00:00And then there were two.
00:05After yesterday's tussle on Anglerou, it looks like Jonas Vingegaard and Joao Almeida
00:09will be fighting for victory at this Vuelta and there's another mountain stage to La
00:13Farapona on the menu today.
00:17He was close but Almeida was really strong so you could say he also earned the victory.
00:28You could see that they were both really evenly matched and we'll see what today brings especially
00:33after such a hard day yesterday.
00:36I think Joao will get better every day.
00:38He's still coming back from his Tour crash and gradually growing into the race.
00:42I think he was lacking a bit of rhythm at the start but he's getting better.
00:46We know that he's a top rider but I think that even we have been surprised by what he's been
00:50doing.
00:56Marc Soler was second the last time the race came to La Farapona in 2020.
01:00Victory that day went to David Godu who claimed another stage win and the red jersey at the
01:05start of this race.
01:08It's definitely one of my career highlights.
01:11It was my first Grand Tour win so I have great memories.
01:15Jonas might want to win today to even things up or perhaps Almeida will be feeling more
01:19confident and thinking that he can win again to take some time on Vingegaard.
01:23On paper there are lots of possibilities.
01:2825 riders got into the breakaway yesterday while it was more than 50 the day before.
01:33There are certainly opportunities at the front of the race but you need very good legs just
01:37to make it into the right move let alone to go on and win the stage.
01:41Obviously we have a great fight between Jonas and Almeida and some of the guys and you know
01:51they are not 100% confident about you know they can win Vuelta so that I think that opens
01:58the door for the breakaways.
02:00That's why we have seen in the last stages so many attacks at the start.
02:05It's hard to be in the breakaway.
02:11Well stage 14 will be short but intense with 3,800 meters of climbing packed into just 136
02:17kilometers.
02:19Like yesterday the big climbs come in the final with San Lorenzo 10 kilometers at 8.5% and then
02:25La Farrapona 17 kilometers at 5.9%.
02:34Once again there was an almighty scrap to make the breakaway with the GC teams patrolling the
02:38front to green light the moves or to shut them down. Eventually a group of around 20 riders broke
02:44free with several familiar names up at the front. The best placed on GC was Bruno Amirai just over
02:5012 minutes down on Vingegaard.
02:52Kevin Vermarker was enjoying his fourth breakaway of the race while Gianmarco Garofoli and Jefferson
02:58Cepeda were up there for the second day running. Marc Soler and Michel Pierg made it across for UAE
03:04while Visma Lisabike had sent Victor Campenaerts up the road. They quickly pulled around two minutes
03:09clear of the peloton but Campenaerts then ran into a spot of bother. The Belgian stopping with a
03:14mechanical but with his team car a long way back he had to take a spare bike from neutral service.
03:20Modern bikes are so tailored to their riders that the difference when you don't have your own is
03:24significant. Just look at how Xavier Asperen goes flying past the former hour record holder.
03:31Campenaerts did finally get a bike from the team and he joined up with Vansevenen and Lehmreiser
03:35but it wasn't going to be easy getting back to the front. The peloton weren't chasing particularly hard
03:41so the gap was soon out to over four minutes. The average speed a solid 45 kilometers an hour
03:47and what an effort by Campenaerts and Lehmreiser. They managed to chase their way back to the breakaway
03:52so 24 riders now leading the race. They soon reached the first of the day's three climbs. The
03:58Alto do Tenebreu nearly six kilometers at 6.5 percent. A nice little warm-up for the final. With the gap now up to
04:05around five minutes the 24 men at the front will have started thinking about a potential stage victory.
04:12Soler was the first man over the top on behalf of his teammate Jay Vine, the king of the mountains.
04:26But there was no real fight at the intermediate sprint with Dion Smith rolling through first
04:31and they would soon hit San Lorenzo. It's a famous climb in the Asturias region and a regular fixture
04:37on La Vuelta featuring for the fifth time since 2019. The breakaway at the base of the Puerta de San
04:45Lorenzo, 10.1 kilometers long, an average gradient of eight and a half percent. The Italians in the
04:53breakaway attacking on the early slopes of the climb. First Garofoli and then Baggioli but neither of them
04:59got very far. A change of pace in the peloton meanwhile with UAE starting to rev things up,
05:05looking to make life hard for Almeida's GC rivals. Egan Bernal and Giulio Ciccone both going backwards.
05:11The Italian was set to drop out of the top ten overall with Juan Ayuso and Jay Vine doing some serious
05:17damage. The breakaway were all back together again having caught Garofoli and Baggioli. There were
05:23still around a dozen at the summit of San Lorenzo with Shaw first over the top and then attacking on
05:29the descent. The gap continuing to drop with the GC group now at under three and a half minutes
05:34and it would soon be time to attack the final climb.
05:48The breakaway soon caught up to Shaw but they didn't have any answers when Soler attacked with
05:53Johannes Storne-Mittit of Decathlon AG2R. The two men quickly opening up a gap.
05:58Mark Soler and Johannes Storne-Mittit go through the base of the climb.
06:06L'Alto della Farapona.
06:13At this point the two front runners still led the peloton by around three minutes
06:17so they were looking good for the stage win. Or rather Mark Soler was looking good for the stage
06:22win when he said goodbye to Storne-Mittit. UAE once again pulling all the strings with Soler
06:28leading and his teammates pacing for Almeida in the GC group.
06:42Soler into the final kilometres with only Finlay Pickering still chasing.
06:47The rest had been caught by the GC group with Julio Pellizzari now on the front.
06:52The race's best young rider in white lining things up for his leader Jai Hindley.
06:59And here we go. Here's the move from Jai Hindley of Red Bull Border Handsgrower.
07:04This is what Red Bull Border Handsgrower have been wanting to set up and with gritted teeth Almeida
07:10has to get himself onto the wheel of the man from Perth. Vingagor in red straight onto the wheel.
07:16Pidcock is left wanting. Pellizzari pulls out of the line and Pidcock is struggling to hold on.
07:24Soler arriving solo at the top of the Farapona and going one better than five years ago.
07:30A day in the breakaway. A short intense stage. Just to make the breakaway was a difficulty.
07:37And he shakes his head. He punches the air. And Marc Soler is the winner for UAE Team Emirates XRG.
07:49A little skirmish between the top two overall in the final 100 metres as they dropped Hindley
07:53with Vingagor second and Almeida third. The UAE's domination continues on this Vuelta
08:00with Soler becoming the fourth rider on the team to win. They have now conquered exactly half of the
08:05stages so far. Seven out of 14. For Soler it's a measure of revenge for 2020 when he was denied by
08:11Godu on La Farapona. It's his tenth career victory and the fourth at La Vuelta.
08:20It wasn't the plan to be in the breakaway but I followed Camponauts when he went across
08:24and once I was there I knew how to play it. After the first climbs I stayed in the wheels because
08:30I remembered what the valley was like from last time. It's very tough but if you open up a gap
08:34you can make it. I had a few doubts about the win but yeah I'm very happy.
08:43Soler taking it by 39 seconds from Vingagor and Almeida followed by the rest of the GC group.
08:48Pickering rounded out the top ten.
08:50Vingagor gained a couple of seconds on the line. He's now 48 ahead of Almeida.
08:58Pidcock holds third place by 32 seconds from Hindley.
09:02Vines' polka dot jersey is coming under threat from Vingagor.
09:05The Aussie now leads the game by just seven points.
09:10And no change in white today. Pelizzari remains 32 seconds clear of Matthew Riccitello.
09:15We round out week two tomorrow with a punchy outing to Monforte de Lemos.
09:19Join us for that on Sunday and thanks for watching.
