Stage 18 of the Vuelta, 178.9 km from Pola de Allande to La Cruz de Linares, is animated right from the start by a large breakaway of 14 riders. The red jersey group is not interested in containing the attackers who quickly gain more than 10'.

On the first of the two passes over the Puerto de la Cruz Linares, Evenepoel manages to overtake all the other escapees, including Caruso and Poole, who were the last to give up. On the final climb the Belgian from Soudal Quick-Step easily maintains the advantage over his pursuers and obtains his third victory in this edition of the Vuelta.

Behind him are Caruso and Kron on the podium of the day.

In the group Landa tries to attack Ayuso for fourth place without success. Red jersey Kuss is escorted by Vingegaard and Roglic to the finish line.

ARRIVAL ORDER:

1 EVENEPOEL Remco Soudal - Quick Step 4:47:37

2 CARUSO Damiano Bahrain - Victorious 4:44

3 KRON Andreas Lotto Dstny 5:10

4 POOLE Max Team dsm - firmenich 5:12

5 OURSELIN Paul TotalEnergies 5:17

6 BERNARD Julien Lidl - Trek 6:11

7 BERNAL Egan INEOS Grenadiers 7:01

8 AYUSO Juan UAE Team Emirates 9:29

9 MAS ​​Enric Movistar Team,,

10 KUSS Sepp Jumbo-Visma ,,

GENERAL RANKING:

1 1 - KUSS Sepp Jumbo-Visma 65:31:27

2 VINGEGAARD ​​Jonas Jumbo-Visma 0:17

3 ROGLIČ Primož Jumbo-Visma 1:08

4 AYUSO Juan UAE Team Emirates 4:00

5 LANDA Mikel Bahrain - Victorious 4:19

6 MAS Enric Movistar Team 4:30

7 UIJTDEBROEKS Cian BORA - hansgrohe 7:37

8 VLASOV Aleksandr BORA - hansgrohe 8.35

9 ALMEIDA João UAE Team Emirates 10:20

10 BUITRAGO Santiago Bahrain - Victorious 12:20

Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency