Lennard Kamna wins stage 9 as Sepp Kuss retains chief’s purple jersey

Lennard Kamna has now received phases in any respect three of biking’s Grand Excursions

Germany’s Lennard Kamna soloed to victory on stage 9 of the Vuelta a Espana as American Sepp Kuss retained the chief’s purple jersey.

Italy’s Matteo Sobrero was second, with Australia’s Chris Hamilton third on the 184.5km stage from Cartagena to Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca.

Poor circumstances on the end meant common classification (GC) occasions had been largely awarded two kilometres early.

Kuss leads the general race by 43 seconds, with a relaxation day on Monday.

Kamna’s victory signifies that he has now received phases in any respect three of biking’s Grand Excursions, after beforehand triumphing on the Tour de France (2020) and the Giro d’Italia (2022).

Having been concerned in an earlier eight-man breakaway that was by no means significantly chased down by the peloton, he escaped with round 5 kilometres left on a steep closing climb to the road.

“I am tremendous blissful. I labored actually onerous the final couple of months,” Kamna stated. “The climb was all the time going up and down and it was onerous to seek out the second to drop the others.

“I went completely over my restrict for 2 minutes after which it was only a struggle to the end.”

With a relaxation day arising, their had been some minor changes within the GC standings as reigning champion Remco Evenepoel moved up two locations into fourth, two minutes and 22 seconds again.

In the meantime, Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard, who received the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France earlier this 12 months, additionally jumped up one spot every, to sixth and seventh, on the expense of Wout Poels, who dropped from fourth to twenty first.

Hugh Carthy is the highest-placed British rider within the race in 14th, over 4 minutes again, whereas former Tour winner Geraint Thomas is twenty second, 12 minutes and 34 seconds adrift of the chief.

Stage 9 outcomes

1. Lennard Kamna (Ger/Bora-Hansgrohe 4hrs 28mins 59secs

2. Matteo Sobrero (Ita/Jayco-AlUla) +13secs

3. Chris Hamilton (Aus/DSM) 1min 12secs

4. Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri/Lidl-Trek) 60secs

5. Jon Barrenetxea (Spa/Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) 1min 37secs

6. Ruben Fernandez (Spa/Cofidis) similar time

7. Jonathan Caicedo (European/EF Training-EasyPost) 2mins 11secs

8. Daniel Navarro (Spa/Burgos-BH) 2mins 41secs

9. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) 3mins 16secs

10. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus/Bora-Hansgrohe) 3mins 11secs

Normal classification standings after stage 9

1. Sepp Kuss (USA/Jumbo-Visma) 35hrs 23mins 30secs

2. Marc Soler (Spa/UAE Group Emirates) +43secs

3. Lenny Martinez (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +1min 02secs

4. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal-Fast-Step) +2mins 22secs

5. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +2mins 29secs

6. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) similar time

7. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) +2mins 33secs

8. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar Group) similar time

9. Juan Ayuso (Spa/UAE Group Emirates) +2mins 43secs

10. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Group Emirates) +2mins 55secs

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