Lennard Kamna of Germany won the ninth stage of the Vuelta a Espaa by riding solo, while Sepp Kuss of the United States remained in the red jacket of race leader.
On the 184.5-kilometer stage that went from Cartagena to Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca, Italy’s Matteo Sobrero finished in second place, and Australia’s Chris Hamilton took third place.
Due to the difficult conditions at the finish, the general classification (GC) times were awarded two kilometers earlier than they should have been.
Kuss is now in the lead of the overall competition by 43 seconds, with a day off scheduled for Monday.
Following his victories at the Tour de France (2020) and the Giro d’Italia (2022), Kamna can now claim stage victories at all three of cycling’s Grand Tours thanks to this latest success.
Following his participation in an early eight-man breakaway that the main group of riders did not make a meaningful effort to pursue, he managed to get away with approximately five kilometers remaining to go on a steep final climb to the finish line.
“I’ve never been happier. Over the past few months, I put forth an incredible amount of effort,” stated Kamna. “The ascent was constantly going up and down, making it difficult to find the right moment to drop the other climbers.”
“For two minutes, I completely exceeded my limit, and from that point on, it was just a fight to the finish.”
There were some small adjustments made to the GC standings as a rest day was approaching. The incumbent champion, Remco Evenepoel, moved up two places into fourth position, two minutes and 22 seconds behind the leader.
Meanwhile, Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard moved up one spot apiece, to sixth and seventh, at the cost of Wout Poels, who fell from fourth to 21st. Roglic and Vingegaard won the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France earlier this year, respectively.
Hugh Carthy is the highest-placed British rider in the race, now sitting in 14th place, more than four minutes behind the leader. Geraint Thomas, a past champion of the Tour de France, is currently in 22nd place, 12 minutes and 34 seconds behind the leader.
Stage nine results
1. Lennard Kamna (Ger/Bora-Hansgrohe 4hrs 28mins 59secs
2. Matteo Sobrero (Ita/Jayco-AlUla) +13secs
3. Chris Hamilton (Aus/DSM) 1min 12secs
4. Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri/Lidl-Trek) 60secs
5. Jon Barrenetxea (Spa/Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) 1min 37secs
6. Ruben Fernandez (Spa/Cofidis) same time
7. Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost) 2mins 11secs
8. Daniel Navarro (Spa/Burgos-BH) 2mins 41secs
9. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) 3mins 16secs
10. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus/Bora-Hansgrohe) 3mins 11secs
General classification standings after stage nine
1. Sepp Kuss (USA/Jumbo-Visma) 35hrs 23mins 30secs
2. Marc Soler (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +43secs
3. Lenny Martinez (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +1min 02secs
4. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal-Quick-Step) +2mins 22secs
5. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +2mins 29secs
6. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) same time
7. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) +2mins 33secs
8. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar Team) same time
9. Juan Ayuso (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +2mins 43secs
10. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +2mins 55secs
