Kern Pharma wins third Vuelta a Espana stage! Urko Berrade wins stage 18 as Ben O'Connor is tested and Mikel Landa loses minutes on GC fight

Equipo Kern Pharma were handed out a wildcard and surpassed everyone's ambitions by a long shot! Urko Berrade has won stage 18 of the Vuelta a España from the breakaway and has collected the third stage win of the race. The GC fight also exploded; whilst Ben O'Connor was able to defend himself against the attacks of Richard Carapaz, Mikel Landa lost several minutes.

A day for the breakaway, dozens of riders attacked early in the day to try and make the difference and go for a final stage win - on the last day that doesn't feature long climbs or is a time-trial. Decathlon were not keen on putting in the work to control and no other team wanted either so a whole 42 riders formed the day's breakaway - with even more trying to bridge across unsuccessfully after Euskaltel - Euskadi missed the move.

Dozens of quality riders, it didn't take long for attacks to start in the front group. With around 90 kilometers to go Stefan Küng, Mauro Schmid and Mathias Vacek moved off the front and created chaos in the group. But surprisingly, there was still collaboration in the large group and the gap was kept under relative control.

In the main climb of the day a few riders bridged across, and the despite the attacks of Marc Soler and Pablo Castrillo, several riders were still close to each other. 13 riders collaborated together (although Mattia Cattaneo was pulled back in a controversial move late on). Steven Kruijswijk attacked in the final hilltop but with 5 kilometers to go, he was followed by Kern Pharma's Urko Berrade and the Spaniard then attacked himself.

The Spaniard had his dream come true, and soloed to the stage victory in Maetzu. Mauro Schmid and his teammate Pau Miquel finished second and third on the day.

`*Miquel was later relegated, and Max Poole was awarded third place.

In the GC group, EF Education-EasyPost hit the front on the Puerto Herrera and Richard Carapaz attacked. After a brief split, the Ecuadorian slowed down and then attacked again with Primoz Roglic and Enric Mas, alongside a few others, following. Ben O'Connor was dropped as many riders from the breakaway dropped behind from the breakaway to assist all their leaders. O'Connor managed to latch on again in the group, but Mikel Landa was the big victim of the day, losing minutes after not having the legs to follow in the climb.

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