00:02We're heading into the decisive final stretch of La Vuelta 26, starting with today's individual
00:08time trial.
00:09This is a major test for the race leader Enric Mas, who's by no means a specialist, even
00:15if he was at Spain's junior time trial champion once upon a time.
00:18The Movistar man is defending a lead of just over two minutes.
00:25It's quite flat, not a lot of corners, so we have to concentrate on the power, on the
00:34position and that's it.
00:36What result would make you happy compared to your rivals on GC?
00:40To keep the jersey, I think we have to be happy.
00:45Meanwhile the specialists have a big opportunity to take a grand tour stage win.
00:49Apart from Primoz Roglic, Stefan Kuhn is the only man in the field with an ITT victory
00:54at La Vuelta, but he is not the only contender.
00:58Who are the other favourites?
01:01Yeah, Wout van Aert, you can never count him out, he's one of the best cyclists of our generation.
01:06And if he's a hater who can beat everyone on a good day, and then you have also many other
01:13guys who can ride fast, and so yeah, then it's up to me to beat them all.
01:20This is also a chance for the emerging generation to make their mark.
01:2423-year-old Callum Thornley finished fourth at the opening time trial in Monaco, but the
01:29Scot is aiming higher today.
01:32I think if I had to design a course, it's probably perfect for me. I think the first one was
01:36a
01:36little bit too punchy and too short for me, but this one being longer, 35 minutes, it's
01:43perfect for me really. To be honest, I would like to go out there and try and win the stage.
01:48There's still some super strong guys here in the race, and yeah, a podium, but in the back
01:53of my mind I just want to win this stage. I think this would be amazing. It's a big dream.
01:56Stage 18 is a 32.1km individual time trial from El Puerto de Santa Maria to Jerez de la
02:03Frontera. No climbs and not too many changes of direction. This is a real power effort,
02:08which could have a big impact on the final result.
02:15There were several TT specialists among the early starters, including the runner-up in
02:19Monaco, Ethan Hayter. He missed out by just nine hundredths of a second that day, beaten
02:24at the death by Tadej Pogacar, but he wouldn't spend long in the hot seat on this 18th stage.
02:30The four-time British champion setting the benchmark, but he was quickly beaten by his compatriot
02:35with Thornley. The Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe man doing a fantastic job and putting 29 seconds
02:42into Hayter, clocking an average speed of 54.4km an hour. Thornley set to feature at the sharp
02:50end of the standings today, and ready to share some useful tips with his team leader, Primoz
02:55Roglic.
03:03I think you can do a lot of damage in the second half of the course. We all know that
03:06the corners here are super slippy, especially in the villages and the towns, so I'll probably
03:10phone him just now, or maybe go back to the start bus and give him some advice, but he'll
03:15do well.
03:16Well, Thornley clearly did a solid job over the final part of the course, because other riders
03:21who were matching him at the intermediate checkpoints faded by the end. Joao and Thornley
03:25Almeida, Finn Fischer-Black and Xavier Asperin all finishing in the red.
03:33Two of the big contenders for the stage win set off just two minutes apart. Bruno Amirai,
03:39the three-time French champion who was looking to give Wisma their eighth win of the race,
03:43and the six-time Swiss champion Stéphane Koen.
03:47It quickly became clear that Koen was having one of those days. The two-time European champion
03:52quicker than Amirai, and more importantly, quicker than Thornley. By the second checkpoint,
03:58he was 11 seconds up on the British rider, but could he hold that advantage all the way
04:02to the finish line?
04:06Stefan Koen is piling into the finish. It's going to be very, very close now between him
04:12and Thornley. Closer than he wanted. Is it going to be the fastest time? It is by three seconds.
04:20Wow, that was close. Thornley rode superbly the last bit. Koen goes into the hot seat.
04:29Well, there weren't many riders still to come who could realistically beat Koen,
04:32but he was no doubt keeping an eye on the performance of Wout van Aerts.
04:36The Belgian's been on superb form at this race, but could he take a first time trial win in over
04:41three years?
04:43He's lost some time on the run-in. He's going to be outside the top places.
04:49Wout van Aerts struggling a little bit to the line. Fourth fastest.
04:55Careful, Richie.
04:58It was soon time for the overall favourites to roll down the ramp.
05:02We've got used to seeing the top GC riders at Grand Tours fighting for victory in the time trials,
05:07but Koen was unlikely to be troubled by most of the riders in the top ten,
05:11not too many TT specialists among them.
05:13The notable exception was of course Primoz Roglic, Slovenian champion
05:18and winner of four individual time trials at La Vuelta, but how much time could he put into the riders
05:23ahead of him,
05:24Felix Gall and especially Henrik Maas?
05:27The two men have shared 22 time trials and Roglic has always come out on top.
05:36Well, Gall was rapidly out of the running and he would lose second place overall,
05:41but Maas was resisting superbly, perhaps thanks to the red jersey effect.
05:45Although, to be fair, he does boast a handful of top tens in Vuelta time trials.
05:50Roglic never seriously threatened Koen's time, finishing fourth just ahead of van Aerts.
05:55Meanwhile, Maas was set to lose under a minute.
05:58The Spaniard will take the red jersey into the mountains
06:01after passing this time trial test with flying colours.
06:06This is impressive from Maas.
06:09The time of Roglic, 35-41.
06:12Maas isn't going to lose that much time.
06:14This is a rider who has transformed himself.
06:19Enric Maas reaches the line now and he's going to finish inside the top 12 riders.
06:27Stefan Kung producing a superb effort to claim his 24th time trial victory.
06:32After a drought of nearly two years, the Swiss powerhouse got back to winning ways at the Tour of Poland
06:37last month
06:38and carried that form into La Vuelta.
06:40It's his second stage win at this race after the closing time trial in Madrid in 2024.
06:46It's also a second win of this edition for Tudor after Kung's roommate, Marco Brenner, triumphed on stage 14.
06:53In the end, you have to win.
06:55It doesn't matter by how big of a margin.
06:58Yes, okay, 24th victory.
07:01Probably a few that I lost.
07:04Also by only two seconds or even less.
07:07In the end, I'm just super happy to take the win here.
07:11I'm alone on the podium today, but it's a victory of the whole team.
07:15And thanks to the guys also behind me, working hard behind the scenes.
07:20Kung celebrating his 32nd career victory, only the second at a Grand Tour, by three seconds from Thornley.
07:27Almeida, Roglic and Van Aert all finished within 20 seconds, with Maas in 12th place.
07:33The Spaniard should be very satisfied with today's showing.
07:37He will head to the mountains with a lead of a minute and 37 seconds over Roglic, with Gal now
07:42over three minutes back.
07:46Van Aert took 11 points for fifth place today and has essentially secured the green jersey.
07:50He just needs to reach the finish line in Granada on Sunday.
07:55After three quiet days, our king of the mountains, Santiago Buetrago, will no doubt be itching to get back to
08:01the climbs.
08:02He still leads by 29 points from Van Aerts.
08:04And Oskar Onley has increased his lead in white to 57 seconds after gaining a bit of time today on
08:11Jakob Omrazel.
08:15Tomorrow we hit the heights again with a summit finish on Peñas Blancas, where Carapace won in 2022.
08:21Do join us for that on Friday.
08:24And thanks for watching.
