MADRID, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) — Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) won a tremendously demanding ninth stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycle race on Sunday to put himself back into mix in the overall classification.
A fall earlier in the week had left Yates over nine minutes behind overall leader Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondale Team), but he produced a heroic ride to claim the stage.
Yates finished alone, 1 minute and 48 seconds ahead of ahead Richard Carapaz (EF Education – Easy Post) and 3.45 before the group of leaders, which included O’Connor and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), along with Enric Mas (Movistar) who saw his lead of a minute over the favorites disappear on the final descent.
On another day with temperatures close to 40 degrees, a 24-man breakaway escaped from the main group after 15 kilometers. Yates and teammates Jay Vine and Marc Soler were in the group after losing team-mate Joao Almeida to COVID-19 before the stage.
The first major climb of the day made an immediate selection of the breakaway, reducing it to around 10 riders, including the UAE trio.
Yates rode away on the second climb (Alto de Hallazanas), while Carapaz also launched a marathon attack to go second behind him.
Yates continued to pile on the pressure and at one point led by six and a half minutes, while in the group of overall leaders, O’Connor looked stronger than on Saturday, while Roglic looked less certain.
Mas looked for his moment at the foot of the second ascent of the tremendously steep Alto de Hallazanas and put pressure on Roglic, who had been left without support from his Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe team. He crowned the final climb over a minute ahead of Roglic and O’Connor, but almost fell on the descent after he overcooking a corner before somehow regaining control, although the chasing group was able to overtake him in the last kilometer, and O’Connor showed his recovery from Saturday when he won the sprint for third place.
Monday is a rest day as the riders travel to Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia, before the race restarts on Tuesday with another mountain stage, although shifting to the north should mean an end to the extreme heat of the opening nine days.
O’Connor has a lead of 3 minutes and 53 seconds over Roglic, with Carapaz riding into third, while Yates is seventh, 5 minutes and 30 seconds behind O’Connor.
