2024 Vuelta a España stage 18 by BikeRaceInfo

Bill McGann’s book Why Your Bike Is Made in Asia: My career in bicycles as I watched two continents squander an industry is available in print & Kindle eBook versions. To get your copy, just click on the Amazon link on the right.

Rated ascents:

Km 81.5: Alto de Rivas de Tesero, 11.1 km @ 2.4%. Cat. 2
Km 134.3: Puerto Herrera, 5.6 km @ 8.3%. Cat. 1

Weather at the finish city of Maeztu at 1:50 PM, local time: 17C (61F), mostly cloudy, with the wind from the northwest at 10 km/hr (6 mph). There is a 6% chance of rain.

The race: Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) did not start. His team wrote, "Corbin Strong won’t start today’s stage in LaVuelta. After a good race with numerous top positions, the team has decided to prioritize rest ahead of Corbin’s upcoming important races."

20 kilometers into the stage Rein Taaramae (Intermarché-Wanty) abandoned. His team said he is ill.

Here's the race organizer's stage 18 report:

The race:
Kern Pharma’s historic haul in La Vuelta 24 is up to three stage wins after Urko Berrade powered to victory on day 18, in Maeztu, following Pablo Castrillo’s successes at Manzaneda and Cuitu Negru. The 26 year-old Spaniard got the better of his breakaway companions after a very animated stage on Basque roads, with Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) coming 2nd, ahead of another Kern Pharma rider, Pau Miquel. Spaniards are up to 4 stage wins, their best tally in an edition of La Vuelta since 2019. The GC battle was also very lively, ahead of two major mountain showdowns. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) put the hammer down with 50 kilometres to go and Mikel Landa (T-Rex Quick-Step) lost more than 3 minutes.

Today marks the 28th La Vuelta stage start and the 25th finish in the province of Alava, with an undulating course from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Maeztu-Parque Natural de Izki: 2,780m of elevation over 179.3km. It looks like the last chance for riders who aren’t expert of the high mountains or the time trial…

The stage starts in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

A non-stop battle
And it leads to a massive battle for the breakaway. No less than 42 riders get away after more than 50 kilometres of battle. The peloton trail by 3’12’’ at km 60…

But Euskaltel-Euskadi have no rider at the front, for their home stage, so they drive an intense chase. The gap drops down to 1’35’’ on the slopes of the first ascent of the cay, the cat-2 Alto de Rivas de Tereso (summit at km 81.5).

The peloton went for a fast start. Here is a shot of the pack early in the race.

Mikel Bizkarra and Gotzon Martin set off in pursuit, with a few more counter-attackers, but it’s too late to bridge the gap to the earlier attackers.

Küng anticipates
Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) goes first at the summit and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) attacks on the downhill. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) join him on the move.

They open a gap of 1 minute over their chasers en route to the second ascent of the day, the cat-1 Puerto Herrera. Meanwhile, the gap to the peloton increases to over 10 minutes.

The lead trio are caught by 10 chasers on the ascent: Steven Kruijswijk (Visma-Lease a Bike), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Mattia Cattaneo (T-Rex Quick-Step), Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Oier Lazkano (Movistar), Max Poole (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Urko Berrade, Pablo Castrillo and Pau Miquel (Kern Pharma).

Berrade wins, Landa loses
On the same ascent, EF Education-EasyPost up the ante and Richard Carapaz attacks towards the summit (km 134.3). Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) is momentarily dropped but he quickly bridges the gap… Mikel Landa (T-Rex Quick-Step) doesn’t.

After a move by Kruijswijk, Berrade counter-attacks with 5.5km to go and makes it all the way to the line, 4’’ ahead of Schmid and Miquel. Far behind, Landa loses 3’20’’ on his GC rivals and drops down to 10th in the overall standings.

Urko Berrade wins stage 18.

Complete results:

Stage 18 photos

Pau Miquel was relegated from 3rd to 9th. The results below reflect that relegation.

