Vuelta a España: Caruso wins on Alto de Velefique

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Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) enjoyed a fantastic solo victory atop the Alto de Velefique on stage 9 of the Vuelta a España, attacking out of the breakaway 71 kilometres from the finish to add another high-mountain victory to his palmares after his Alpe Motta triumph at the Giro d'Italia in May.

The Italian was the only man from the escape – which took over half the stage to get away – to survive ahead of the general classification favourites. Race leader Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) extended his lead in the overall, crossing the line 1:05 after Caruso, leading Enric Mas (Movistar) home after the pair had dispatched with the remainder of the GC contenders.

Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) led the chasers across the line another 39 seconds down, with Miguel Angel López (Movistar) and Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) on his wheel. The latter's team leader Egan Bernal endured a day to forget, though, dropping in the final kilometres and crossing the line alongside Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) at 2:10, 1:05 behind Roglič.

Caruso had made the day's breakaway of 11 past the midway point of the multi-mountain stage but decided to go it alone on the 29-kilometre Alto Collado Venta Luisa, aware that Ineos Grenadiers were pushing the pace behind.

He was over 1:30 up on his former companions at the top, and wouldn't see another rider before the finish, heading into the climb to the finish with four minutes in hand over the peloton – enough to stay away and enjoy the fourth win of his 13-year pro career.

"It's a lot. I went because I knew Ineos was doing a really hard tempo and I said 'OK before they catch me I want to do a breakaway, maybe alone'," Caruso said after the stage. "I didn't expect the gap would get bigger kilometre by kilometre. It's still unbelievable what I did. It was an amazing feeling and a repeat of this feeling after the Giro is incredible for me.

"The last climb was so long. I always try to keep my focus on my own tempo. Only in the last few kilometres I realised I can win today.

"I'm sorry for Mikel [Landa losing time], but today was a really hard stage for everyone. I heard something on the radio, but I was just focused on my tempo."

Back in the peloton, the big moves didn't come until the final nine kilometres of the stage, with Roglič and Yates among the most active riders in a small group of favourites. At five to go, Yates made what was the decisive GC move, drawing out Roglič and Mas, who soon outpaced him and struck out as a duo.

Yates settled in to making the pace in a four-man chase group, though his team leader Bernal – who was never among those leading the attacking – only looked in difficulty in the final kilometres, eventually dropping away in the run to the line and shedding precious time.

Heading into the first rest day, Roglič now leads the race by 28 seconds ahead of Mas, having added three seconds to his lead. López is third overall at 1:21, 21 seconds up on fourth-placed Haig. Bernal in fifth is the last man within two minutes of the lead, lying 1:52 down.

Caruso, having picked up a plethora of mountain points during the course of the day, will now don the blue and white polka dot jersey, lying on 28 points to Romain Bardet's (Team DSM) 22 points.

How it unfolded

The ninth stage of the Vuelta a España saw the riders head back to the mountains, this time for the toughest stage of the race so far, with an especial-category summit finish at the Alto de Velefique (13.2km at 6.4 per cent), which featured in the race for the first time since 2017 – and the first time as a finale since 2009.

Before they would tackle that climb, though, the riders would have to take on three others in the shape of the second-category Alto de Cuatro Vientos (10.5km at 3.8 per cent), the first-category Alto Collado Venta Luisa (29km at 4.4 per cent), and the Alto Castro de Filabres (7.1km at 3.9 per cent), with the latter coming 29 kilometres from the line.

As you might expect, the battle for the breakaway was in stark contrast to stage 8, which saw three ProTeam riders jump away with no difficulty at the start. This time, a 50kph opening hour illustrated the battle for the break of the day.

Team BikeExchange's Robert Stannard was the first man to try and get away, but the breakaway wouldn't be established until after just over 100 kilometres of racing. The first climb of the day, the Alto de Cuatro Vientos, saw a strong group jump away, with Bardet and Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) among the riders off the front as the peloton exploded under the hard pace behind.

Poels took the maximum five points over the top, but the move was brought back on the descent as Rafał Majka (UAE Team Emirates) led a counterattack. Down in the valley, more riders tried a move, and finally, the break was established.

Stannard was among them, and he was accompanied by Bardet, Majka, and former race leader Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) in joining up with Groupama-FDJ duo Oliver Le Gac and Rudy Molard and Giro d'Italia runner-up Caruso out front.

