Stage 9 of the 2024 Vuelta a España was a grueling mountain test in extreme heat, featuring standout performances by Adam Yates and Richard Carapaz, both of whom revived their GC ambitions.

It was another scorching day in southern Spain, with temperatures rising above 30°C. Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe struggled to control the breakaway formation once again, allowing UAE Emirates, with Adam Yates, Marc Soler, and Jay Vine, to join a large breakaway. After Joao Almeida dropped out of the race due to COVID-19, Adam Yates became their best hope in the GC, despite a poor performance on the hot day at Pico Villuercas and a crash on stage 6.

With Soler pulling hard on the first big climb of the day and Vine helping on the first ascent of Alto de Hazallanas, the gap continued to increase over the peloton. Earlier, on the Puerto de El Purche, Richard Carapaz accelerated powerfully from the peloton, with no one daring to follow such a bold move. The Ecuadorian averaged 6.25 ᵉW/Kg for 20:41 min, while the peloton was almost 2 minutes slower at 5.63 ᵉW/Kg. Marc Soler, in the breakaway, was pushing 5.92 ᵉW/Kg at the front but lost 64 seconds to Carapaz on the climb.

Carapaz had two teammates in the breakaway—James Shaw and Darren Rafferty—but after they finished their work, the EF Education leader had to spend a lot of energy catching the breakaway. Before he caught David Gaudu, Jay Vine, and Pablo Castrillo, Yates had already attacked early on the first Hazallanas ascent. With a strong performance on the climb and descent, his gap to the O’Connor/Roglič group expanded to more than 6 minutes.

Yates averaged 6.03 ᵉW/Kg for 24:52 min on the first Hazallanas ascent, while Carapaz, chasing him, was only 5 seconds faster. Meanwhile, the GC riders lost 62 seconds to the Briton, with Florian Lipowitz pacing for Roglič at 5.82 ᵉW/Kg. On the second Hazallanas ascent, after Yates had completed a fast descent and a 5% climb in the valley, he slowed down to 5.87 ᵉW/Kg for 25:41 min. Carapaz was 33 seconds faster but still too far back.

Meanwhile, in the GC group, Roglič struggled on this hot and grueling day as Enric Mas launched an attack. Mas delivered the best single climbing performance of the day, completing the Hazallanas ascent in 23:39 min with 6.41 ᵉW/Kg. He came close to breaking Chris Horner’s 2013 La Vuelta record on the climb, when the American averaged 6.42 ᵉW/Kg over 23:22 min on a less challenging day. Horner gained 48 seconds on Vincenzo Nibali, a crucial margin for his eventual victory in the Grand Tour at age 41. Roglič, O’Connor, Landa, Rodriguez, and other GC riders completed the climb in 24:34 min, with averages ranging from 6.05 to 6.13 ᵉW/Kg. Mas was 55 seconds faster than them, but the descent followed after the climb.

Adam Yates and Richard Carapaz were the only riders who were not caught by the GC group. Mas almost crashed in one of the corners due to excessive braking but was later caught by the GC group just before the finish. O’Connor won the bunch sprint for 4 bonus seconds, narrowly extending his lead over Roglič. Carapaz moved to 3rd place, just 39 seconds behind Roglič, while Adam Yates revived his GC hopes and is now 97 seconds behind the Slovenian and 55 seconds behind Mas, who might be the best climber in this race. The Vuelta will change in the second week as the race moves to northern Spain, specifically the Galician region, where temperatures will drop to around 20°C, and different riders might perform better in cooler conditions. After a strong start in the first week, Antonio Tiberi did not finish Stage 9, while Lennert Van Eetvelt lost almost 4 minutes to the O’Connor/Roglič group. Realistically, several riders still have a chance to win the GC, as there is no dominant rider like Tadej Pogačar or Jonas Vingegaard in this race.

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After multiple great performances in World Tour races, Marion Bunel proved her favourite status and won on the mighty Les Karallis climb in Tour de l’Avenir Femmes Stage 1.

After a prologue up a short climb, it was another climbing test for U23 riders. With the route going down for most of the 60 kilometres before Les Karellis (11.19 km, 8.11%), it was going to be a good FTP test for the riders with a good warm-up before it. Nicole Steinmetz spent 623 kilojoules for 1:31h at 9.38 kj/kg/h, making this one of the easiest possible stages.

French superstar Marion Bunel launched an attack with 5.7 km to go, with only prologue winner Lore De Schepper and Isabella Holmgren managing to follow. The trio briefly worked together before Bunel attacked again, dropping both rivals. Holmgren then took on the chase, successfully distancing Schepper. In the end, Bunel secured the victory.

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Marion Bunel performed similarly to Villars-Sur-Ollon in the Tour de Suisse, where she finished 7th against world-class competition. On Les Karellis Bunel averaged 4.97 ᵉW/Kg for 38:45 min. On Villars Sur Ollon it was 5.19 ᵉW/Kg for 27:53 min. When normalized for altitude and for 60 minutes both performances were exact with 495 aSLP, but the Tour de Suisse stage was harder before the climb. Also other teenage superstars finished an extremely high level for their age. Holmgren pushed 4.88 ᵉW/Kg for 39:19 min, while De Schepper finished third with 4.85 ᵉW/Kg. Bego, Steinmetz, Vadillo and Vinke all performed above 4.70 ᵉW/Kg, while Fariba Hashimi after a good performance in Olympics continued with 4.63 ᵉW/Kg for 41:19 min.

After a magnificent performance in the San Sebastián Classic, Lennert Van Eetvelt came very close to his first Grand Tour stage victory, but in the final metres, Primož Roglič beat him at the line, taking his 13th stage win in La Vuelta.

