Vuelta a España stage 18: Miguel Ángel López tops on ‘queen stage’

Miguel Ángel López (Movistar Team) won stage 18 of the 2021 Vuelta a España.

“Superman” scored the Spanish squad’s first grand tour win of the season.

“It has been four years since I won in the Vuelta. To do it today in the queen stage makes me proud and motivates me even more. We have offered a nice spectacle,” López said.

Race-leader Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) put pressure on his competition in the final half-kilometer, padding his lead at the end of a 162.6-kilometer route that featured four categorized climbs, and finished atop the “Spanish Galibier.”

“It was hard — it felt how it should feel. It was a super hard day, especially after yesterday’s effort. I was happy that something was left and I could climb this mountain,” Roglič said.”

How it happened

A breakaway of nearly 30 riders had established itself and looked very strong at 90km to go on the 162.6-kilometer route that featured two category 1 climbs, a category 2 climb, and a finale on a beyond category ascent on roads barely one car-width wide.

Bahrain-Victorious lead the chase, with Jumbo-Visma content to let a different squad to the pacemaking.

From the break, Jens Keukeleire (EF Education Nippo) took the maximum sprint points inside of 85km to go.

Just 10km later, the lead group was fractured when Michael Storer (Team DSM) went to the front. Storer had previously won stages 7 and 10 in this edition of the Spanish tour.

Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Diego Rubio (Burgos BH) both abandoned mid-stage, before the final two climbs.

The Australian Storer built his lead to two minutes through 50km remaining, with Movistar leading the chasing peloton, more than 2:00 behind.

Storer went over the penultimate climb solo, while behind Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel–Euskadi) and Romain Bardet (AG2R-Citroën) in the polka dot jersey went after this move, to score remaining KOM points.

An end to Storer’s long-range gambit

Storer stayed out front through the base of the final climb, ahead of the chasers brought along by Rafał Majka (UAE-Team Emirates).

Bizkarra was brought back at 15km to go, leaving Bardet as the lone man between the head of the race, and the chasing peloton.

Movistar took over the lead of the chase from Bahrain-Victorious at the base of the climb with Jumbo-Visma right behind the two leading squads.

David de la Cruz (Movistar Team) went off the front of the chasers and brought the gap to the front to just 80 seconds with 9km to go. The Movistar rider brought the gap to Storer to 30 seconds with 7.5km of racing remaining, as Intermarché-Wanty-Gober Matériaux took over the lead of the chase for a short time.

Storer finally cracked at 7km from the line and allowed de la Cruz to ride up to him. He hopped on the wheels to get a rest after spending the previous 65km solo.

De la Cruz accelerated and dropped Storer, who was quickly swept up by the chasers. As the road pitched upwards, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) went to the front where he launched an attack, bringing Roglič and Enric Mas (Movistar Team).

Red jersey on the move

For the second time in as many days, Roglič and Bernal traded attacks. The ultimate outcome was the same on this stage as on the previous stage: The two-time defending Vuelta a España champ dropped the Colombian wearing the white jersey of the best young rider. On stage 18 this was in the final few hundred meters.

Mas did his best to cover Bernal and tried to keep in sight of Roglič.

Ahead of the melee, “Superman” López scored his first Vuelta win in four years, and the team’s first grand tour stage victory in the 2021 season.

Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious) had struggled to hold the wheels in the final 3km, but manage to re-connect to the back of the red jersey group inside of the final kilometer.

Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) also struggled on the very steep finale and lost 4:44 to Roglič.

Storer, for his nearly 65km gambit that took him first across several KOM checkpoints, took control of the polka dot jersey from when Romain Bardet (AG2R-Citroën).

“In my opinion, we could go more easy. It was a hard pace but again, a hard day from the very start to the finish,” observed the overall race-leader. “I think we are all feeling this effort from the last two days and also two or three weeks before. Still, I think some super hard stages to come. Hopefully, we can do our best and finish it off.”

What’s to come

While the two previous stages each had four categorized climbs, stage 19 is not a flat stage either.

The 191.2km route from Tapia to Monforte de Lemos features a category 3 climb and two category 2 climbs in the first 100km before losing elevation. With 40km remaining on the stage, the peloton will have to navigate over a series of climbs before a 20km downhill run-in to the finish.