Place Name: Paseo De La Bomba
Address: Paseo De La Bomba 6, 18008 Granada, Granada, Spain
Details: August 25, 2024
Two ascents of the 7.3KM 9.8% Alto de Hazallanas in the Sierra Nevada should provide plenty of opportunities for riders with good legs to make a real difference in the GC. The race got under way out of Motril for an aggressive start.
26 riders got in the break including GC threats like Adam Yates of UAE who had Jay Vine and Marc Soler for support as well as David Gaudu who had Stefan Küng of Groupama-FDJ. Their lead was 4 minutes 40 seconds with 91KM to go. The break hit the first major climb of the 8KM Alto del Purche and riders were dropping off the back immediately. Richard Carapaz of EF-Education EasyPost attacked from the Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe led peloton with 6.5KM still to climb.
Gaudu led the break eight riders for maximum points over the top of Alto del Purche with 81KM to go and an extended gap to the peloton of nearly 5 minutes. Carapaz had crossed half the gap to 2 minutes 40 seconds behind with the help of his teammates James Shaw and Darren Rafferty who dropped out of the original break. The break hit the first ascent of Alto de Hazallanas but teammates for all of the leaders were dwindling. Vine did his work and Yates went solo with just over 58KM to go and 4KM to climb. His gap was around 1 minute 30 seconds to Carapaz and 4 minutes 45 seconds to the main GC group that only had around 15 riders left.
Yates hit the final ascent of Alto de Hazallanas with 30KM to race and had only extended his lead, 3 minutes to Carapaz and Gaudu and almost 7 minutes to the main GC group. The GC group disintegrated as Enric Mas of Movistar attacked near the bottom. Yates slogged his way to the top and started the descent into Granada with 2 minutes on Carapaz. Mas started his descent 1 minute ahead of the GC group but nearly came down on an early corner. He made an incredible save but the mistake cost him however as he was caught by the main group shortly after. Yates crossed the line in another incredible solo performance by a rider in this Vuelta. Carapaz finished strong, 1 minute 39 seconds behind Yates. The GC group did a good descent, coming in just 3 minutes 45 seconds down. Ben O'Connor of Decathlon AG2R led the GC group in for third place and picked up 4 bonus seconds on the line. He now sits 3 minutes 53 seconds ahead of Primož Roglič of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and 4 minutes 32 seconds ahead of Carapaz.
Tags: La Vuelta Ciclista a España, 2024, August, Stage 9, La Vuelta Ciclista a España 2024, Motril, Granada, Adam Yates, Jay Vine, Marc Soler, David Gaudu, Stefan Küng, Richard Carapaz, James Shaw, Darren Rafferty, Enric Mas, Ben O'Connor