Soler's 'unintended' victory means UAE have won 50% of Vuelta stages so far

There may still be lingering questions about the team’s commitment to João Almeida’s general classification challenge, but there is no doubting the startling collective strength of UAE Team Emirates-XRG on this Vuelta a España.

They have now won half of the stages so far at the Vuelta a España after Marc Soler collected their seventh win of the race atop La Farrapona on stage 14. The Catalan is the fourth different UAE rider to win on this Vuelta after Almeida, Juan Ayuso and Jay Vine – they also won the team time trial – and his victory was their third in as many days on the race.

Soler’s solo triumph means that UAE are also closing in inexorably on HTC’s 2009 record of 85 victories in a season. Their running tally now stands at 80, and one Tadej Pogacar returns to the fray in Canada next week.

When Soler and Mikkel Bjerg found themselves in the early break of 24 riders on stage 14, the expectation was that they would eventually drop back to aid Almeida in his joust with Jonas Vingegaard on the final climb.

But while Bjerg did so, putting in a long shift in the valley ahead of La Farrapona, Soler pressed on alone, attacking at the foot of the climb and holding on to claim stage victory, 39 seconds ahead of Vingegaard and Almeida.

“I’m really happy to take another win for the team,” said Soler. “I wasn’t expecting it. It wasn’t my intention to get in the break. I was covering the big moves and followed Campenaerts when he attacked to enter the break. I was just thinking about working for João. It was just the circumstances that saw me go off the front, and I want to dedicate the win to my wife for her birthday.”

Soler was chased by Finlay Pickering (Bahrain Victorious) on the climb of La Farrapona, but the biggest threat came from the red jersey group, which drew closer when Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) attacked near the summit.

Despite the headwind on the exposed upper section, Soler was able to hang tough to pick up the fourth Vuelta stage win of his career. All have come in the northwest of Spain, incidentally, with wins in the Basque Country in 2020 and 2022, and now two victories on Asturian mountaintops after his triumph at Lagos da Covadonga last year.

“I stuck to my rhythm, just hoping I could maintain the difference, but I was waiting for instructions from behind if João went clear and I needed to drop back,” he said. “But in the end, I had the green light to push on and I’m pleased to take the stage.”

There are shades of Renault at the 1984 Tour de France about UAE at this Vuelta. Back then, Cyrille Guimard's teammates scooped up ten of the available 23 stages, and they also claimed a crushing final overall victory through Laurent Fignon.

With another week of racing to go, UAE might well bring their tally to double figures for this Vuelta, but it remains to be seen if they can win the race overall in Madrid. Almeida remains second overall after he finished just behind Vingegaard, though he conceded two seconds in bonuses, and he now lies 48 seconds off the red jersey.