COLLADO DE LA CRUZ DE CARAVACA, Spain (AP) — German rider Lennard Kämna won the hilly ninth stage of the Spanish Vuelta and Sepp Kuss held on to the overall lead Sunday.
Kämna, of Bora-Hansgrohe, separated from a breakaway group on the final ascent to win the 184.5-kilometer (115-mile) ride from Cartagena to Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca in southeastern Spain. Matteo Sobrero crossed 13 seconds behind, with the next riders finishing a minute later.
It was the 26-year-old Kämna’s third stage win at a Grand Tour after he won at the 2020 Tour de France and the 2022 Giro d’Italia.
Kuss slightly increased his lead over Marc Soler to 43 seconds. Third-place Lenny Martinez is 1:02 behind Kuss.
Defending champion Remco Evenepoel moved into fourth place overall at 2:24 back.
Three-time Vuelta winner Primoz Roglic and Mikel Landa are 2:29 adrift. Jonas Vingegaard, the two-time defending Tour champion, and Enric Mas are 2:35 back. Juan Ayuso and João Almeida are close behind.
Kuss, Roglic and Vingegaard are all teammates on the Jumbo-Visma team.
On Saturday, Kuss became the first American rider to lead one of the three Grand Tours since Chris Horner won the 2013 Vuelta.
Monday is the first rest day of the three-week race that ends in Madrid on Sept. 17.
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