Vuelta a Espana: Pogacar wins stage 9

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Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) took victory on stage 9 of the Vuelta a España at the summit finish of Cortals d’Encamp. The Slovenian neo-pro attacked from an elite GC group on the final climb to seal a stage victory at his first-ever Grand Tour.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) took second place, 23 seconds down, while Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) finished third at 48 seconds, just ahead of Alejandro Valverde(Movistar).

Miguel Ángel López (Astana) attempted a long-range attack on the mini 94.4km-long stage, but cracked on the final climb after a crash on the gravel section just beforehand, eventually finishing 1:01 down.

López kicked off the hostilities with his attack 20km from the line, and was aided by teammates dropping back from the break along the way. With Roglič isolated on the penultimate climb, it looked as though the Colombian was in the driving seat to take a chunk of time.

However, a brutal storm breaking in the final 10km put paid to his chances, with the relatively benign gravel section turning to sludge and causing both López and the chasing Roglič to crash.

The final climb saw attacks from Movistar as the Spanish team sought to take control, though some dubious tactics meant they perhaps didn't take full advantage of the situation. Roglič made a comeback, while his countryman Pogačar – the youngest rider in the race – leapt away to seal a famous victory.

"This stage was incredible," he said after the stage. "I was looking at it since I started. Yesterday when I saw the weather I was happy that it was going to rain.

I tried to follow the attacks and I went full gas on the gravel section. It was great.

"Today was tricky, a lot of technical problems on the gravel section and a hailstorm. But today was an incredible ride."

Quintana takes over the race lead heading into the first rest day of the race. He leads Roglič by six seconds ahead of Tuesday's time trial in Pau. López and Valverde lie in third and fourth overall, at 17 and 20 seconds, respectively.

Ángel Madrazo (Burgos-BH), Quintana and López retain control of the mountain, points and young rider's jerseys.

How it unfolded

The first monster mountain stage of the race, stage 9 featured five categorised climbs, including the especial category Coll de la Gallina, the two first-category climbs of Coll d'Ordino and Cortals d'Encamp, and the two second-category climbs of Alto de la Comella and Alto de Engolasters.

Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos) sparked the move that saw the break of the day established, attacking early on the Coll d'Ordino. On the climb, a group of almost 30 riders followed, making for a large break group.

The men in question included numerous strong climbers such as, with the full makeup of the break as follows:

Patrick Bevin (CCC Team), Antonio Pedrero, Marc Soler (Movistar Team), Pierre Latour, Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R La Mondiale), Jakob Fuglsang, Gorka Izagirre (Astana), Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain-Merida), Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe), Lawson Craddock, Sergio Higuita (EF Education First), Kilian Frankiny, Romain Seigle (Groupama-FDJ), Thomas De Gendt, Carl Frederik Hagen (Lotto Soudal), Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier, Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data), Wout Poels, David de la Cruz, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Sebastian Henao (Team Ineos), Robert Gesink, Sepp Kuss, Neilson Powless (Jumbo-Visma), Matteo Fabbro, Ruben Guerreiro (Katusha Alpecin), Wilco Kelderman, Robert Power, Martijn Tusveld (Team Sunweb), Nikias Eg (Trek-Segafredo), Jesús Herrada, Darwin Atapuma (Cofidis), Mikel Bizkarra and Sergio Samitier (Euskadi-Murias).

Bevin and Bizkarra pushed on midway up the Ordino, leading over the top before being caught on the descent. On such a short stage, the gap between break and peloton was never huge, maxing out at just over four minutes.

Still, it was enough for Hagen to be in the virtual race lead at the base of the second climb of the day, the Gallina (12.2km at 8.3 per cent), 50km from the finish. There, Movistar took to the front of the peloton, pushing the pace.

Geoghegan Hart pushed on 8km from the top of the climb, as both break and peloton fell apart on the changeable gradients. Bouchard went with him, before going on alone.

Four minutes down the mountain, Astana took over the pacemaking, shattering the peloton and dropping red jersey Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) near the top. Bouchard crested the Gallina alone, taking 15 mountain classification points ahead of a chasing Pernsteiner.

In the valley, Bouchard remained four minutes up on the peloton, while Fraile dropped back from the break to help López leaving Fuglsang and Gorka Izagirre still up the road. The Frenchman held an advantage of 40 seconds over the chasing break.

After one last run of work from Astana, López launched on the Comella with 19km left to race. Quintana was quickest to react, while Valverde and Roglič soon joined them. It wasn't long before the Colombian was off again, this time leaving the rest behind as Jumbo-Visma chased.

Roglič was quickly isolated in a chase group that included Valverde, Quintana, Pedrero, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Rafał Majka. López, meanwhile, enjoyed the help of Ion Izagirre and Fuglsang on the Engolasters, with the pair dropping back from the break to do so.

Up the road, O'Connor and Geoghegan Hart joined Bouchard, while Kuss dropped back from the break to help Roglič. Meanwhile, a heavy storm broke as the riders reached the gravel road at the top of the Comella.

López hit the deck on the treacherous wet gravel section, while further back Roglič did the same after an incident with a motorbike. However, the Colombian made it back to the leaders at the base of Cortals d’Encamp (5.7km at 8.3 per cent), and was joined by Quintana and Valverde.

Up the road, their Movistar teammate Soler was up the road, pushing on in search of a stage victory.

Valverde and Quintana jumped away at the base of Cortals d'Encamp, quickly bridging the gap López had built up. Up the road, Soler was in the lead, pushing on despite having teammates attacking behind.

Quintana attacked 4km from the finish, though 30 seconds up the road Soler kept going. Pogačar was the only man to follow the Colombian's attack, while further back Valverde put in some digs to drop López.

The Astana leader disintegrated on the final climb, being passed by a resurgent Roglič as he seemed to totally crack. Up front, Soler was forced seemingly against his will to wait for his team leader Quintana. He did so but just after Pogačar struck out and left the duo behind.

Roglič meanwhile, got up to Valverde, who lay 25 seconds behind the race lead. A flagging López was struggling up the climb, 40 seconds back. Pogačar, however, was flying, and wouldn't be caught by Quintana. The youngest rider in the race stayed away to celebrate a solo victory on one of its toughest stages.