Berrade wins Vuleta stage 18 with late solo attack

Urko Berrade’s late attack proved decisive for the Spaniard, who thus achieved his first professional victory in the 18th stage of the Vuelta a Espana.

Britain’s Max Poole narrowly missed out on his fourth podium finish of the race, with the 21-year-old finishing fourth on Thursday.

Berrade, riding for Equipo Kern Pharma, launched his attack six kilometers from the finish to break away from the leading group.

The 26-year-old rider built up a significant lead on the final hill before riding to victory on the 179-kilometre stage through his native Basque Country.

Switzerland’s Mauro Schmid, riding for Jayco-AlUla, passed Berrade’s compatriot and Equipo Kern Pharma teammate Pau Miquel to finish in second place.

Australia’s Ben O’Connor retained the red leader’s jersey as the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider crossed the finish line safely in the group of title contenders, maintaining his five-second lead over Slovenia’s three-time Vuelta champion Primoz Roglic.

Experienced Basque rider Mikel Landa, who rides for Soudal Quick-Step, dropped from fifth to tenth in the general classification after losing more than three minutes. Briton Adam Yates finished in the same time and therefore dropped out of the top 10 in terms of time. However, he is still in eleventh place in the general classification.

Friday’s stage 19 finishes at the top of the Alto de Moncalvillo in the Rioja region of central northern Spain.

Stage 18 results

1. Urko Berrade (Spa/Equipo Kern Pharma) 4 hours 00 minutes 52 seconds

2. Mauro Schmid (Switzerland/Team Jayco-AlUla) +4sec

3. Pau Miquel Delgado (Spa/Equipo Kern Pharma) Same time

4. Max Poole (GB/Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)

5. Aleksandr Vlasov (Russ/Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe)

6. Oier Lazkano (Spa/Movistar)

7. Ion Izagirre (Spa/Cofidis)

8. Mathias Vacek (Czech Republic/Lidl-Trek)

9. Pablo Castrillo (Spa/Equipo Kern Pharma)

10. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned/Team Visma – Lease a bike) +11sec

General classification

1. Ben O’Connor (Aus/Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale) 72 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds

2. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull – Bora-Hansgrohe) +5 sec

3. Enrique Mas (Spa/Movistar) +1min 25sec

4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost) +1min 46sec

5. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama – FDJ) +3min 48sec

6. Carlos Rodriguez (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +3min 53sec

7. Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl tour) +4 minutes

8. Florian Lipowitz (Dld/Red Bull – Bora-Hansgrohe) +4min 27sec

9. Pavel Sivakov (Fra/UAE Team Emirates) +5min 19sec

10. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal – Quick-Step) +5min 38sec