Lennard Kamna wins stage 9 in La Vuelta a España 2023

A day of leg-breakers to close the first week of La Vuelta a España 2023, with a route of 184 km through Murcia that linked Cartagena with the town of Caravaca de la Cruz where the organization had set one of the novelties of this edition by placing the finish line in the Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca, a tough climb of 8 kilometers and some very important ramps.

9th stage of La Vuelta with a spectacular development but a bland finish

What was not expected was the crazy start that occurred thanks to the very intense favorable wind and sideways. At the exit of Cartagena the peloton split into a front group with Evenpoel, Vingegaard, Roglic or Vlasov while, about 30 seconds behind, Bahrain-Victorious, Movistar and UAE Team Emirates chased to minimize losses.

A hard pulse that was maintained for more than 40 kilometers at an average speed of more than 53 km / h, until reaching the ascent to the pass of Casas de Marina la Perdiz, one of the decisive points of one of the classic races of the elite / U23 calendar as is the Guerrita Trophy. The arrival at the pass calmed the situation and, finally, the peloton regrouped, which other competitors took advantage of to try to find the breakaway of the day that was formed along the climb in a group of 8 with the Cofidis rider from Murcia Rubén Fernández trying to be a prophet in his land and with Lennard Kamna as the most prominent.

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We would thus experience a good number of kilometers of relative calm in which the breakaway's lead shot up to more than 8 minutes. At least it was until, after the town of Mula, hometown of another of the illustrious Murcians of the peloton, Luis León Sánchez, the peloton abandoned the wide roads to enter an area of small roads where the wind was blowing hard again. Jumbo-Visma, at the head of the group, got back into the ditch and the peloton was completely destroyed although, this time, all the favorites were holding on at the front.

A new impulse that served to bring the breakaway to under 4 minutes and that, above all, significantly hardened the road, something to take into account in the face of the hard final climb, although they finally lifted their foot, which on the one hand allowed some of those who had fallen behind to return to the main group and, on the other, gave wings to the breakaway that, with an advantage that went back to over 5 minutes, could already begin to think about the dispute of the stage.

With the start of the pass, hostilities broke out among the escapees but, halfway up the climb, as could be foreseen, Lennard Kamna started strongly and, despite Matteo Sobrero's attempts to follow his wheel, the only one who at least tried, it was clear that he was the strongest of the breakaway and went to the finish line. A finish that he would culminate in the planned place because a small muddy area in the last few hundred meters causes a curious image.

The organization decided that the times for the overall would be taken, to avoid any risk, 2 km from the finish. After a climb with no attacks in the group of favorites, only a timid move by Joao Almeida. Finally, with the 2-kilometre mark in sight, it was Roglic who went off to try to gain a few seconds, although Enric Mas and Remco Evenepoel came out easily on his wheel.

The curious image is that after this point they stopped, ending their stage while, ahead, Lennard Kamna was still covering the last meters to reach the victory in the real finish line. A real nonsense. Incidentally, a triumph with which the German joined the exclusive club of those who have won a stage victory in the three Grand Tours.

The race arrives with everything open to the first rest day and the decisive time trial in Valladolid that will leave the classification more profiled for the Pyrenees.