As it happened: Kern Pharma win their third stage at Vuelta a España from 42-rider breakaway

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 18 of the Vuelta a España.

The riders are currently signing on in  Vitoria-Gasteiz for the stage. After yesterday's grey skies and rain, the sun is out today in northern Spain.

Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R) wars the leader's red jersey for a 12 day but his gap is down to just 5 seconds, with Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) likely to attack him before the final time trial in Madrid.  

Enric Mas (Movistar) is third overall at 1:25.

O'Connor was able to enjoy a day in the peloton on Wednesday but was still not happy about fined 1000CHF and docked 20 UCI points for his delay in attending the  stage 16 podium ceremony.

This is the full story: 

Ben O'Connor fined, docked 20 UCI points for missing Vuelta a España podium ceremony at Lagos de Covadonga

This is the profile of stage 18. It won't be easy for the sprinters. 

This is the stage map, showing the loop through the Basque Country. There should be thousands of Basque cycling fans out along the route today.

On Wednesday Kaden Groves and his Alpecin-Deceuninck team took the win after controlling the attacks, driving the chase and then leading out the sprint.

This is our full stage report, results and photo gallery.

Vuelta a España: Kaden Groves seizes third sprint victory on rain-soaked stage 17

Victor Campenaerts tried a late attack yesterday. Watch for him again today. 

"I think we’re getting a real breakaway stage today, with a big fight between those who want to be in it. I’m betting on a group of about 20 riders, all with good legs because it’s not an easy start today," he said at the start. 

"Actually, this stage is quite similar to the one in Barcelonnette, where I won in the Tour. The only difference is that the finale is tougher here. So, I need to find enough confidence to compete against other strong riders, come up with a plan, and then see where it takes us."

We can expect the Basque riders to try to go on the attack. We'll be watching for Oier Lazkano. 

The clock is ticking. The stage will start in 15 minutes.

Barry Ryan and Alasdair Fotheringham are on the ground in Spain for Cyclingnews to capture all the news and interviews. 

Yesterday Alasdair spoke to Sepp Kuss about the Wout Van Aert's terrible crash on stage 16.

‘He’s irreplaceable’ - Sepp Kuss rues loss of teammate Wout van Aert in Vuelta a España after Belgian crashes out

Barry spoke to Primož Roglič about being so close to the race lead, with the final mountain stage and the Madrid TT to come.

'A moment to hold back our horses' – Primož Roglič inching towards Vuelta a España lead

The 140 riders have rolled out and covered the  7.6km neutralised section. 

The flag has dropped and it's race on! 

There is one non-starter today. Corbin Strong (Israel Premier Tech) "has decided to prioritize rest" according to his team.

Get ready for the first attacks.

179.5km to go

This was the roll out. Vamos! 

The riders face a short climb after 20km, that could spark the first serious attacks. 

Five riders try a first attack but are soon swept up. It's a fast start, as expected.

There is a slight split in the peloton! 

Florian Lipowitz (9th in the GC) was dropped, but quickly returned. Green jersey wearer Kaden Groves is in a group 10 seconds behind the main group. 

Stage 18 started in the cycling-mad Basque Country.

The early kilometres were more like Belgium!

Riley Sheehan tried an attack on the climb and so did new national hero Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma) but both were caught.

The Groves group closed the gap to the peloton but it hurt them. 

But there are more attacks over the top of the climb. Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) go clear. 

After two kilometres, even a powerhouse like Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) is caught by the peloton.

Gruppo compatto but teams are trying attacks. 

UAE Team Emirates, Bahrain Victorious, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Kern Pharma, Lotto Dstny and Groupama-FDJ are all trying to force breakaways.

The opening hour has been fast but the speed should be even higher for the next hour on the flat valley roads.

The pace remains high with more attacks. 

135km to go

Boom! after several attacks, 40 riders have gone clear!

This video shows why and how.

122km to go

As was likely, the attack is huge and the GC riders have let them go. 

