The stamp of the could not be missing UAE Team Emirates also on the last stage of the Vuelta a Asturias, a race dominated for all three days by the team that is numerically dominating this season. Today it was the turn of Finn Fisher-Blackwho won in a narrow sprint ahead of his teammate in Oviedo Isaac Del Toro, winner of the general. The New Zealander is the third different winner in the three stages of the Spanish race, where he won yesterday Antonio MorgadoWhile Rafał Majka he finished second in the general classification, 1’15” behind his Mexican teammate.
Vuelta Asturias 2024, the news of the last stage
140 kilometers starting from Benia de Onís for the last stage of the Vuelta Asturias, without major dangers from an altitude point of view before the last ten kilometres, when you face theAlto del Violeo (3.1 kilometers at 9.3%). They are on the run Thomas Bonnet (TotalEnergies), Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Hugo Aznar (Equipo Kern Pharma), Julen Amezqueta (Illes Balears Arabay Cycling), Eduardo Pérez-Landaluce (Sidi Ali Unlock Team) and also Fernando Gaviria (Movistar Team). The Colombian sprinter therefore finds a way to make himself seen even in a race not exactly suited to his characteristics, chosen to try to refine his condition in view of the Tour of Italywhich he arrives with only one seasonal victory at the Tour Colombia and more doubts than certainties.
The six were never given a large margin, and thanks to the push of UAE Emirates they were caught just before the final climb. On the Alto del Violeo it is Igor Arrieta to set the pace for his teammates, but this time neither Del Toro nor the others try to make a big difference on a short but explosive climb. The imposed pace also discourages attacks from the other teams, who try to collect at least one stage success in the restricted sprint to close the three days well.
Last year the home runner Pelayo Sanchez he had managed to go on his own in the last kilometres, but this time the Asturian from Movistar was satisfied with a fifth place in the sprint. The winner is in fact Finn Fisher-Black, who precedes Del Toro at the finish line for second one two UAE after that of the first stage. Third place for Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies), while Eric Antonio Fagundez (Burgos-BH) finishes sixth and defends his place on the final podium, behind Del Toro and Majka. For the other teams, therefore, only crumbs remain.
The numbers of the UAE
With Fisher-Black’s stage victory and Del Toro’s overall victory, UAE Team Emirates reaches the mark thirty victories in the season, obtained by ten different runners. Both the New Zealander and the Mexican reach three wins in 2024, placing third in the internal ranking of multiple winners, behind Brandon McNulty at five and the inevitable Slovenian with seven.
Last year there were fifty-seven victories with seventeen different riders, but this year the World Tour team is well on average to surpass all its records and confirm itself at the first place in the UCI ranking, where he is currently largely in command. Due to the depth of the roster and the quality of the riders, the UAE has a real chance of surpassing even the record-breaking season, at least in recent times, of Quick-Step’s 72 victories in 2018, even without having top sprinters who can contribute with double figures “easy”. That’s why he’ll think about it Tadej Pogačarperhaps as early as next week.
