Stage 9

The road

At the start

Sepp Kuss in red, and a new climb

Primož Roglič won on the Xorret de Catí and his own domestique took the red jersey: Sepp Kuss leads Marc Soler by 43 seconds and Lenny Martinez by a minute, with Evenepoel, Roglič and Vingegaard all between 2:31 and 2:42 behind. Today closes the first block — 179 kilometres from Cartagena to a climb the Vuelta has never used, the Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca, which Valverde says is far harder than its numbers.

How it was won

1. 18 km to go

   Caravaca de la Cruz

   On the steep final climb, with pitches over 15%, the eight-man break splinters and Kämna waits patiently near the front.

2. 25 km to go

   Kämna's winning move

   The German makes his move with 5km to go and builds 15 seconds on Sobrero in a flash, a gap the Italian cannot close.

3. 32 km to go

   Roglič probes

   Down in the peloton Roglič jumps just before the 2km banner and Evenepoel cannot follow — a small but telling blow.

4. 4At the line

   Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca

   Kämna soloes home to complete his set of Grand Tour stage wins as the GC men soft-pedal in behind.

The result