Vuelta a España Stage 9: Mas Wins Atop Alto de Aitana, Tightens Hold on Red Jersey

Enric Mas declined to wear the race leader’s red jersey on the podium on Saturday after the withdrawal of Tadej Pogačar, but ensured he would do so on Sunday when he triumphed on the toughest mountain stage yet of this year’s Vuelta.

The Spanish Movistar Team rider outsprinted Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos) to win the second Grand Tour stage of his career, while four-time Vuelta winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) showed improving form in taking third, 12 seconds back.

“To be honest I feel it is one of the best moments of my career after a lot of strange moments, bad moments,” Mas said.

“I really enjoyed the day today and I think the team believe in me to try to win this Vuelta.”

He bolstered his overall lead to 1:18 over Roglič. Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) remains third but is now at 1:39. Onley and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) climb one place to fourth and fifth, and are 2:20 and 3:26 off the red jersey.

They were all part of a select group of GC riders who caught lone leader Pavel Sivakov on the day’s final climb, the Alto de Aitana. Sivakov was trying to win in honor of his UAE Emirates-XRG teammate Pogačar and was part of the day’s long-distance breakaway, but his solo bid for glory ended inside 5km to go.

Mas played his card with 3km to go, catching and then dropping Mathias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Jarno Widar (Lotto Intermarché) and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team).

Onley managed to get back to him and then Roglič rejoined the duo inside 2km to go. However he had nothing left when Mas surged soon afterwards, with the Spaniard doing the bulk of the work from there to the line and still beating Onley in the sprint.

“I was feeling very good since the start of the stage. The team did a super, super good job,” Mas said. “I had 100 percent confidence in me. We went for the stage and we won it.”

Sivakov seeks to raise UAE morale following Pogačar crash

Stage 9 of the Vuelta a España was a wide open affair, with the crash and withdrawal of Tadej Pogačar drastically increasing the number of riders who could dream of a stage victory.

With his UAE Emirates-XRG team determined to attack rather than chase it would be harder for the peloton to control any moves, particularly on a day with six categorized climbs including the summit finish.

Sivakov was in a group of six which darted clear just 9km into the stage, joining forces with Alexey Lutsenko (NSN Pro Cycling), Andreas Kron (Uno-X Mobility), Alastair Mackellar (EF Education-EasyPost), Fabian Weiss (Tudor) and Alessandro Romele (XDS Astana).

Weiss would be dropped on the first climb of the day but reinforcements arrived around the 50km mark when Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal Quick-Step), Stefan Küng (Tudor) and Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) bridged, with more then following.

American rider Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Emirates XRG) was one of those, as was Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).

The latter went on a climbing spree and ending the day in the mountains jersey.

Mas’ Movistar team led the chase before Gall’s Decathlon CMA CGM took over. Romele went solo with 59km remaining and was joined by Marcel Camprubi (Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling) and Sivakov with 42km left.

Sivakov then struck out alone on the lower slopes of the Alto de Aitana, wanting to help his team bounce back after Pogačar’s crash on Saturday.

“Today I was really motivated to give it a go for Tadej, for the team. Also for myself,” he said afterwards.

“You work really hard all year and when you have an opportunity like this you have to take it.”

Gall gives his all to recoup time

Gall is open about his wish to win the race and put in surge after surge to try to overcome his deficit. While he couldn’t get a lasting gap, these accelerations drew the GC group back up to Sivakov inside 5km to go.

Mas kicked clear with around 3km remaining, catching and then dropping Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Jarano Widar (Lotto-Intermarché) and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana). Onley clawed his way up to him and while Roglič was able to join inside 2km to go, that effort saw him fade again when Mas ramped up the pace and went on to win.

He’s now got a rest day and time to really savor his stage win and overall race lead.

“I think I will sleep with this jersey today,” he smiled.

“Today we have to enjoy a little bit the dinner, a bit more relaxed than the other days, and tomorrow we call an easy day. But in the end I think it is worse than a stage day. It is too short,” he said, laughing.