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Soler (UAE Team Emirates) fought hard to keep pace with the pack before bursting clear of the breakaway with five kilometres to go on the climb of Lagos de Covadonga.
From there, the Spaniard surged clear to the finish line in foggy conditions, with Filippo Zana (Jayco-AlUla) coming in second followed by Max Poole (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) in third.
“I’ve attacked a lot but this time I was able to finish it off,” Soler said.
“It was a very, very high-quality breakaway, but I knew that if I got away I had a chance.
“Max Poole followed me and the pace was high behind, but I did it.”
Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) was among the riders not too far behind on the final climb and did a significant amount of damage to O’Connor’s lead at the top the general classification.
O’Connor held a 1’03” advantage coming into the 181.5-kilometre stage but struggled through the finale, where he was made to work hard to preserve a five-second advantage in the race for the red jersey.
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La Vuelta 2024
series • cycling
series • cycling
“I could do with a hot shower, I’m absolutely freezing,” O’Connor said after the stage.
“I have the red jersey for tomorrow, I’m going to soak it up, enjoy it as much as I can, because I’m not sure it’s going to last that long.
“I’d be surprised [if I keep it] on Friday, but hopefully I can have it for a couple more days.”
Stage 16 also saw the withdrawal of Wout van Aert (Visma Lease-a-bike) after the green jersey holder went down on two occasions, with the latter crash rendering him unable to continue.
As a result, the green jersey will now fall to Australian Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) while compatriot Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) occupies the polka dot jersey.