These are the riders up the road: 

Visma-Lease a Bike: Kruijswijk, Valter
UAE Team Emirates: Baroncini, McNulty, Soler
Ineos Grenadiers: Heiduk, Narvaez
T-Rex Quick-Step: Cattaneo, Pedersen, Vansevenant
Lidl-Trek: Vacek
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe: Adria, Denz, Vlasov
Alpecin-Deceuninck: Groves
Israel Premier Tech: Raisberg
Lotto Dstny: De Gendt, Livyns, Gregaard
Groupama-FDJ: Küng
EF Education-EasyPost: Shaw, Doull
Movistar: Arcas, Lazkano
Bahrain Victorious: Sütterlin
Jayco AlUla: Schmid
Arkéa-B&B Hotels: Guglielmi, Le Berre
DSM-Firmenich-PostNL: Poole, Bittner, Hamilton, Naberman
Cofidis: Izagirre, Herrada
Astana Qazastan: Garofoli, Schelling, Tejada, Vinokourov
Kern Pharma: Berrade, Castrillo, Iribar, Miquel

There are actually 42 riders in the peloton! There are only 139 in the race.

Incredibly Euskaltel-Euskadi missed the breakaway on their home roads and so are leading the chase. 

Good luck with that. 

The riders are on the Alto de Rivas de Tereso climb, mid-stage. 

It is 11km long and so will shake out the attack. 

Euskaltel-Euskadi are still driving the chase on the gradual climb and so the gap drops to 2:18.

There are seven orange-coloured jerseys on the front. Imagine the anger coming from the team car.  

Euskaltel-Euskad are hoping they can close the gap on the Alto de Rivas de Tereso climb. 

Near the summit of the Alto de Rivas de Tereso, Mikel Bizkarra and Gotzon Martin of Euskaltel are trying to cross the gap. 

How do you say 'Good luck with that' in Basque?

Castrillo and Soler are on the front of the attack top up the pace over the top of the climb. 

Soler takes maximum points on thr climb to help defend Jan Vines' lead in the KOM competition.

95km to go

The peloton has eased and so their gap is up to 3:00. 

90km to go

On the descent, Küng pushes the pace and Schmid and Vacek follow him, opening a gap. 

The race is on the descent as well as on the climb.

Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) and Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) are trying to get across to Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla).

The rest of the attackers are at 30 seconds. The chase group is at 2:00 and the peloton at 5:30. 

74km to go

The peloton cruises through the feed zone, with Decathlon on the front to protect Ben O'Connor.

Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) drive on in a three-rider TTT at 46km/h despite the rolling roads.  

The stage is about to enter the hillier end game. The 5.6km Puerto Herrera comes with 45km to go and will be decisive in the tactic for the final. 

Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) have a lead of 1:00 but there are some storng climbers in the chase group, and some have teammates too. 

Watch for McNulty, Narváez, Kruijswijk, Vansevenant, Vlasov, Lazkano, Castrillo and Poole to go on the attack. 

The peloton is slowly losing rime, kilometre after kilometre.  It us up to 8:45 now. It will surely reach over 10, 12 or even 15 minutes at the finish. 

Unless, something happens and someone attacks on the Puerto Herrera climb that is about to start. 

Such is the relaxed atmosphere in the peloton, that Ben O'Connor  drops back for a natural break before riding back through the team cars.

The Australian, Roglic and the other GC riders and teams are focused on Friday's mountain stage to Alto de Moncalvillo. 

50km to go

Comienza Puerto, as the Spanish say, the climb begins. 

The Puerto Herrera is not long but it is steep.

Soudal are chasing Vacek, Küng and Schmid but the gap is still 45 seconds. 

The rest of the break is falling apart and falling back.

Kaden Groves is one of those dropped but he was vey brave to go in the attack and try to win the stage.  

Thanks to the Soudal surge, Cattaneo, followed by and Vlasov, have got across to the trio up front. 

Other riders, the best climbers, have joined them, with 2km to go to the summit of the climb. 

13 riders are now up front. Will anyone else get across and win a ticket for the final shakeout? 

Probably not. 

As we predicted, the GC group has split on the climb. 

Race on!

EF upped the pace on the steepest sector and Carapaz is on the move. 

