Vuelta a España stage 9: Lennard Kämna sails to win from the breakaway amid GC confusion

Lennard Kämna of Bora-Hansgrohe won from the breakaway on stage 9 of the Vuelta a España. The German puncheur was elegant in his demolition of his breakaway compatriots, as only Matteo Sobrero (Jayco AlUla) could pose a challenge on the final slopes.

The much-anticipated summit finish atop the Alto Caravaca de la Cruz was curtailed due to inclement weather that had led mud to cascade down the road. With the race organisers fearing for the safety of a large group of favourites racing for the line, they decided that the timings for GC would be taken 50m short of the 2km to go banner, no doubt to the disappointment of many fans who had looked forward to its steep finale.

Unbothered by the lack of bonus seconds on the line, the breakaway battled it out for the stage honours and it was the German who climbed the strongest. Kämna's first Vuelta stage victory secured him the distinction of earning the Grand Tour trilogy, having now won a stage at all of the three-week stage races.

"I am super happy about it! I worked really hard the last couple of months," beamed Kämna after the finish. "It was not always easy after the Giro [d'Italia], I had a lot of setbacks and I am so happy that I am back on the podium and that I could take this win."

"In the end, it was really tricky because the climb was always going up and down, up and down, and it was hard to find the moment to drop the others. But I am really happy that I could find it and I could take the win!"

"I had the gap and then I tried to break him [Sobrero] with just going totally over my limit for two minutes, and then it was just a fight to the end."

Jumbo-Visma take control of the echelons as crosswinds wreak havoc

Well before the live pictures began on the ninth stage of the Vuelta, an image of chaos had already emerged as reports started to filter through of 40-50km/h gusts of wind. With the peloton travelling north/northwesterly from Cartagena to Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca - near the Costa Cálida - stage 9 was always going to be susceptible to crosswinds.

So it proved, with 30km/h west/southwesterly winds forecast for the majority of the afternoon and causing nervous tension to descend on the peloton before the race flag was dropped. In the face of such trepidation, the peloton’s speed was ferocious right from KM0, causing a crash that impacted Soudal Quick-Step and Lotto Dstny within 3km of racing.

Not often a rider to miss out where misfortune is concerned, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) fell victim to a mechanical at the very moment Jumbo-Visma began to put the hammer down at the front of the peloton. When the wind is blowing at such a speed, it is always better to take the initiative and battle for your place at the very head of proceedings.

Under the steam of Jumbo-Visma’s pressure, the peloton collapsed into a series of echelons - groups strung out horizontally across the road in an attempt to seek shelter from the wind. Within 4km of racing, the front group was already reduced to 25 riders and after 8km, their number was 13. Owing to their efforts at the front, Jumbo-Visma accounted for seven of the 13 riders, with only Robert Gesink missing out.

Read more: Analysing the strength of Jumbo-Visma's Vuelta a España team

To their credit, Remco Evenepoel and Mattia Cattaneo were present for Soudal Quick-Step, Aleksandr Vlasov, Nico Denz and Emanuel Buchmann for Bora-Hansgrohe, and Matecž Govekar the sole representative from Bahrain-Victorious.

Although Attila Valter (Jumbo-Visma) dropped back having suffered a puncture, the front echelon was averaging 52km/h for well over 20 minutes as they opened the gap to those behind to 30 seconds. In that front echelon, it was all hands to the pump and Evenepoel, Primož Roglič, Jonas Vingegaard and race leader Sepp Kuss (all three Jumbo-Visma) contributed as much work on the front as any other rider.

Read more: Sepp Kuss rides into the red jersey as leader of the Vuelta

It may seem unusual for GC favourites to be facing the wind with over 160km of the day remaining, but in the through-and-off formation of an echelon, it is better to roll through to the front than be caught at the back and potentially exposed to a gust of wind that may cut them adrift. Behind the front echelon, it was panic stations for the likes of Movistar and UAE Team Emirates, as the gap blew out to 45 seconds.

© Sprint Cycling Agency

Every rider must contribute during the pacing of echelons, not just the domestiques

With Movistar, UAE Team Emirates and Bahrain-Victorious combining forces, the time gap to the front echelon slowly began to dwindle as those at the head of the race continued to work well with one another.

Soudal Quick-Step and Jumbo-Visma’s daring raid was a purist’s dream, with the race favourites uniting in thrilling fashion for 40km. But their fun would be ended on the slopes of the day’s first categorised climb, as the two front groups merged to form a larger peloton.

Having endured such a tiring start to the stage, the peloton were more than content when an unthreatening breakaway moved up the road on the category 1 Puerto Casas de la Marina la Perdiz (11.5km at 4.9%).

Soon building a gap of over five minutes to the peloton, the day’s definitive breakaway consisted of Amanuel Ghebregzabhier (Lidl-Trek), Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), Matteo Sobrero (Jayco AlUla), Rubén Fernández (Cofidis), Daniel Navarro (Burgos-BH) and Jon Barrenetxea (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA).

Meanwhile, Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost) and Chris Hamilton (dsm-firmenich) - for their sins - began a lonely march to try and bridge across to the front. Hamilton was successful after 6km, but it took Caicedo a further 8km before joining the breakaway that now had a gap of nigh on seven minutes to the peloton.