The first hard mountain stage of La Vuelta featured a summit finish at Pico Villuercas. The climb began with a gentle gradient, followed by several very steep kilometres, and ended with a more gradual ascent. The Extremadura region was experiencing extreme heat, with temperatures reaching 40°C, and 35°C on the final climb. Brandon McNulty spent 3,543 kilojoules over 4 hours and 9 minutes, at a rate of 12.75 kg/kj/h. The intense heat exhausted the riders before tackling the steep ramps of Pico Villuercas.

With Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Lidl-Trek, and UAE Emirates setting the pace on the 4-5% gradient, the tempo was high on Pico Villuercas, with riders producing 5.8 ᵉW/kg for 23 minutes. When the steep gradients began, the road surface was far from ideal, with rolling resistance higher than usual. The GC group quickly shattered as Pavel Sivakov attacked, causing Primož Roglič to panic and close him down, being one of the race favourites. Later on the climb, Felix Gall attacked on the steep ramps but was eventually caught by Roglič, Lennert Van Eetvelt, and Enric Mas.

Primož Roglič, Enric Mas, and Lennert van Eetvelt averaged 6.79 – 6.81 ᵉW/kg for 12 minutes and 4 seconds on the steep section (2.9 km at 13.76%). Joao Almeida, Matthew Riccitello, and Felix Gall lost 8 to 10 seconds with 6.70 – 6.72 ᵉW/kg. In the final five minutes of the climb on the main road, the leaders’ pace slowed down, allowing even Mikel Landa to catch up, forming a 7-rider group. The ᵉW/kg figures are not as high overall, as they averaged 5.80 ᵉW/kg on the shallow section, which would be equivalent to 6 ᵉW/kg for the entire climb, completed in 40 minutes and 18 seconds.

With Mikel Landa attacking after catching the group, Van Eetvelt closed his attack with Roglič on his wheel. The 2024 UAE Tour winner was looking to win but celebrated too early and stopped pedalling in the last metres, with Roglič taking a characteristic stage win in La Vuelta. Of the GC favourites, Sepp Kuss and Adam Yates in the hot conditions underperformed relative to their expectations losing significant time to the other contenders.

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Marc Hirschi and Julian Alaphilippe were the strongest riders in the 2024 edition of the San Sebastian Klasikoa, in what felt like a throwback race from 2020. Hirschi out-sprinted Alaphilippe to secure his first World Tour victory in four years.

It was the first World Tour race following the Tour de France and the Olympics, making it difficult to predict who would emerge as the strongest riders, given the uncertainty around their form. Visma Lease a Bike controlled the pace on Jaizkibel and at the start of the steep Erlaitz climb. The team brought a strong lineup to the Basque Country, including Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss, Dylan van Baarle, Thomas Gloag, and Wilco Kelderman.

Before reaching Erlaitz, Brandon McNulty had already expended 3,900 kilojoules over 4 hours and 40 minutes at a rate of 12.19 kj/kg/h. It had already been a long day in the saddle before the crucial Erlaitz climb (3.71 km, 11.11%). The race ignited when Florian Lipowitz attacked with Julian Alaphilippe on his wheel. Shortly afterward, Pavel Sivakov joined the pair and quickly dropped them with his high pace. The tempo on Erlaitz exposed even strong climbers like Simon Yates and Jonas Vingegaard, who were not in peak form after the Tour de France. These two will be teammates next year on the Dutch squad.

Mikel Landa, Sepp Kuss, Dani Martinez, Giulio Ciccone, Santiago Buitrago, and other strong climbers struggled to perform in this one-day race. In the 2022 edition, Tadej Pogačar, Joao Almeida, and Juan Ayuso all failed to finish. Pogačar was distanced by Louis Vervaeke on the shallow Jaizkibel. Later in the season, Ayuso and Almeida finished 3rd and 4th in La Vuelta, while Pogačar went on to win Il Lombardia and GP Montreal.

Sivakov was the fastest climber on Erlaitz with 6.88 ᵉW/Kg for 12:31 min. The following group with 10 riders (Vermaerke, Woods, Powless, Alaphilippe, Narvaez, Van Gils, Hirschi, McNulty, Kron, Van Eetvelt) averaged 6.65 ᵉW/Kg for 12:49 min. It will be hard for anyone to break Remco Evenepoel’s mighty effort in the 2022 edition as he with almost no drafting did Erlaitz 40 seconds faster than Sivakov with 7.34 ᵉW/Kg.

Sivakov did not gain a huge lead as Lotto Dstny had three riders in the second group: Lennert van Eetvelt, Maxim van Gils, and Andreas Kron. Among the 18 riders in that group, four were Sivakov’s teammates: Jan Christen, Marc Hirschi, Brandon McNulty, and Isaac del Toro. Sivakov managed to hold a 15-second lead before the final steep Pilotegi climb (2.1 km, 10.8%), which included a final kilometer at a 14.5% gradient.

Julian Alaphilippe attacked in the first part of the climb, with Marc Hirschi, Brandon McNulty, Patrick Konrad, and Jhonatan Narvaez following. They were caught by Lennert van Eetvelt and other riders, but on the steep section, Alaphilippe and Hirschi broke away again, gaining a significant gap by the top of the climb. Alaphilippe and Hirschi pushed 7.34 – 7.38 ᵉW/kg for 6 minutes and 43 seconds, with irregular pacing.

Alaphilippe, with his twitching legs, was not tactically perfect in the finale and took over from Hirschi in the final stretch. Hirschi opened his sprint first and beat Alaphilippe, who did not attempt to draft him for a second. Van Eetvelt finished third, chasing the leading duo alone. It was Hirschi’s first World Tour victory since the 2020 La Fleche Wallonne.

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