179.3 kilometers raced at an average speed of 44.664 km/hr

1	Urko Berrade	Equipo Kern Pharma	4hr 0min 52sec
2	Mauro Schmid	Jayco-AlUla	@ 4sec
3	Max Poole	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	s.t.
4	Aleksandr Vlasov	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
5	Oier Lazkano	Movistar	s.t.
6	Ion Izagirre	Cofidis	s.t.
7	Mathias Vacek	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
8	Pablo Castrillo	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
9	Pau Miquel	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
10	Steven Kruijswijk	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	0:11
11	Marc Soler	UAE Team Emirates	0:33
12	Stefan Küng	Groupama-FDJ	0:51
13	Kaden Groves	Alpecin-Deceuninck	3:36
14	Simon Guglielmi	Arkéa-B&B Hotels	s.t.
15	Jesus Herrada	Cofidis	3:42
16	Gianmarco Garofoli	Astana Qazaqstan	4:10
17	Jasha Sütterlin	Bahrain Victorious	4:25
18	Jonas Gregaard	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
19	Arjen Livyns	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
20	Filippo Baroncini	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
21	Harold Tejada	Astana Qazaqstan	4:30
22	Chris Hamilton	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	6:14
23	Victor Lafay	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	6:40
24	Jhonnatan Narvaez	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
25	David Gaudu	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
26	Carlos Rodriguez	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
27	Ben O'Connor	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
28	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
29	Nico Denz	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
30	Gotzon Martín	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
31	Primoz Roglic	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
32	Roger Adrià	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
33	Enric Mas	Movistar	s.t.
34	Florian Lipowitz	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
35	Richard Carapaz	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
36	Mattias Skjelmose	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
37	Carlos Canal	Movistar	s.t.
38	Pavel Sivakov	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
39	Edward Dunbar	Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
40	Quentin Pacher	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
41	Jorge Arcas	Movistar	8:44
42	Eduardo Sepulveda	Lotto Dstny	9:19
43	Mattia Cattaneo	Soudal Quick-Step	10:00
44	Sepp Kuss	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	s.t.
45	Cristian Rodriguez	Arkéa-B&B Hotels	s.t.
46	Guillaume Martin	Cofidis	s.t.
47	Óscar Rodríguez	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
48	Lorenzo Fortunato	Astana Qazaqstan	s.t.
49	Einer Rubio	Movistar	s.t.
50	Mauri Vansevenant	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
51	Nairo Quintana	Movistar	s.t.
52	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
53	Mikel Landa	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
54	Bruno Armirail	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
55	Attila Valter	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	s.t.
56	Brandon McNulty	UAE Team Emirates	10:14
57	Kim Heiduk	INEOS Grenadiers	10:19
58	Thomas De Gendt	Lotto Dstny	11:29
59	James Shaw	EF Education-EasyPost	13:40
60	Tim Naberman	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	s.t.
61	Pavel Bittner	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	s.t.
62	Mathis Le Berre	Arkéa-B&B Hotels	s.t.
63	Owain Doull	EF Education-EasyPost	14:27
64	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
65	Ibon Ruiz	Equipo Kern Pharma	15:14
66	Jorge Gutiérrez	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
67	José Félix Parra	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
68	Otto Vergaerde	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
69	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
70	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
71	Robert Gesink	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	s.t.
