best-represented up front with three strong riders - responded by smashing the breakaway to pieces from the very foot of the ascent. It was Soler who did the damage, quickly cutting the break down to just nine riders. 

Behind, Red Bull burned through Dani Martinez and reduced the numbers in the peloton but the pace was not super high, and that’s why Carapaz was able to soar clear with a vicious acceleration and a hugely audacious roll of the dice. The former Giro winner linked up with Shaw as he quickly found a minute on the bunch, and then just shy of the summit Rafferty dropped from the break to link up on the descent, in a strong display of teamwork. 

At the summit of El Purche, then, eight riders – Soler, Yates, Vine, Gaudu, Küng, Harper, Castrillo, Traen – led the way by almost five minutes over the reduced peloton, with Carapaz slap bang in the middle amid a number of breakaway remnants. 

Hazallanas double-header

After the descent back towards Granada, the road titled uphill to Guejar Sierra to precede the official climb of the Alto de Hazallanas (7.1km at 9.5%). Up front, Küng contributed alongside UAE on behalf of Gaudu, while behind Rafferty blitzed the uncategorised preliminary climb with Carapaz in the wheel, the gap to the front reduced to just 1:45. 

Onto the climb itself, the breakaway was immediately whittled down even further, with Soler almost grinding to a halt as he handed over to Vine and Yates, with Gaudu the only other rider able to follow. Behind, Carapaz continued to blitz through breakaway remnants to skip clear in pursuit, settling in at around 1:30 down. Back in the bunch, Red Bull were still in control with the gap to the front just above the four-minute mark. 

It looked like Vine would pace all the way to the top to be there for the descent and subsequent shallow roads, and it looked like Carapaz would join them, but there was another bold play as Yates ripped an attack to go solo well under half-way up, gaining on everyone else on the road all the way to the top.

At the summit, with 54km to go, Yates led by over a minute over Gaudu and Vine, with Carapaz at 1:40 and the GC group at some 5:30 - the numbers vastly reduced by Red Bull but the gap to Yates having yawned out to concerning proportions. 

On the descent back around to the foot of the climb, including the preliminary haul to Guejar Sierra, Yates extended his advantage as Carapaz, who had Castrillo hanging onto him, bridged to Gaudu and Vine. The gap was up to two minutes, while the GC bunch slipped to 5:45, putting Yates on the provisional GC podium. Remarkably, the pattern continued on the road up to Guejar Sierra and when the gap hit 6:10, Ineos were the first team to blink and hit the front of the bunch through Oscar Rodriguez. 

As Yates hit those punishing initial ramps of the Alto de Hazallanas for the second time, he had 2:45 in hand over the chasers and a mammoth 6:40 over the bunch.

Red Bull came back to the fore on the climb, which was disrupted by a mechanical problem at the foot. Almost immediately, the red jersey group was shattered. But Roglič's teammates couldn't control things - Vlasov dropped and Lipowitz flagging. Mas sensed the weakness and hit out, first joined by Sivakov then sailing clear to slowly but surely extend his advantage all the way to the top. 

As Yates worked away up front, Carapaz dropped Gaudu, who looked keen to issue the opening accelerations but quickly relented when the EF rider truly opened the taps. Still, it was not enough to turn the tables on Yates, who held steady - even if he was suffering inside - up the grinding climb.

As Yates crested in the lead to take a near two-minute advantage over Carapaz onto the descent, the more immediate drama was unfolding further down the mountain as Mas somehow found a minute on the red jersey group. O'Connor, with a decent buffer and a teammate in Gall, was not panicking but it was telling that Roglič was allowing this to happen - or rather that he was powerless to prevent it. 

But things changed once more on the other side of the mountain. Keen to maximise the advantage he'd carved open, Mas entered a sweeping left-hand bend too eagerly, locking up his bike and avoiding a crash only by virtue of serendipitously-placed lay-by. In truth, it could have been worse, and while he only conceded 15 seconds getting back up to speed, he lose his confidence and momentum and was eventually caught on the shallower final 6km run-in to Granada. 

Mas himself had just caught a flailing Gaudu, suddenly bringing the red jersey group to the line with third place and four bonus seconds up for grabs. Roglič was expected to collect them, but O'Connor reached out and turned the tables back in his favour, on a hugely entertaining day in which bold cycling was rewarded and the Vuelta was left as open and gripping as ever as it pauses for its first rest day. 

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