“I skipped the Tour de France because I wanted to win a stage here. We succeeded" - Delight for Lennard Kämna at the Vuelta a Espana

Lennard Kämna has now joined the elite group of riders to have secured themselves stage victories at each of the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and courtesy of a stunning breakaway success on stage 9, now the Vuelta a Espana.

“It wasn't always easy after the Giro, because I had a lot of setbacks,” the BORA - hansgrohe rider reflected in his post-stage interview. “I am very happy with this. I have worked very hard in recent months and am happy to be on the podium again and to win here. I hoped to move along and have as much energy as possible for when everything came together again. At that moment I noticed that I still had power."

After a full-gas start that saw echelons and GC riders on the attack, Kamna found himself as part of a breakaway group where he was the standout favourite for the stage win. Although that is exactly how it transpired, it wasn't as easy as it sounds.

“That was very tricky. The climb was always up and down,” he describes. “That made it difficult to drive away. It came out exactly like this in a bend. I had a gap on Matteo Sobrero and then I went full throttle. I tried to break it by going two minutes over my limit. I skipped the Tour de France because I wanted to win a stage here. We succeeded and that is why I am very happy.”