Egan Bernal wins Vuelta stage shortened by pro-Palestine protests on finishing climb

Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) won stage 16 of the Vuelta a España in Galicia, beating Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) in a sprint at an adapted finish line. 

Due to protests at the finish, the race organisers made the decision to move the finish line 8km out, taking out the final climb to Mos. Castro de Herville. It's the first Grand Tour stage win for Bernal since he claimed stage 16 on his way to general classification victory at the Giro d'Italia in 2021.

The red jersey group featuring the main GC contenders, minus Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), finished the stage together 5:52 behind the stage winner, meaning that there are no changes in the virtual podium. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) continues to lead João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) by 48 seconds with Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) at 2:38.

After a lengthy and competitive battle for the breakaway, 17 riders forged clear including Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), and stage 14 winner Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG),

The advantage between the breakaway and the peloton, led by Visma | Lease a Bike, settled at around the 4:30 mark for a prolonged period of time.

With 61km remaining, Landa launched an unexpected move on a plateau section of the Alto da Groba climb, which saw him quickly open a strong advantage. A kilometre later, the breakaway began to split with riders trying to jump across to Landa before the summit of the climb.

It was Bernal who was first to come across to Landa with Clément Braz Afonso (Groupama-FDJ) joining suit, just before the crest where Landa claimed the maximum points. Meanwhile, the advantage to the peloton grew to 5:20 as rain started to fall. 

Afonso’s teammate Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ)  managed to bridge across to the front trio on the descent alongside Nico Denz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), as the gap to the peloton expanded to over six minutes, illustrating this was going to be a stage contested by the breakaway.

Panic stations began to ensue in the second group as riders attempted to bridge the 20-second gap to the front quintet.

Soler and Finlay Pickering (Bahrain-Victorious) attempted to bridge across to the quintet with around 35km remaining; the gap was around 15 seconds. However, the front group were cooperating well, in an attempt to keep the Spanish rider and young Brit at bay.

Onto the Alto de Prado, Denz was distanced from the front, courtesy of the pace set by Landa, with the German swept up by Soler and Pickering, who would form the chase.

Rolland was eventually distanced by less than a kilometre until the summit, leaving three riders at the head of the race; meanwhile, behind, Bahrain-Victorious led the peloton onto the steep Alto de Prado.

Landa led the front trio over the summit whilst the second group swelled to five riders as Rolland was caught, and Bob Jungels (Ineos Grenadiers) bridged across. Shortly after, Soler sat up from the chase group to wait for the peloton, which had shrunk in size and even seen 5th place overall, Felix Gall, distanced on the steep slopes of the Alto de Prado.

Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) suffered a puncture over the summit, but received his teammate Ben Tulett’s bike in a smooth execution and swiftly returned with none of his opponents pushing the pace in his absence. Gall, however, was unable to return, with his 5th-place position now in jeopardy.

The road surface, combined with the weather conditions, was clearly causing the grit to rise, as Afonso in the breakaway also suffered a puncture with 16km remaining, leaving Bernal and Landa up front.

Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) put some pressure on the descent leading towards the final climb, and it briefly caused some splits in the group. Things knitted together, however, when the riders found out that due to protests at the finish, the race organisers announced that the stage would now finish with 8km remaining, skipping the final climb. 

Up front, Landa led out the sprint for the win, but couldn’t match Bernal when the Colombian champion pounced out of the wheel on the uphill drag to the makeshift line.