2024 Vuelta a España Stage 6 Results & Recap
Stage 6 of the 2024 Vuelta a España is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
O'Connor Crushes on Stage 6
After an action-packed opening hour, the breakaway formed on the first climb, the Puerto de Boyar. Among the attackers were Ben O'Connor and Gijs Leemreize. The Australian dropped the Dutchman on the penultimate climb and soloed to victory. He finished minutes ahead of the GC group and took the overall race lead.
Attacks were flying from the gun, but there was still no break after 44 kilometres of frantic action. Then Joshua Tarling, Marco Frigo and Gijs Leemreize set off before 30 more riders came across. The attackers opened up a gap of over one minute, while Filippo Zana punctured just before Puerto de Boyar, so a break of 32 riders entered the first climb of the day.
The action continued on the climb. While Clément Berthet, Pelayo Sánchez, and Cristián Rodríguez attacked from the front, a group with Thymen Arensman, Rémy Rochas, Richard Carapaz, Max Poole, Chris Hamilton, Giulio Ciccone, Isaac del Toro, Jay Vine, Ben O’Connor, and Florian Lipowitz tracked down the chasers.
The peloton did not allow this, and a regrouping took place. Only the three attackers remained at the front, although Jay Vine, Mauri Vansevenant, Ben O’Connor, Florian Lipowitz, Luca Vergallito, Marco Frigo, and Urko Berrade kept on pushing as well. Pablo Castrillo and Gijs Leemreize rejoined them, and the nine made it back to the lead group. They reached the summit 30 seconds ahead of the peloton before Chris Harper bridged across in the descent.
O’Connor took a time bonus of 6 seconds in Ronda; Rodríguez earned 4 seconds; Berthet 2.
O’Connor attacked in the run-up to the Puerto del Viento, and Leemreize went with him. They reached the summit 30 seconds ahead of Frigo and Berrade, while Sánchez rejoined the chasers later. The peloton was over five minutes adrift at the Puerto del Viento.
O’Connor distanced Leemreize on the Puerto Martinez, while Frigo left the chase group to go after Leemreize. The Australian reached the summit six minutes ahead of the peloton.
The solo rider hit the finish climb 6.30 minutes ahead of the peloton, which was more than enough for the stage win and the leader’s jersey.
Adam Yates, Giulio Ciccone, and Matthew Riccitello were among the riders losing time after crashes.
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