72	William Junior Lecerf	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
73	Reuben Thompson	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
74	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
75	Louis Vervaeke	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
76	Tao Geoghegan Hart	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
77	Matthew Riccitello	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
78	James Knox	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
79	Clément Berthet	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
80	Nicolas Vinokurov	Astana Qazaqstan	s.t.
81	Marco Frigo	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
82	Carlos Verona	Lidl-Trek	s.t.
83	Jack Haig	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
84	Giovanni Aleotti	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
85	Daniel Martinez	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
86	Laurens Huys	Arkéa-B&B Hotels	s.t.
87	Dylan Teuns	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
88	Simone Petilli	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
89	Filippo Zana	Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
90	Nelson Oliveira	Movistar	s.t.
91	Santiago Umba	Astana Qazaqstan	s.t.
92	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
93	Isaac del Toro	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
94	Felix Gall	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
95	Xandro Meurisse	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
96	Torstein Træen	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
97	Patrick Gamper	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	19:52
98	Felix Engelhardt	Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
99	Thibault Guernalec	Arkéa-B&B Hotels	s.t.
100	Geoffrey Bouchard	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	s.t.
101	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	s.t.
102	Lukasz Owsian	Arkéa-B&B Hotels	s.t.
103	Darren Rafferty	EF Education-EasyPost	s.t.
104	Xabier Isasa	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
105	Sylvain Moniquet	Lotto Dstny	s.t.
106	Arne Marit	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
107	Sven Erik Bystrøm	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
108	Lorenzo Germani	Groupama-FDJ	s.t.
109	Luis Angel Mate	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
110	Vito Braet	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
111	Gleb Brussenskiy	Astana Qazaqstan	s.t.
112	Riley Sheehan	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
113	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
114	Martijn Tusveld	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	s.t.
115	Gijs Leemreize	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	s.t.
116	Julius van den Berg	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	s.t.
117	Enzo Leijnse	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	s.t.
118	Brandon Rivera	INEOS Grenadiers	s.t.
119	Louis Meintjes	Intermarché-Wanty	s.t.
120	Kamil Gradek	Bahrain Victorious	s.t.
121	Mikel Bizkarra	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
122	Joan Bou	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
123	Edoardo Affini	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	s.t.
124	Alessandro De Marchi	Jayco-AlUla	s.t.
125	Kasper Asgreen	Soudal Quick-Step	s.t.
126	Xabier Berasategi	Euskaltel-Euskadi	s.t.
127	George Bennett	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
128	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates	s.t.
129	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	s.t.
130	Oscar Riesebeek	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
131	Juri Hollmann	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
132	Edward Planckaert	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
133	Ide Schelling	Astana Qazaqstan	s.t.
134	Antonio Soto	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
135	Unai Iribar	Equipo Kern Pharma	s.t.
136	Luca Vergallito	Alpecin-Deceuninck	20:19
137	Quinten Hermans	Alpecin-Deceuninck	s.t.
138	Victor Campenaerts	Lotto Dstny	30:00
139	Txomin Juaristi	Euskaltel-Euskadi	31:45

