Soler secures UAE's seventh win in the Vuelta; Behind him Vingegaard makes up Angliru loss to Almeida

Friday's stage could be described as a grueling start to the weekend. As expected, the Alto del Angliru caused significant differences, but the climbing madness in the second week was not over yet. The climb to Lagos de Somiedo may not have been as tough as the mythical Angliru, but it was certainly tough enough to cause a lot of problems. Could João Almeida, who won on Friday, now put his rival Jonas Vingegaard behind him?

That would probably have to be done with clever teamwork. That's why UAE Team Emirates - XRG was very active in the opening phase. After 45 minutes, about 20 riders managed to break away, including Mikkel Bjerg and Marc Soler. Others included Tim van Dijke (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Kevin Vermaerke (Picnic PostNL), and Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek). Visma | Lease a Bike had sent Victor Campenaerts, but he fell behind due to a mechanical defect.

Campenaerts was angry at the neutral car: the Visma | Lease a Bike car was still behind the peloton, so the Belgian had to settle for a bike that was much too big. This frustrated him enormously, and it took five minutes before he got a bike from his own team. After a chase, with the help of Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL), the Belgian managed to return. It must have been pure anger.

The large leading group significantly extended its lead on the first climb of the day, with a lead of more than 6 minutes; its chances of a stage victory seemed to be increasing. But the penultimate climb was extremely tough, and UAE Team Emirates - XRG took control. The pace increased dramatically, causing problems for Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), who had to drop out early. They saw their chances of a top finish fall apart. The Colombian, in particular, looked exhausted.

After work from Ivo Oliveira and Domen Novak, it was Juan Ayuso's turn, who did an excellent job after his second stage win. The young Spaniard reduced the peloton to about 15 riders, and at the top of the penultimate climb, the gap was only 3 minutes and 15 seconds: it looked like it was going to be another day for the favorites. Almeida clearly had plans after his impressive victory on the Angliru.

He also still had Soler and Bjerg ahead of him. The Dane did a great job before the final climb, but while riding at the front, the Spaniard chose to break away. For a moment, he was accompanied by Johannes Staune-Mittet, but the Norwegian soon had to let him go. Soler was unleashed and maintained the gap with the favorites, while UAE continued to set the pace. Jay Vine had done his job for Almeida, and then it was up to Grossschartner.

The Austrian picked up the pace considerably, causing Matteo Jorgenson to drop back, but his team leader Jonas Vingegaard followed easily. Sepp Kuss and Ben Tulett also accompanied him. The question was: when would Almeida attack? When Grossschartner had finished his task, he stayed put: Giulio Pellizzari took over for Red Bull team leader Jai Hindley.

The Australian chose to attack one kilometer from the finish, but Almeida and Vingegaard followed steadily. Tom Pidcock struggled a bit more: he had to let the trio go. Soler had enough left to win the stage, but behind him, it was Vingegaard who won the sprint from Almeida, who made up for his loss on the Angliru.