Urko Berrade won stage 18 of the Vuelta a España out of the breakaway on Thursday, giving Kern Pharma a third stage victory so far in the team’s home Grand Tour.
The 26-year-old Spaniard, who hails from nearby Pamplona, left the rest of the escapees behind on an uncategorized climb in the finale and held on to take the win. Jayco-AlUla’s Mauro Schmid settled for second, while Berrade’s teammate Pau Miquel took third on the day.
Race leader Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R) finished safely in the peloton to retain his position atop the general classification standings, which did see some reshuffling as Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) lost touch with the red jersey group and shipped a hefty amount of time to the other GC riders, dropping from fifth overall to 10th.
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How it happened
- After stage 17’s brief respite from fierce breakaway battles, the lumpy 18th stage of the Vuelta saw another frantic start as seemingly everyone outside of GC contention wanted to get into the day’s move. It took an hour of attacks and counterattacks for a group of some 40 riders to get clear in what would prove to be the decisive break.
- With so many riders in the move and ample opportunities for attacks in the profile, there was plenty of action out front, and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) spurred a key split on a descent with around 90 km still to go. Schmid and Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) joined him and worked out to a gap that they held over other chasing breakaway riders for some time until a strong group – Berrade included – bridged up to them on the first-category Puerto de Herrera.
- Behind, EF Education-EasyPost set a hard tempo in the GC group and Richard Carapaz tried to surge away. He did not stay clear, but the pressure proved too high for several riders, including Landa and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), who dropped from the group and went into chase mode. O’Connor was also dropped briefly, but he managed to catch back on.
- The lead group of 12 riders stayed more or less together until inside the last 10 km, where an uncategorized ascent looked like the perfect launching pad. Steven Kruijswijk (Visma-Lease a Bike) made a move and got a gap – but Berrade responded with gusto. The Kern Pharma rider powered up to Kruijswijk and then sailed past him to press on solo.
- With Berrade’s teammate Pablo Castrillo behind to help police the chase, there would be no catching the lone leader from there. Berrade rolled over the finish line with time to celebrate as Schmid took runner-up honors, for the second time in a week, four seconds later.
- Landa and Kuss arrived exactly 10 minutes behind Berrade.
The stage closest to my house, with my whole family watching me, friends, in the last stages of the Vuelta, few opportunities left to win from the breakaway but … it’s incredible.
—Urko Berrade after stage 18
Brief analysis
- Castrillo won Kern Pharma’s first two stages at this Vuelta, but it was Berrade who came into the race with the number one dossard, fresh off of a fourth-place overall ride at the Vuelta a Burgos. He capped off a strong team effort from Kern Pharma on stage 18; two other Kern Pharma riders made the break to make for four of them out front on the day.
- You can never really know when you’re going to have a jour sans (or rather, a día sin), and that was apparent on stage 18. Landa and Kuss both suffered on a climb that, while hard, was nothing compared to Cuitu Negru, where both riders finished within 30 seconds of Enric Mas (Movistar) and Primoz Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). After getting dropped, they proceeded to lose more time on the road to the finish. Landa seemed solidly set for a top five before Thursday but now he will have to battle for even that, while Kuss did not actually lose any places on the GC standings but is now further removed from contention.
- Berrade’s winning move came after he cannily watched Kruijswijk get a small gap before making his own surge. Nobody else in the breakaway group reacted at first. That hesitation, his impressive effort, and Castrillo’s presence behind him all contributed to his victory. At the start of this Vuelta, Kern Pharma had never won a stage in its home Grand Tour and Castrillo and Berrade had yet to take any pro wins between them. That has all changed rather dramatically over the past few weeks.
Up next
After a calm start in the heart of La Rioja, stage 19 gets tough in the end with the Alto de Moncalvillo climb, whose 8.3% gradient could draw out some GC action. Then again, the last two days of the Vuelta will also test the GC riders, so maybe they will decide to keep their powder dry here.
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