Mauro Schmid finishes the 18th stage of the Vuelta in 2nd place. He was only beaten by the Spaniard Urko Berrade. Ben O'Connor remains leader.
Mauro Schmid once again rode very actively at this Vuelta. On the 179.5 km stage from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Maeztu, the 24-year-old from Zurich was part of a three-man lead group for a long time together with compatriot Stefan Küng. However, the trio then had to let several riders catch up. Urko Berrade attacked 5.5 km before the finish and saved four seconds.
Behind him, Schmid decided the sprint of a group of eight riders in his favor. The Swiss rider from the Australian Jayco-Alula team had already finished second in the 13th stage of this year's Vuelta. Küng finished the race in twelfth place, 51 seconds behind the leader.
The Australian Ben O'Connor successfully defended the leader's jersey in the hilly stage with the 8.3 percent steep Puerto Herrera as the main obstacle. He crossed the finish line at the same time as the first chasers in the overall classification and is still five seconds ahead of the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, who won the Vuelta three times in a row from 2019 to 2021. Third-placed Spaniard Enric Mas is 1:25 minutes behind O'Connor. The big loser of the day was Spaniard Mikel Landa, who dropped from 5th to 10th intermediate place.
The 19th stage on Friday ends with the first category mountain finish on the Alto de Moncalvillo. Over 8.6 kilometers, the climb averages 8.9 percent.
