On the ninth day of the Vuelta a España, the red jersey remained on Torstein Træen's shoulders while Jonas Vingegaard conquered the stage with an extraordinary solo ride, finishing at Valdezcaray.

"I felt absolutely great throughout the entire stage. On the final climb, I signaled my teammates to launch me, and they did it perfectly," Vingegaard said after the award ceremony. "I'm incredibly happy to have won this way, this victory came with excellent teamwork."

Everyone was waiting for something to happen on the final climb, and so it was. After a group of five breakaway riders was caught at the foot of the climb to Valdezcaray, attention shifted to the battle among the general classification contenders. Team Visma | Lease a Bike took command of the race, and Matteo Jorgenson did important work to launch Jonas Vingegaard.

The Dane dropped Giulio Ciccone and gradually increased his advantage over João Almeida and Thomas Pidcock, now standing 37 seconds behind the red jersey Træen.

"I'm very happy with how things went. Attacking was not in our plans at all, but today I had excellent legs. When the team launched me, I was a bit surprised that the finish was still quite far away, but I had a good advantage, and then it was just a matter of giving my all. Without the work of my teammates, this would not have been possible."

Vingegaard had already won the second stage, finishing in Limone Piemonte, and today marks his second success in the Spanish race. Tomorrow will be a rest day, and then the second week of the race will begin.

The Dane did not take the red jersey, but for him, this was not important at the moment, as several stages remain before the end of the Vuelta.

"It was not necessary to take the jersey today. Our intent was to win and try to gain ground... on my closest rivals."