Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) triumphed from the breakaway to score his third stage win of the 2024 Vuelta a España, beating Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) in a two-man sprint to the line on stage 10.
The Belgian was the strongest of the leading duo, who had left the rest of the move behind 30km from the finish, in a no-contest sprint finish. Two minutes later, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) led home William Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep) and Juri Hollmann (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to fill out the top five, all three having earlier been in the break.
Despite several climbs filling the 180km stage, including a first-category test 20km from the finish, there was no major GC action on the stage, with the main contenders all finishing safely in the peloton at 5:31 down.
"It was really my aim to be in the breakaway, but I had a hard time on the first climb," Van Aert said after the finish. "And actually I almost gave up, I gave one more try just before the top, but still, then I think for 50 kilometres, we really needed to fight to get a bit of a gap. But to be honest, I think it was in my favour because in the final, the climbers I had in the group, they had maybe less fresh legs, and that's how I won."
The leading quintet on the stage had come out on top of a long early battle for the breakaway, which would last the entire first quarter of the stage. Van Aert, the green jersey holder and the biggest star in the move, was always the favourite for victory if his break mates couldn't shed him on the road to Baiona.
He didn't give the four riders with him a chance to try and drop him on the toughest challenge of the stage, the day's final climb of the Alto de Mougás. Instead, he set off alone before the intermediate sprint with over 30km to go.
Pacher made it across the gap, while Soler, Lecerf, and Hollmann were left behind, setting up the stage finale. With Pacher unable to get the better of Van Aert on the way up the climb, down the descent, or on the flat run home, it all hinged on the sprint, where Van Aert unsurprisingly proved himself the superior finisher.
Over five minutes later, Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) led the peloton home, complete with all the major GC favourites. The lack of any time gaps among the red jersey contenders means that Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) continues in the race lead into stage 11 with an advantage of 3:53 over Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
How it unfolded
The 10th stage of the Vuelta a España took the riders over a challenging 160km course from Ponteareas to Baiona, with four classified climbs filling the stage including the first-category Alto de Mougás (9.6km at 6%), which lay 20km from the line.
With two more second-category climbs plus a third-category climb on the day's route – as well as the potential for a break to stay away – the battle for the break would be fierce from the start.
UAE Team Emirates were active early on, sending Brandon McNulty and Jay Vine up the road among the early attacks, which also included the likes of Einer Rubio (Movistar), Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike), Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla), and Dani Martínez (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
The battle to make the break of the day would last the opening 45km of the stage and over the day's first climb, the second-category Alto de Fonfría. It was Van Aert who led the way over the top as attacks continued to flow from behind.
Over the other side of the climb, it was Van Aert who emerged out front, accompanied by Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) and William Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep). The trio quickly became a quintet as Juri Hollmann (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) came across the gap, completing the breakaway group.
Further back, the likes of Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech) and Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) attempted to get in on the action, but it was too late for them to make it up to the leaders.
Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco-AlUla) was another rider to give it a go, with the Italian chasing the breakaway solo as the race hit the final 90km in the 50km of flat land between the first two climbs of the day.
The veteran made a valiant effort, though it would ultimately be a doomed one that saw him brought back into the peloton at 70km from the finish. By the time the riders hit the third-category climb of the Alto de Vilachán, the five out front had over six minutes on the peloton, controlled at that point by Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale.
As the stage headed into its final 50km and towards its penultimate climb, the second-category Alto de Mabia, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe took over the pacemaking at the front of the peloton.
Work by the German team quickly brought the breakaway's gap down to five minutes as their pacemaking swiftly reduced the numbers in the peloton on the lumpy terrain. Lecerf and Van Aert led the race over the top of the Mabia with a slightly extended lead of 5:30, a gap that would increase further in the valley before the final climb.
Soler being distanced on the way down the descent left four up front for the intermediate sprint between the two hills, which Van Aert duly scooped up with a solo move a kilometre out, with 32km left to run.
Pacher would be the only man left behind to get back across to Van Aert before the start of the Mougás, the stage's last and toughest climb. 25 seconds down the road, Soler and Lecerf gave chase, dropping Hollmann 28km from the finish.
Back in the peloton, five minutes off the front, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale were back on the front in service of red jersey O'Connor. Inside the final 2km of the climb, the group – now slimmed to a size of around 20 men – moved under the five-minute mark, but there was no major upping of the pace on the road up.
Van Aert and Pacher couldn't be separated on the climb, not that there were any major efforts launched by either rider. Instead, Van Aert led the way over the top to add 10 points to his day's total, bringing him to 22 and level with polka dot jersey leader Adam Yates.
In the chase, Lecerf was rejoined by Soler before the top, though the pair were losing time to the leaders and their disadvantage stretched out to a minute on the way down.
At the bottom of the descent, with just over 8km left to run, Van Aert and Pacher enjoyed a comfortable 1:25 over the chasers, with the peloton now at 5:10 back with no moves behind made among the GC men.
Hollmann made it back to Soler and Lecerf for the final 4km, but with the group already 1:45 down, the victory would be decided between the two men up the road. Pacher, the weaker sprinter of the two would have to make a move before the final metres, however.
The Frenchman did give it a go, putting in an attack 1.6km out, but Van Aert was alert and quick to follow the acceleration leaving Pacher on the front for the entire run to the line.
With Van Aert in prime position on Pacher's wheel, the result was all but decided before the finish, and so the green jersey easily nipped past to grab his third stage victory of the race.
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