Crosswinds continue to haunt the peloton as the stage draws on

A calm distilled over the peloton, allowing the break to build their advantage to over nine minutes at one point, but panic was never far from view given the wind conditions. After 90km of racing, a wicked tailwind whipped the peloton into action and for a brief moment through the town of Mula, it looked as though things may descend into chaos once more. It was not to be, however - not this time at least.

More crosswinds emerged with 81km to ride and this time around, it was Evenepoel’s Soudal Quick-Step who took the bull by the horns, producing echelons in the peloton. The gap to the breakaway came tumbling to nearly four minutes, as it soon became clear that third-placed Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) had missed the split in the peloton.

Read more: Analysing Soudal Quick-Step's Vuelta a España team

After initially being mastered by individuals riding through and off, Soudal Quick-Step began to take charge of the front echelon and developed a one-minute gap to the likes of Martinez, Thomas and Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) - all of whom were stuck in the peloton behind.

Things did eventually calm down again, with the peloton reforming after 27km. The gap to the breakaway now stood at three and a half minutes as the race entered its final 50km.

© Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images

Groupama-FDJ were the team having to extinguish a mid-afternoon fire as echelons re-emerged

Finale of the Alto Caravaca de la Cruz dampened due to mud

Between 50-35km to go, it became obvious that the breakaway would contest the stage victory, as the pace in the peloton quelled in anticipation of the final climb. From the calm of the peloton to the bedlam atop the Alto Caravaca de la Cruz, there was a big clean-up operation underway in the final kilometres to clear a slew of mud that had engulfed the road.

With the back-and-forth of moving vehicles to the top of the mountain, following an unexpected downpour, the road became a mess, simply put. Despite the valiant efforts of those trying to clear the road, the race organisers had to make a decision and that was to cut off the GC timings with 2.05km to ride. The finish was dampened, in more ways than one.

The GC times were to be taken 50m before the 2km to go banner and there were to be no bonus seconds over the line.

The breakaway, meanwhile, began the final climb with over four minutes of an advantage and had the stage victory to contest. Within metres of beginning the 8km climb to the line, the front group had exploded and the four strongest riders emerged: Gebreigzabhier, Hamilton, Sobrero and Kämna. It was the latter who hit out with 4.8km to ride and appeared in the ascendancy.

Sobrero and Kämna were like two riders on either side of a piece of rope, with the Italian hovering as an incessant pain in Kämna's rearview. The gap between the pair hung between 15-20 seconds for almost 3km before Kämna finally found a pocketknife to cut the chord.

Sobrero eventually finished 29 seconds behind the Bora-Hansgrohe rider.

© Sprint Cycling Agency

With no timings available at the finish, there was confusion amongst riders and media alike as to what had happened

As for the GC battle, it was João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) who decided to take his leave from the peloton and attack, shortly followed by Vlasov.

In a dual amongst those in the top 10, Roglič opened a small gap to Enric Mas (Movistar) and Evenepoel shortly before the GC cut-off but it was eventually deemed too small to separate the riders.

At this point, their day was effectively done, with the peloton sitting up and gently riding to the finish line on what, we must admit, was a damp squib of a finish.

Here’s what stage 9 means for the general classification

Given the curtailment of the true battle, stage 9 did not mean all too much for the GC. An initial time gap for Roglič was eventually overturned by the Vuelta organisers, who recognised the error of their earlier decision.

© Sprint Cycling Agency

It was less of an attack, more of a sprint to the traffic cones for Primož Roglič

In truth, the reshaped conclusion of stage 9 was remarkably confusing for both the riders and their teams, with the new GC cut-off signalled by a pair of orange traffic cones at either side of the road. To make matters more confusing, these cones fell just 50m shy of the big overhead arch that signalled the 2km to-go mark.

In the midst of this confusion, those riders who stole an early march were rewarded. Almeida and Vlasov gained five seconds on the next group on the road - led by Roglič.

Despite seemingly only passing the cones himself perhaps a second at best ahead of Evenepoel, Vingegaard, Mas and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), Roglič was initially awarded a two-second advantage to those who followed him.

However, 90 minutes after the decision had first been made, the race organisers reversed their call and decided to give the small group behind Roglič the same finishing time as they had given him: 3:16 down on Kämna.

Race leader Kuss, meanwhile, had lost nine seconds to Evenepoel and co, as had Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious).

Landa's teammate, Wout Poels, was the biggest loser on the day, dropping from fourth to 21st on GC. His ambitions will return to stage-hunting, with Evenepoel taking his place just off the overall podium. The Belgian now sits 2:22 adrift of race leader, Kuss, ahead of the 25.8km ITT on Tuesday.

But first, the rest day. On the other side, we will get a true glimpse into the hierarchy of Roglič, Vingegaard and Evenepoel, whilst eyes will be keenly turned the way of Kuss.

Read more: Remco Evenepoel claims it was 'easy' to follow Primož Roglič on stage 8, as Sepp Kuss moves into the red jersey

Is the race leader a true contender for the red jersey come Madrid? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

If you head to our Vuelta a España landing page, you will find everything you need to know about the race, including our race preview, the route, start list and individual stage previews. Check it out for all that and more.

We’ll be showing live and on-demand coverage of all 21 stages of this year’s Vuelta a España (territory restrictions apply) from Saturday, August 26 to Sunday, September 17, plus daily expert analysis on The Breakaway. Head over to GCN+ now to check the start times of each broadcast so that you don’t miss out on a moment of the action!