GC after stage 18:

GC leader: Ben O'Connor (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale)
Mountains classification leader: Marc Soler (UAE team Emirates)
Points classification leader: Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Best young rider: Kaden Groves (INEOS Grenadiers)
Teams classification leader: UAE Team Emirates

2,927.5 kilometers raced so far at an average speed of 40.206 km/hr

1	Ben O'Connor	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	72hr 48min 46sec
2	Primoz Roglic	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	@ 5sec
3	Enric Mas	Movistar	1:25
4	Richard Carapaz	EF Education-EasyPost	1:46
5	David Gaudu	Groupama-FDJ	3:48
6	Carlos Rodriguez	INEOS Grenadiers	3:53
7	Mattias Skjelmose	Lidl-Trek	4:00
8	Florian Lipowitz	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	4:27
9	Pavel Sivakov	UAE Team Emirates	5:19
10	Mikel Landa	Soudal Quick-Step	5:38
11	Adam Yates	UAE Team Emirates	8:40
12	Sepp Kuss	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	9:45
13	Edward Dunbar	Jayco-AlUla	12:25
14	Cristian Rodriguez	Arkéa-B&B Hotels	14:02
15	Aleksandr Vlasov	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	17:12
16	Guillaume Martin	Cofidis	21:07
17	Lorenzo Fortunato	Astana Qazaqstan	21:41
18	Jack Haig	Bahrain Victorious	33:34
19	José Félix Parra	Equipo Kern Pharma	38:00
20	Steven Kruijswijk	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	48:11
21	Clément Berthet	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	54:16
22	Óscar Rodríguez	INEOS Grenadiers	54:42
23	Mattia Cattaneo	Soudal Quick-Step	58:53
24	Attila Valter	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	58:55
25	Quentin Pacher	Groupama-FDJ	59:03
26	Louis Meintjes	Intermarché-Wanty	1:04:03
27	Max Poole	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	1:09:35
28	Matthew Riccitello	Israel-Premier Tech	1:11:19
29	Mikel Bizkarra	Euskaltel-Euskadi	1:13:58
30	Sam Oomen	Lidl-Trek	1:16:49
31	Ion Izagirre	Cofidis	1:19:29
32	Felix Gall	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	1:19:42
33	George Bennett	Israel-Premier Tech	1:20:07
34	Stefan Küng	Groupama-FDJ	1:22:19
35	Harold Tejada	Astana Qazaqstan	1:23:24
36	Marc Soler	UAE Team Emirates	1:24:47
37	Einer Rubio	Movistar	1:26:29
38	Nairo Quintana	Movistar	1:28:36
39	Carlos Verona	Lidl-Trek	1:34:02
40	Giovanni Aleotti	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	1:35:18
41	Valentin Paret-Peintre	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	1:35:57
42	Isaac del Toro	UAE Team Emirates	1:39:16
43	Brandon McNulty	UAE Team Emirates	1:40:41
44	Mauri Vansevenant	Soudal Quick-Step	1:40:48
45	Alexander Cepeda	EF Education-EasyPost	1:41:07
46	Daniel Martinez	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	1:41:46
47	Jhonnatan Narvaez	INEOS Grenadiers	1:47:10
48	Gotzon Martín	Euskaltel-Euskadi	1:47:16
49	Simon Guglielmi	Arkéa-B&B Hotels	1:47:18
50	William Junior Lecerf	Soudal Quick-Step	1:49:15
51	Urko Berrade	Equipo Kern Pharma	1:54:26
52	Roger Adrià	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	1:54:28
53	Gianmarco Garofoli	Astana Qazaqstan	1:54:30
54	Louis Vervaeke	Soudal Quick-Step	1:54:50
55	Xandro Meurisse	Alpecin-Deceuninck	1:56:32
56	Marco Frigo	Israel-Premier Tech	2:01:15
57	Filippo Zana	Jayco-AlUla	2:03:41
58	Martijn Tusveld	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	2:03:44
59	Torstein Træen	Bahrain Victorious	2:06:17
60	Mathias Vacek	Lidl-Trek	2:08:35
61	Robert Gesink	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	2:10:01
62	Tao Geoghegan Hart	Lidl-Trek	2:10:51
63	Pablo Castrillo	Equipo Kern Pharma	2:14:41
