Key Takeaways: Vuelta a España Stage 18

Breaking down how a rolling stage through the Basque Country was won & how a small, underdog team keeps beating their bigger-budget rivals

After a long day in the early breakaway through the endlessly undulating terrain of the Basque Country, Urko Berrade won the first race of his professional career and delivered his tiny Equipo Kern Pharma team their third win of this Vuelta a España after surging clear of a diminished front group and holding on for the stage win. Berrade’s eventual win came at the end of a perfectly orchestrated plan from Equipo Kern Pharma, which stacked the breakaway and was strong enough to stay on the front ends of splits until they had the numbers and firepower to bend the group dynamics to their will in the final few kilometers.

Back in the General Classification (GC) group, EF Education-EasyPost utilized incredibly aggressive tactics to set up an attack from Richard Carapaz on the day’s hardest climb, Puerto Herrera, and have two riders they stashed in the early breakaway waiting at the top to pull him clear from any dropped GC rivals. However, despite this impressive display of teamwork and strength, this significant energy expenditure only distanced a single rider, Mikel Landa, who fell from 5th to 10th in the overall standings after losing contact when Carapaz launched his initial attack.

Stage Top Five
1) Urko Berrade (Equipo Kern Pharma) +0
2) Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) +4
3) Max Poole (dsm-firmenich PostNL) +4
4) Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +4
5) Oier Lazkano (Movistar) +4

Time Top Six GC Contenders Gained(+)/Lost(-) On Stage 15:
Enric Mas +0
Richard Carapaz +0
Primož Roglič +0
Ben O’Connor +0
David Gaudu +0
Mikel Landa -3’20

KOM Jersey Top Three
1) Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) -57pts
2) Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates)-56pts
3) Pablo Castrillo (Equipo Kern Pharma)-37pts

Current GC Top Five
1) Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0
2) Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +5
3) Enric Mas (Movistar) +1’25
4) Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +1’46
5) David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +3’48

Stage 18 Race Notebook

BTP is seamlessly following every twist and turn of the 2024 Vuelta a España with the fantastic Tour Tracker app (iPhone/Android/Web)

45.2km-to-go: After a massive, 42-rider breakaway gets clear early in the stage, the stronger riders, who don’t want faster riders like Kaden Groves or riders with multiple teammates, hanging on until the finish line, attack heading into the day’s hardest climb Puerto de Herrera. At the top, Marc Soler goes over first to tax maximum KOM points, somewhat oddly overtaking his teammate, Jay Vine, by a single point.

44.5km-43.3km: Back in the GC group, Richard Carapaz’s EF team increases the pace before Carapaz attacks. Race leader Ben O’Connor is right on the wheel and able to follow.

42.8km: While the other GC contenders can follow, Mikel Landa is almost immediately dropped. Getting dropped this far from the finish line on a Cat 1 climb suggests something isn’t right with Landa.

36.3km: The GC group is riding at a hard, but steady pace, before Carapaz, likely noticing Ben O’Connor struggling and riding slightly off the back, prepares to launch another attack.

36.2km: Carapaz’s move is followed by Primož Roglič and Enric Mas, while O’Connor struggles a few meters behind.

35.9km: At the top of the climb, Carapaz is driving a hard pace on the front of the GC group, with Roglič and Mas present in the group, while O’Connor is stuck off the back in a chase group.

35.5km: Just as Carapaz hits the rolling section over the top, two EF teammates who had gone into the breakaway to drop back and assist Carapaz right at this point, Owain Doull and James Shaw, meet Carapaz and begin pacing to keep O’Connor off the back.