‘It’s unbelievable’—Marc Soler claims Stage 14 victory at Vuelta a España, secures UAE Team Emirates’ seventh win

Marc Soler exhibited an impressive and bold performance as he finished first at the mountain-top finish of Vuelta a España Stage 14. He was the only rider from the UAE Team Emirates-XRG who was left from a big breakaway. Soler finished 39 seconds ahead of  Jonas Vingegaard from Visma-Lease a Bike, who came in second but remained the overall leader in the multistage race.

With this win, Soler, who is a two-time Tour de France winner, moved up his overall ranking by two more seconds over Almeida. Moreover, this marks UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s seventh win this season. 

“It’s unbelievable. I cannot explain, and 50% of the stages we’ve won, that’s amazing,” Soler expressed. 

He added, “I knew the valley road afterwards up to Farrapona was a very hard one; if you get a gap there, then you can keep it. I was worried about the wind, but it turned out OK.” 

Highlights of the race

Stage 14 of this year’s Vuelta a España was another mountain challenge, with two big climbs later at the end of the route. Early in the race, a group of 22 riders broke away, which included Marc Soler and Victor Campenaerts, and they had a lead of almost five minutes from the others. 

UAE Team Emirates-XRG gained control of the race in the first big climb.  On the valley road before the final climb, Soler broke away from the lead group with his teammates controlling the chase behind. With this, he built a lead of over two and a half minutes with 4 km to go. 

Soler stayed on his pace as the route reached the end and clinched his fourth Vuelta stage. Vingegaard closely placed second, and Hindley placed third. 

Here is the final ranking after the Stage 14 race:

1. Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in 03:48:22

2. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) +39s
3. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +39s
4. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) +43s
5. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +48s
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +53s
7. Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) 
8. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) 
9. Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) at the same time
10. Finlay Pickering (Bahrain Victorious) +1:25

Here are the overall rankings after the Stage 14 race:

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) in 53:29:49
2. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +48s
3. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) +2:38
4. Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) +3:10
5. Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +3:30
6. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +4:21
7. Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech) +4:53
8. Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) +5:46
9. Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious) +6:33
10. Matteo Jorgensen (Visma-Lease a Bike) +8:52

 

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