Lennard Kämna threw his arms up and beat his chest after charging up the muddy slope at Collado de la Cruz. The former World Junior Champion completed his Grand Tours triple and single-handedly won the ninth stage of the 78th Vuelta.
After his victories in the Tour de France in Villard-de-Lans (2020) and the Giro d’Italia on Mount Etna (2022), he was now able to celebrate the third of the three major cycling tours. Kämna won 184.5 kilometers from Cartagena to Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca with a lead of around 30 seconds on Italian Matteo Sobrero.
So it worked on the third try. The 26-year-old already had victory in mind on the third stage before he was caught around 1.5 kilometers from the finish. And also on the sixth stage, Kämna had tried his luck in a breakaway group in vain.
Kämna attacked a good five kilometers before the finish
But this time no one caught up with him. A good five kilometers before the finish, Kämna attacked on the 8.2-kilometer final climb with an average incline of 5.4 percent from a breakaway group originally made up of eight riders and confidently drove alone to victory. Sobrero, who will drive together with Kämna in the Bora-hansgrohe team next season, was unable to counter the start.
The ninth stage had hardly any impact on the overall standings. The American Sepp Kuss, who actually started the race as a noble helper for Tour Champion Jonas Vingegaard and Giro winner Primoz Roglic, continues to wear the red jersey. The three superstars Remco Evenepoel, Roglic and Vingegaard crossed the finish line almost at the same time.
After the first rest day, the individual time trial over 25.8 kilometers awaits on Tuesday. The duel between the Belgian time trial world champion Evenepoel and Vingegaard, who had dominated the competition in the fight against the clock, promises great excitement.
