Berrade wins Vuleta stage 18 with late solo attack

Urko Berrade’s late attack proved decisive as the Spaniard powered to his maiden professional victory on the 18th stage of the Vuelta a Espana.

Britain’s Max Poole narrowly missed out on his fourth podium of the race, the 21-year-old finishing fourth on Thursday.

Berrade, riding for Equipo Kern Pharma, launched his attack with six kilometres remaining to move clear of the leading group.

The 26-year-old built a healthy lead on the final hill before cruising to victory on the 179km stage through his native Basque region.

Switzerland’s Mauro Schmid, riding for Jayco-AlUla, edged past Berrade’s fellow Spaniard and Equipo Kern Pharma team-mate Pau Miquel to claim second.

Australian Ben O’Connor retained the overall leader’s red jersey as the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale rider finished safely in the group of title contenders to maintain his five-second advantage over Slovenia’s three-time Vuelta champion Primoz Roglic.

Veteran Basque rider Mikel Landa, riding for Soudal Quick-Step, dropped from fifth to 10th in the standings after losing over three minutes, while Britain’s Adam Yates finished on the same time to drop away from the top 10 on time, although he remains in 11th place overall.

Friday’s stage 19 finishes on the summit of the Alto de Moncalvillo in the Rioja region in central northern Spain.

Stage 18 results

1. Urko Berrade (Spa/Equipo Kern Pharma) 4hrs 00mins 52secs

2. Mauro Schmid (Swi/Team Jayco-AlUla) +4secs

3. Pau Miquel Delgado (Spa/Equipo Kern Pharma) Same time

4. Max Poole (GB/Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)

5. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus/Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe)

6. Oier Lazkano (Spa/Movistar)

7. Ion Izagirre (Spa/Cofidis)

8. Mathias Vacek (Cze/Lidl-Trek)

9. Pablo Castrillo (Spa/Equipo Kern Pharma)

10. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned/Team Visma – Lease a Bike) +11secs

General classification

1. Ben O’Connor (Aus/Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale) 72hrs 48mins 46secs

2. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull – Bora-Hansgrohe) +5secs

3. Enrique Mas (Spa/Movistar) +1min 25secs

4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost) +1min 46secs

5. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama – FDJ) +3mins 48secs

6. Carlos Rodriguez (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +3mins 53secs

7. Mattias Skjelmose (Den/Lidl trek) +4mins

8. Florian Lipowitz (Ger/Red Bull – Bora-Hansgrohe) +4mins 27secs

9. Pavel Sivakov (Fra/UAE Team Emirates) +5mins 19secs

10. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal – Quick-Step) +5mins 38secs