2023 Vuelta a Espana: Stage 9 Results

Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) surged to victory in a very demanding Stage 9 of the 2023 Vuelta a Espana. The German champ emerged strongest from the breakaway that emerged after an impressive battle through the wind and takes his first Vuelta stage win after previous successes in the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia.

The peloton split on several occasions, with Jumbo-Visma and Soudal Quick-Step showing their determination to turn the race upside down. But the riders lagging behind always got back until Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) opened a small gap on the slopes up Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca.

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) takes La Roja into the rest day.

On the eve of the rest day, the peloton of faced an unprecedented summit finish atop Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca. Jumbo-Visma was determined to bring battle again with Sepp Kuss, Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard splitting the bunch from the start!

Wilco Kelderman, Jan Tratnik, Attila Valter and Dylan van Baarle all drove the first echelon with their leaders. Only six riders managed to follow their move: Remco Evenepoel, Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal Quick-Step), Matevz Govekar (Bahrain Victorious), Aleksandr Vlasov, Nico Denz and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe).

The leaders covered 50.1km in the first hour and built a gap of up to 45’’ to the first peloton, driven by Movistar, UAE Team Emirates and Bahrain Victorious. The chasers got back to the attackers on the first ascent of the day, the cat-1 Puerto Casas de la Marina la Perdiz (summit at km 60.1).

As the race eased up a bit, six riders went on the move: Amanuel Gehbreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek), Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe), Matteo Sobrero (Jayco AlUla), Ruben Fernandez (Cofidis), Dani Navarro (Burgos-BH) and Jon Barrenetxea (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). Chris Hamilton (DSM-Firmenich) and then Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost) join them to make it a 8-man breakaway.

The gap increased to 8’35’’ but the peloton hit another wind exposed section as the race entered the last 80 kilometres. Soudal Quick-Step, Bora-Hansgrohe and Jumbo-Visma collaborated to split the bunch. Only 22 riders remained in the first group. Two contenders from the GC top-10 were caught behind: Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) and Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious).

The gap between the first two pelotons went up to 1’05’’. Groupama-FDJ drove the chase and bridged the gap with 55km to go. The eight leaders were 3’35’’ away.

The gap increases towards the final climb (8km at 5.6% with irregular slopes). With a lead of 5 minutes, Gehbreigzabhier, Kämna, Caicedo, Sobrero, Fernandez, Hamilton, Navarro and Barrenetxea were set to battle for the stage win.

Kämna went solo into the last 5 kilometres. Sobrero tried to resist but the German champ powered to his first La Vuelta stage win with a gap of 30’’.

In the GC battle, the times were taken 2km before the line due to the weather conditions. Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) attacked with 3Km to go and opens a small gap alongside Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Stage 9 Brief Results

1. Lennard Kamna (Bora Hansgrohe) @ 4h 28′ 59″
2. Matteo Sobrero (Team Jayco AlUla) @ 13″
3. Amanuel Gehbreigzabhier (Lidl Trek) @1’00”
4. Christopher Hamilton (DSM-Firmentech) @ 1’12”

General Classification After Stage 9

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) @ 35h 23′ 30″
Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) @ 43″
Lenny Martinesz (Groupama – FDJ) @ 1′ 02″
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) @ 2′ 22”
Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) @ 2’29”