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Wout van Aert, the Belgian cyclist from the Visma-Lease a Bike team, claimed his third victory in the 2024 edition of the Vuelta a España, crossing the finish line first in Baiona during the 10th stage. This victory, achieved in the first day of the second week of the race, further solidifies his lead in the points classification, symbolized by the coveted green jersey.
Van Aert, 29, had already made his mark in this Vuelta with wins in stages 3 and 7, both of which were predominantly flat or slightly selective routes. His latest triumph came in the mountainous terrain of Galicia, where he emerged victorious from an original breakaway group of five riders, solidified after the first categorized climb of the day, around 25 kilometers after the start in Ponteareas, covering a total distance of 160 kilometers.
This marks the 12th Grand Tour stage win for Van Aert (in addition to his nine Tour de France stage victories). His victory was a masterstroke of opportunism. Van Aert capitalized on the intermediate sprint, just over 30 kilometers from the finish and before the fourth and final mountain climb (1st category), to surprise his most threatening rival, Marc Soler (UAE Emirates), from the remaining quartet of escapees, which also included Frenchman Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Belgian William Junior Lecerf (T-Rex Quick-Step), and German Juri Hollmann (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Soler made the critical mistake of going to his team’s support car to refuel just as Van Aert sprinted to gain more points for the green jersey. Seizing the opportunity, Van Aert continued his effort with Pacher’s collaboration, quickly gaining a lead. Even on the subsequent climb, where Soler, a better climber than Van Aert and Pacher, might have recovered, he never saw them again until the finish line.
Van Aert and Pacher then contested the victory in a sprint in the center of Baiona, where the Belgian easily outpaced the Frenchman, relying on his superior sprinting capabilities.
The peloton, including the main contenders for the general classification, arrived at the finish 5 minutes and 31 seconds after the stage winner, with no changes at the top of the leaderboard, which is still led by Australian Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R).
Top 5 of the 10th Stage:
- Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike)
- Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), +3”
- Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), +2’01”
- William Junior Lecerf (T-Rex Quick-Step), s.t.
- Juri Hollmann (Alpecin-Deceuninck), s.t.