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The Vuelta a España has a reputation for being a hot race and, well, the 2024 edition has certainly lived up to that reputation so far. Nine stages are now complete and for most of those stages, the riders have had to contend with temperatures surging to well above 30 ºC (86 ºF) and even as high as 40 ºC (104 ºF) at some points.
The racing has given us plenty to talk about, too. We’ve had a fan favourite winning stages (Wout van Aert), we’ve had a GC contender leap up the overall standings and take a handy lead (Ben O’Connor), and we’ve got a three-time winner on the charge, looking to make up ground (Primož Roglič).
With the riders now taking a well-earned break after the first ‘week’ of racing, let’s take a look back at the race so far courtesy of some photos from Kristof Ramon (check out his great book, if you haven’t already!), Russ Ellis (shooting for Grubers Images), and the Cor Vos photo agency.
This year’s Vuelta started in Portugal, with a beachside individual time trial in the capital city of Lisbon.US time trial champ Brandon McNulty was fastest over the flat 12 km course …… on what was a warm and windy start to the race.Wout van Aert took third in the ITT showing he’s brought good form to his second Grand Tour of the year.McNulty took the first leader’s jersey of the race for UAE Team Emirates.Soudal-QuickStep has been renamed T-Rex-QuickStep for the Vuelta … and so now they have a dinosaur following them around.Stage 2 took the riders from Cascais to Ourém on another stage held entirely inside Portugal.It was a bunch sprint that decided the first road stage of the race, with Kaden Groves taking his first win of the year, just ahead of Van Aert. That gave Van Aert third on the opening stage, and second on the second stage …While he was yet to take a stage win, Van Aert moved into the red jersey of overall leader.Stage 3 would again see the riders race in Portugal …… heading from Lousã to Castelo Branco in what was expected to be another sprint finish.Sure enough it came to a sprint between Van Aert and Groves again …… with Van Aert getting the win in the leader’s jersey, to go third, second, then first in the opening three days of the race.Scorching conditions welcomed the riders to Spain for stage 4 which finished atop the super-steep Collado de Ballesteros (2.9 km at 13.4%).You know a climb is steep when the road is concrete and there are corrugations etched into the surface.Three-time Vuelta winner Primož Roglič was in the final selection on the brutal finishing climb …… while defending champ Sepp Kuss ultimately dropped a little bit of time.In the desperate throw for the line, Roglič got the better of UAE Tour winner Lennert Van Eetvelt, taking the red leader’s jersey for his troubles.Note the salt stains on the clothes of Carlos Rodríguez here. The average temperature for the stage had been 36 ºC (97 ºF).Stage 5 was another scorcher in the south west of Spain as the riders headed towards a likely bunch sprint in Seville.Vuelta or Tour Down Under?As predicted, it was a bunch sprint that decided the stage …… with Van Aert going head-to-head with 21-year-old Czech sprinter Pavel Bittner in the throw to the line.Bittner got it by a whisker – his first WorldTour win.According to photographer Kristof Ramon, this isn’t race leader Primož Roglič winking at someone – instead he’s got sweat in his eyes …… which he then set about rinsing out.Stage 6 was host to the much-anticipated start inside a Carrefour supermarket. It was … unusual.The stage itself was a lumpy one through southern Spain …… with more than 3,700 meters of climbing on offer.A breakaway group eventually got up the road …… as the peloton took things comparatively easy behind. Ultimately it would be Ben O’Connor who attacked from the break with one rider for company, then went it alone …… eventually winning solo by more than four and a half minutes, and more than six and a half minutes ahead of the Roglič group.It had been another hard and hot day, not least for runner-up Marco Frigo.Adam Yates lost a bunch of skin in a crash. He’d have a better day a few stages later.Into the red jersey for O’Connor, who led the race at stage’s end by almost five minutes – a big advantage to give a rider who’s finished top-four at both the Giro and Tour before.As you can probably tell from this photo, stage 7 was another hot one.Taking riders from Archidona to Cordoba, the stage featured a sizeable climb in the last 40 km but a reduced bunch sprint seemed a likely outcome.Lone breakaway rider Xabier Isasa did his thing …… as the peloton rolled through behind on another very hot day in Andalusia.The locals did their bit to cool down the riders.In Cordoba, Van Aert took his second stage win of the race to extend his lead in the points classification.The extreme temperatures again took their toll on the riders. Here’s Thymen Arensmen in a spot of bother after the stage.The ice vests were out again on stage 8.It was yet another scorcher, with the riders headed for an uphill finish to Cazorla.In the final ramp to the line, Roglič and Enric Mas got separation from the rest …… with Roglič snagging his second stage win and moving closer to taking back the red jersey.I bet you didn’t know that Roglič used to be a ski jumper before he was a cyclist.O’Connor dropped almost a minute on the stage but still comfortably holds red.And so on to stage 9, the final day before the first rest day.It was a mountainous day in Andalusia with roughly 4,500 metres of climbing for the riders to conquer.Yet again the riders faced hot conditions, as demonstrated here by Adam Yates. The Briton attacked solo with an ambitious 58 km still to go on the stage …… but held on to win the day by more than 90 seconds.Yates didn’t mince his words after the stage: “I’ve never suffered like this before,” he said. “It’s so hot out there and I mean, from the last climb I was cramping full … I’ve had a lot of bad luck over the years in Grand Tours and I really didn’t know if I could make it, but I’m so happy I could fucking finally win another Grand Tour stage.”O’Connor took third on the stage to extend his lead by four seconds over Roglič. The Australian leads the Vuelta by 3:53 with 12 stages remaining. Can he hold on?
