La Vuelta Stage 16 saw intense action in the GC group on the Lagos de Covadonga climb, with Mas repeatedly attacking, Landa making multiple attempts throughout the stage, and Roglič consistently coming back.
The final week of La Vuelta started with the popular Lagos de Covadonga mountain top finish. In the 2021 edition, Primož Roglič executed a brave move on this stage, following Egan Bernal’s powerful attack on Collada Llomena and then maintaining strong power output in the valley and on Covadonga. This time, it was Movistar who were aggressive on Collada Llomena, setting up Enric Mas’ attack. However, it did not succeed as Decathlon AG2R and Primož Roglič closed down the attempt. Later, Mikel Landa tried, but was also unsuccessful. The GC group on Collada Llomena put out 6.50 ᵉW/Kg for 23:00 min. In the 2021 race, Bernal and Roglič were 10 seconds faster, averaging 6.52-6.57 ᵉW/Kg.
Once again, the breakaway group was destined to win the stage, featuring three UAE climbers—Marc Soler, Jay Vine, and Isaac Del Toro—alongside Israel-Premier Tech duo Matthew Riccitello and Marco Frigo, Max Poole, Filippo Zana, and others. Due to tactical manoeuvring, the pace was slow and irregular. Poole was one of the strongest, frequently pulling and responding to attacks, but Marc Soler, after three 3rd-place finishes in breakaways, finally secured victory with some good tactics. Soler moved up to 2nd in the KOM points competition, trailing only his teammate Jay Vine, who finished fourth.
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In the GC group, it was T-Rex Quick Step pacing for Landa. The Spaniard attacked once again but was caught. Mas might have been the strongest climber yet again, as he managed to distance Roglič with multiple attacks, though the Slovenian always came back. As the last 4 kilometers of the climb included a small descent and irregular gradient, the GC group stayed together.
Mas on Covadonga (8.4 km, 9.44%) averaged 6.64 ᵉW/Kg for 25:29 min, the same time as Roglič, Gaudu, and Carapaz, who drafted more. They were 1:26 min faster than the GC group in the 2021 race and 1:16 min faster than Roglič during his raid. Roberto Heras, on the steep segment in 2000, averaged 6.70 ᵉW/Kg for 25:07 min, with Fernando Escartin pushing 6.79 ᵉW/Kg, finishing two seconds slower.
Ben O’Connor saved his leader’s jersey by 5 seconds, pushing 6.37 ᵉW/Kg for 26:26 min, a great performance by his standards in this race. Due to the climb’s irregular finish, Kuss, Skjelmose, and Rodriguez only lost 7–15 seconds with better pacing and chasing all-out on the foggy wet descent near the top.
Too bad for Van Aert, expanding his lead in the climbing classification and an assured victory in the point standings, only to brutally crash out. Gone jerseys, maybe also gone European championship and World championship participation.