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Van Aert distanced all of his breakaway companions bar one leading into the finish before easily sprinting away from Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) as the two approached the line in Baiona.
Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) won the sprint for third place behind, in a group that arrived two minutes after Van Aert and Pacher.
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La Vuelta 2024
series • cycling
series • cycling
"It was really my aim to be in the breakaway but I had a hard time on the first climb," Van Aert said after the stage.
"I almost gave up but I gave it one more try just before the top. Still then, we had to fight for 50 kilometres with a little bit of a gap.
"To be honest, I think it worked in my favour because in the finale, the climbers in my group didn’t have fresh legs and that’s how I won."
Australian Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) navigated the stage well to prevent losing any time, remaining atop the general classification with a three minute and 53 second lead over Primoz Roglic (Red Bull BORA-Hansgrohe).
“In the end, it was the perfect scenario," O'Connor said of the day.
"It was a really hard start, it took a long time for the break to go. A lot of guys in the top 10 were interested in the breakaway so I think we did a good job today to control the start.
"Other teams were trying to stay in position so we did the descents full gas, the pace was pretty hard onto the second climb and then it pretty much stopped."
Tonight's Stage 11 now sees the peloton take on an undulating parcours, where a breakaway will again be favoured to stay away over the four medium climbs.