The group of seven swelled to 11 soon after as Lilian Calmejane (AG2R-Citroën Team), Angel Madrazo (Burgos-BH), Julen Amezqueta (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Martijn Tusveld (Team DSM) also made the move, with the Jumbo-Visma-led peloton deciding they were happy to let them ride off into the day's main breakaway.

With Molard the best-placed man in the overall classification at 5:09 down, there was little danger to race leader Roglič's red jersey from the break. On the lower slopes of the Alto Collado Venta Luisa, the break had 3:40 as Ineos Grenadiers moved to the front to help control the situation and bring the gap down.

At 71 kilometres to go and with 13 kilometres of the climb left to run, Caruso set off alone, blowing up the break as Majka and Bardet reacted behind. The Italian crested the summit 1:30 up on his chasers, taking 10 points at the top as Bardet grabbed six to move to 20 points and the virtual lead of the mountain classification.

Meanwhile, the peloton, which was already scooping up members of the break, crossed the top two minutes down as Caruso flew down the steep descent towards the next climb of the day. At the bottom he was two minutes on the chasers – Majka, Bardet, Tusveld, and Amezqueta – and another half minute up on the peloton.

Caruso was still solo at the top of the Alto Castro de Filabres, taking three KOM points while Bardet took two. The Italian lay 2:25 ahead of the four chasers – Bouchard having bridged across in the meantime while Tusveld dropped back – and 4:20 ahead of the peloton, which had really knocked off the pace with Jumbo-Visma back on the front.

The Alto de Velefique

At the base of the final climb, the peloton, which was around 40 to 45 riders strong, had shed a further 50 seconds to Caruso, who looked on course to add another summit victory to his Alpe Motta win at the Giro with his pursuers 3:30 down.

The chase group split on the lower slopes – the steepest of the climb – with Amezqueta being left behind and Bardet suffering a dropped chain to lose contact with Bouchard and Majka.

Back in the peloton, current KOM leader, Ineos Grenadiers' Pavel Sivakov, took over from Jumbo-Visma's Sam Oomen at the front as the two squads dominated the head of the rapidly reducing group. At the 10-kilometres to go mark, Bernal had Sivakov, Dylan Van Baarle, Adam Yates and Richard Carapaz with him, while Roglič was with Sepp Kuss and Steven Kruijswijk.

Another pre-race favourite, Bahrain Victorious' Mikel Landa, was in trouble at the rear of the peloton, dropping off the rear with Poels and Mark Padun pacing him. Just over a minute up the road, Bouchard was busy leaving Majka behind, while Caruso was still pushing on 4:30 ahead of the peloton.

Adam Yates made the first move from the GC group, jumping away at nine kilometres to go as López and Kuss followed him and Kruijswijk went to the front of what was then an 11-man group. The group wasn't together for long, though, with Roglič accelerating eight kilometres out, bringing Bernal and Mas with him.

At seven kilometres to go, Caruso remained 3:30 up the road, though Bouchard was still 30 seconds ahead too as Bardet and Majka were caught. Another attack by Yates split the group once more, with Roglič, Bernal, Mas, and López going with him.

Things came back together at six to go, with Carapaz, Kuss, Kruijswijk, Ciccone, Haig, Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) among those making their way back to Roglič's group.

Yates went once again soon after, flying past Bouchard and drawing out Mas, López, and Roglič, who led the chase. The Briton was in trouble after Mas and Roglič caught him, while his teammate Bernal was further back, unable to respond to any of the big moves.

The Colombian settled into the next group on the road behind Mas and Roglič, along with Yates, Haig and López. The quartet lay 15 seconds down as the GC men rode into the final three kilometres, with Yates leading the chase.

In the final two kilometres, Bernal was in trouble, dropping off the rear of the group and causing Yates to ease the pace in response. Up ahead, Mas and Roglič shared the work to extend their advantage.

At the head of the race, Caruso could savour his victory, riding untroubled into the final kilometre and adding another Grand Tour stage win to his palmarès with an extended victory celebration as he wheeled across the line.

Roglič followed just over a minute later, once again putting time into all of his rivals – including his companion Mas, who was the only rider within a minute of the race lead at the day's end.