2024-09-03 16:49:15
Australian rider Ben O’Connor continues to wear the red jersey in the Vuelta a España. On Tuesday, Austria’s Felix Gall’s Decathlon colleague finished five seconds ahead of Tour of Slovenia favorite Primoz Roglic on stage 16. Crossing the finish line, it was 181.5 kilometers from Luanco to the mountainous finish in Lagos de Covadonga. Belgian player Wout van Aert had to give up after a serious fall; Spanish player Marc Soler from the UAE team took the stage. Gal continued to waste time.
Van Aert, 29, injured his right knee and arm when he slipped while going downhill on a slippery road. The three-stage Vuelta a España winner tried to restart the race on the spare tire, but his knee bled and he had to get out again and sit in the team car. The mountain and sprint jerseys also changed hands. At the end of March, van Aert fell at high speed near Quer durch Flandern and fractured his collarbone, sternum and several ribs.
Gall crossed the finish line in 85th place, almost half an hour behind Soler, followed closely by his compatriot Patrick Gamper (Red Bull Bora) at the same time. On Sunday, Gall was already 26 minutes behind the leader, bidding farewell to his spot in the top ten overall. Austria’s 2023 Athlete of the Year fell further four places from 21st overall to 25th. The gap between him and O’Connor is 54 minutes and 9 seconds. Gamper was nearly 3.5 hours behind at 121.
In wet and cold conditions, Soler finished 18 seconds ahead of Italy’s Filippo Zana (Team Jayco) and 23 seconds ahead of Briton Max Poole (DSM). Roglic finished 11th in 3 minutes and 54 seconds, with the Spaniard in third place in a group with Enrique Mas (Movistar), just 1 minute and 25 seconds behind O’Connor. The top eight were separated by just four minutes. O’Connor fought alone for his lead jersey on the final climb and succeeded. As on Sunday, he no longer has Gower’s support.
Wednesday’s show had an easier part, and O’Connor could still get through the day as a leader. Despite this, Roglic is still on course to win a fourth overall victory in the Vuelta after 2019, 2020 and 2021. The 2021 Tokyo Olympic time trial champion and 2023 Giro d’Italia champion will find the terrain in his favor during the two mountain stages on Friday and Saturday and in Sunday’s time trial.
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