64	Jay Vine	UAE Team Emirates	2:15:38
65	Pau Miquel	Equipo Kern Pharma	2:19:00
66	Luis Angel Mate	Euskaltel-Euskadi	2:20:44
67	Mauro Schmid	Jayco-AlUla	2:20:50
68	James Knox	Soudal Quick-Step	2:21:26
69	Chris Hamilton	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	2:24:27
70	Bruno Armirail	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	2:26:39
71	Filippo Baroncini	UAE Team Emirates	2:26:47
72	Carlos Canal	Movistar	2:28:16
73	Mathis Le Berre	Arkéa-B&B Hotels	2:30:07
74	Darren Rafferty	EF Education-EasyPost	2:32:44
75	Nelson Oliveira	Movistar	2:34:54
76	Dylan Teuns	Israel-Premier Tech	2:35:03
77	Jonas Gregaard	Lotto Dstny	2:37:45
78	Laurens Huys	Arkéa-B&B Hotels	2:41:07
79	Quinten Hermans	Alpecin-Deceuninck	2:42:04
80	Gijs Leemreize	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	2:44:10
81	Vito Braet	Intermarché-Wanty	2:50:47
82	Joan Bou	Euskaltel-Euskadi	2:51:21
83	Unai Iribar	Equipo Kern Pharma	2:53:47
84	Fran Miholjevic	Bahrain Victorious	2:53:48
85	Jesus Herrada	Cofidis	2:55:40
86	Harry Sweeny	EF Education-EasyPost	2:56:12
87	Arjen Livyns	Lotto Dstny	2:56:13
88	Lukasz Owsian	Arkéa-B&B Hotels	2:59:32
89	Simone Petilli	Intermarché-Wanty	3:01:33
90	Otto Vergaerde	Lidl-Trek	3:01:43
91	Eduardo Sepulveda	Lotto Dstny	3:03:21
92	Thomas Champion	Cofidis	3:06:06
93	Oier Lazkano	Movistar	3:07:34
94	Brandon Rivera	INEOS Grenadiers	3:08:15
95	Thomas De Gendt	Lotto Dstny	3:11:18
96	Juri Hollmann	Alpecin-Deceuninck	3:13:21
97	Nico Denz	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	3:13:58
98	James Shaw	EF Education-EasyPost	3:14:58
99	Kaden Groves	Alpecin-Deceuninck	3:15:06
100	Felix Engelhardt	Jayco-AlUla	3:15:29
101	Lorenzo Germani	Groupama-FDJ	3:17:20
102	Luca Vergallito	Alpecin-Deceuninck	3:18:35
103	Xabier Isasa	Euskaltel-Euskadi	3:20:23
104	Kim Heiduk	INEOS Grenadiers	3:21:50
105	Victor Campenaerts	Lotto Dstny	3:21:56
106	Xabier Berasategi	Euskaltel-Euskadi	3:23:35
107	Reuben Thompson	Groupama-FDJ	3:24:04
108	Santiago Umba	Astana Qazaqstan	3:26:39
109	Victor Lafay	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	3:29:03
110	Ibon Ruiz	Equipo Kern Pharma	3:29:30
111	Geoffrey Bouchard	Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale	3:32:49
112	Jorge Gutiérrez	Equipo Kern Pharma	3:34:20
113	Jorge Arcas	Movistar	3:36:55
114	Sylvain Moniquet	Lotto Dstny	3:37:03
115	Pavel Bittner	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	3:37:04
116	Nadav Raisberg	Israel-Premier Tech	3:40:01
117	Edward Planckaert	Alpecin-Deceuninck	3:40:26
118	Kasper Asgreen	Soudal Quick-Step	3:43:05
119	Antonio Soto	Equipo Kern Pharma	3:43:22
120	Edoardo Affini	Team Visma \| Lease a Bike	3:46:22
121	Jasha Sütterlin	Bahrain Victorious	3:49:15
122	Owain Doull	EF Education-EasyPost	3:50:05
123	SvenErik Bystrøm	Groupama-FDJ	3:51:11
124	Patrick Gamper	Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe	3:51:34
125	Txomin Juaristi	Euskaltel-Euskadi	3:52:13
126	Arne Marit	Intermarché-Wanty	3:55:15
127	Riley Sheehan	Israel-Premier Tech	3:58:46
128	Gleb Brussenskiy	Astana Qazaqstan	3:59:07
129	Alessandro De Marchi	Jayco-AlUla	4:01:02
130	Casper Pedersen	Soudal Quick-Step	4:02:22
131	Maurice Ballerstedt	Alpecin-Deceuninck	4:03:40
132	Nicolas Vinokurov	Astana Qazaqstan	4:04:12
133	Oscar Riesebeek	Alpecin-Deceuninck	4:06:54
134	Julius van den Berg	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	4:07:01
135	Enzo Leijnse	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	4:12:03
136	Thibault Guernalec	Arkéa-B&B Hotels	4:13:41
137	Ide Schelling	Astana Qazaqstan	4:18:03
138	Kamil Gradek	Bahrain Victorious	4:20:27
139	Tim Naberman	Team dsm-firmenich PostNL	4:23:06