Mas, Roglic, Gaudu and O'Connor are with him but where is Landa?

His hopes of a podium are at risk. He's 30 seconds back and his best teammates are in the attack, nine minutes ahead.

35km to go

Meanwhile the riders in the break are also attacking each other.

Sepp Kuss is also dropped from the GC group. 

Carapaz has help from James Show and Owain Doull, who have dropped back from the big break.

The speed is so high that O'Connor is briefly out of the back of the GC group. 

30km to go

There are 12 riders in the front group, they will surely fight for the stage win.

Landa is 1:30 down on the GC group. He could slip to ninth or tenth overall. 

That must hurt the Basque rider as he races on home roads. It's also a blow for Landismo racing.

Few riders are willing to work with Landa in the chase, many have teammates ahead, who will benefit from Landa's woes. 

He waves his hand in frustration but only Guillaume Martin comes through for a turn.

Where are Landa's teammates? Mattia Cattaneo is in the attack and perhaps hoping to win the stage. 

Casper Pedersen has dropped back to the GC group and now to help Landa. But how much can he do?
 

25km to go

The 25km remaining are in the constant Basque hills.

Some GC riders have domestiques in the group and so they're working hard to distance Landa. 

He is 2:20 down now and is sliding down the GC. 

Gaudu is up to 5th in the virtual GC, ahead of Landa.

Cattaneo has now dropped back from the break to try to help Landa. 

But it's far too little and far too late. 

He is ordered to drop back, with a flic kof the finger but does not seem happy. 

This is a tactical pasticcio and people are already going crazy on social media about it all. 

Lands is already three minutes down on the GC group. 

10km to go

Up front the 12 attackers are trying to workout how to win the stage. 

Küng is the first to attack and now Kruijswijk goes clear as the road climbs. 

5km to go

Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) goes with him and then kicks clear alone. 

He's away alone with 5km to go. It's up to the others to react but who has the legs on the climb?

Vlasov tries to spark a chase but Kern Pharma have a rider in the group to help block the chase. 

This is great tactical racing.

Urko Berrade is from Pamplona, just 50km from today's finish. 

It's been a nightmare day for Landa and Euskaltel but it could be perfect for Berrade.

Berrade is diving down the descent to the last kilometre. 

The's taking risk but the rewards are huge.

1km to go

Urko Berrade is close to victory. This could be Kern Pharma's third win of the Vuelta.

Here he comes! 

Urko Berrade risked all to go on the attack on the last climb but wins the stage!

Kern Pharma also had Pablo Castrillo and Pau Miquel in the attack. 

Miquel finishes third and all the riders celebrated as the Spanish radio journalists jump on them for immediate reaction.

We now wait for the rest of the 42-rider break to finish and then the GC group, then Landa at a further 3:00 minutes back.  

Landa is struggling to hold the wheels of his teammates. He is either sick or mentally broken. 

This is the moment of  Urko Berrade's win.

This is how Berrade won it, with a superbly timed attack 

The GC riders, finish together and so Ben O'Connor  keeps the leader's red jersey for another day. 

Cattaneo leads in the Landa and Kuss group. But they finish more than three minutes behind. 

We wait to see how far Landa will drop in the GC. 

This is the first shot of Berrade on the attack.

The results are in. 

Landa lost 3:20 and slipped from fifth to tenth on GC. He is 5:38 down on O'Connor now.  

This was the moment Kern Pharma celebrated an emotional third win at the 2024 Vuelta.

Here the shot of Urko Berrade savouring his victory.

These are the results of the stage via our friends at FirstCycling. 

To read our full stage report and see our photo gallery of the action and the stage results, click below. 

Vuelta a España: Urko Berrade takes solo win on stage 18

Alasdair Fotheringham and Barry Ryan are in Spain and will soon have news and interviews on all today's action, including Mikel Landa's tough day and Soudal's tactical meltdown. 

Thanks for joining us for another day of full live coverage from the Vuelta. 

We'll be back on Friday with full coverage of stage 19 to mountain finish of Alto de Moncalvillo, Roglic tries to take the leader's jersey from O'Connor.   

It should be an huge day of racing.