photo credits @ La Vuelta/Twitter
Kristian Sbaragli denied John Degenkolb today’s victory in stage 10 of the Vuelta a España, after winning a hotly contested sprint finish in Castellón de la Plana.
The Finale
A messy bunch sprint at the conclusion of today’s 146.5 kilometer stage from Valencia resulted in a surprise win for the 25-year-old Italian rider, who held off a late surge from Giant-Alpecin’s Degenkolb to give the African team their latest Grand Tour victory of the season.
Meanwhile, despite missing out on a top-10 finish in today’ stage, Tom Dumoulin managed to retain his 57-second lead over Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), with Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) a further two seconds in arrears.
Sbaragli’s victory, which follows in line with that of teammate Steve Cummings’s stage win during last month’s Tour de France, now serves to underline MTN-Qhubeka’s status as a World Tour team in the making.
“It is a dream come true for me because it’s been four times in this Vuelta that I’ve tried to do my sprint and today when I crossed the finish line, I still cannot believe it,” Sbaragli said. “It is a dream for me and a dream for MTN-Qhubeka.”
Stage 10 Results ITA 1 SBARAGLI, Kristian (MTN – QHUBEKA) 3:12:43 GER 2 DEGENKOLB, John (GIANT – ALPECIN) ESP 3 ROJAS GIL, Jose Joaquin (MOVISTAR) BEL 4 VAN DER SANDE, Tosh (LOTTO SOUDAL) POR 5 GONÇALVES, José (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) ITA 6 MONTAGUTI, Matteo (AG2R LA MONDIALE) BEL 7 KEUKELEIRE, Jens (ORICA GreenEDGE) RSA 8 IMPEY, Daryl (ORICA GreenEDGE) BEL 9 SERRY, Pieter (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) ITA 10 CONTI, Valerio (LAMPRE – MERIDA)
General Classification after Stage 10 NED 1 DUMOULIN, Tom (GIANT – ALPECIN) 38:34:56 ESP 2 RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Joaquim (KATUSHA) + 57 COL 3 CHAVES RUBIO, Johan Esteban (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 59 ITA 4 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) + 1:13 ESP 5 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 1:17 COL 6 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) GBR 7 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 1:18 POL 8 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 1:47 ITA 9 POZZOVIVO, Domenico (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 1:52 ESP 10 NIEVE ITURALDE, Mikel (SKY) + 2:17
You must be logged in to post a comment.
