The fourth time was the charm for Marc Soler In The return. After three third places, he achieved glory by winning the climb to The Lakes of Covadonga. The Vuelta reaches its final fireworks and Soler wins the fourth Spanish victory in this edition. All this on the day that Roglic took a big bite of O’Connor in general.
It was suspected that the climb to Los Lagos, one of the most mythical places in Spanish cycling, would serve as a judge of La Vuelta. And it did not disappoint. After so many attempts at the post, Marc Soler took his long-awaited victory. “I was looking for it and I finally got it. These are high-level escapes. I knew I had one or two attacks and in the last one I started without looking back,” explains the Spaniard.
Soler reached the finish line alone in Lagos de Covadonga with a time of 4h.44.46, at an average of 38.2 km/hour. Italian followed Filippo Zana at 18 seconds and the British Max Poole at 23. The group of favorites with Enric Mas, Richard Carapaz and Primoz Roglic reached 3.54, and leader Ben O’Connor at 4.51.
Finish line stage 1️⃣6️⃣🏁
End of stage 1️⃣6️⃣🏁#LaVuelta24 pic.twitter.com/XmL63Y5REC
– La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 3, 2024
O’Connor, who gave his all on the climb, managed to retain the red jersey with just five seconds ahead of Primoz Roglic in a stage marked by the fall of Van Aert. Or rather falls, in the plural, because the Belgian fell to the ground twice. He recovered from the first, but in full decline Collada Llomena He suffered a collision with rocks and was left covered in blood.
The descent from La Llomena became even more dangerous than usual due to the presence of rain. Risk of falls. Van Aert, Zana and Del Toro crashed on the wet asphalt and on the slope. The Belgian, winner of three stages and leader of the regularity and mountain classifications, was forced to abandon.
🚨Leaving Wout Van Aert🚨
🇧🇪Second fall suffered today by the Belgian from @vismaleasebike and the race finds itself without the regularity and the mountain guide.
📺You can follow step 16 in @La1_tve
💻Also in @rtveplay: 👉 #LaVuelta24 #VueltaRTVE3S pic.twitter.com/Egi4B8wq2I
– Télédeporte (@teledeporte) September 3, 2024
But he tried three times, in La Huesera on the 16 percent slope, in the Mirador de la Reina, but he could not let go of his rivals. Only Landa gave in. The others crossed the finish line hand in hand. Chronos and walking. 5 seconds after the change of leader, O’Connor appeared. He remains leader, but the Vuelta takes on a Slovenian color, that of Primoz Roglic. Follow the emotion.
This Wednesday the seventeenth stage takes place between Arnuero and Santander, 141.5 km. A day conducive to sprinting provided that the sprinters manage to pass two difficulties halfway through, the Alto de la Estranguada (2a, 5.5 km at 8.7) and the Alto del Caracol (2a, 7.2 km at 6.2).
