Stefan Küng wins the Vuelta a España time trial; Enric Mas maintains the lead

The Swiss Stefan Küng (Tudor) was proclaimed winner of the 18th stage of the Vuelta a España, a 32-kilometer time trial, starting in the bullring of El Puerto de Santa María and arriving in Jerez de la Frontera, a route without orographic difficulties, in which he spent a time of 35 minutes and 22 seconds.

The great interest of the day focused on the dispute between Enric Mas and Primoz Roglic, leader and third place overall, respectively. In that fight, the Slovenian, a specialist in the fight against the clock, emerged victorious, surpassing the Spaniard by 33 seconds, a time lower than that predicted by the experts, who predicted up to a minute and a half.

The Slovenian established a record of 35.41 and the Spanish, 36.14. The Austrian Felix Gall had a much worse record, who until this Thursday was second, with a time of 37.09.

After this timed exercise, the Spanish cyclist continues to be the leader of the race, but now with an advantage of 1:37. Before the time trial, the Spaniard led Roglic by 2:10.

The best Spaniard in the time trial was Xavier Azparren (Pinarello Q36.5), who was tenth, 33 seconds behind Stefan Küng.

The Vuelta faces its last three stages from this Friday until next Sunday. The first two have a mountainous profile and the third (closing of the race) is flat, starting and finishing in Granada. Friday's day concludes at the top of Peñas Blancas, a long climb of 18.7 km, with an average percentage of 6.5%. Saturday's race ends at the top of Collado del Aguacil, a special category port, 8.3 km long, with an average slope of 9.8% and ramps of 22%.