Australian Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) as soon as once more fought to take care of his very slim lead within the Vuelta a España general standings as stage 18 went to breakaway rider Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma).
On one other wet stage from Vitoria-Gasteiz to the Maeztu-Parque Pure de Izki, the most important losers of the day had been Mikel Landa (T Rex-Fast-Step), who was dropped on the class 1 Puerto Herrera with 45km to go and got here by the end greater than three minutes behind the pink jersey group.
O’Connor leads the race by simply 5 seconds over Primož Roglič (Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), and with a big breakaway going, he did not have to fret in regards to the time bonus sprints.
Enric Mas (Movistar) stays in third at 1:25 with Richard Carapaz (EF Schooling-EasyPost) respiratory down his neck at 1:46 in fourth.
Landa gave up his place in fifth place general, giving a lift to David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ) who took over that spot at 3:48.
Greatest younger rider Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) moved up one spot to sixth place, at 3:53. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) additionally completed within the O’Connor group moved into seventh place at 4:00.
Florian Lipowitz (Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) climbed up one spot into eight general at 4:27, whereas Pavel Sivakov (UAE Staff Emirates) managed to maintain ninth general at 5:19.
Landa did sufficient, nonetheless, to stay within the high 10 general at 5:38, dropping 3:20 on the day and ending together with Eleventh-placed Adam Yates (UAE Staff Emirates) and Twelfth-placed Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) within the chasing group.
The Vuelta a España continues on Friday with the following main summit showdown on the slopes of the Alto de Moncalvillo on the 173.2km stage from Logroño. A time bonus atop the class 3 Puerto Pradilla midway by the stage ought to boost the GC battle.
Vuelta a España standings
Outcomes powered by FirstCycling
Get limitless entry to all of our protection of the 2024 Vuelta a España – together with breaking information and evaluation reported by our journalists on the bottom from each stage because it occurs and extra. Discover out extra.
