photo credits @ ASO
Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica – BikeExchange) claimed stage 18 of the Vuelta a Espana today, after the young Danish rider emerged victorious out of a hotly contested sprint finish in Gandia to give his Australian team its third stage victory in this year’s Spanish Grand Tour.
The Orica-BikeExchange rider timed his sprint to perfection, to fend-off a rapidly approaching Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin), Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC) and Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff), to seize the stage hours.
“It’s a really big dream come true, really fantastic,” he said. “Our main goal at Orica-Bike Exchange is to have our eye on the GC guys and every now and again we try. This is fantastic for me, I gave it a go today, and it was amazing. It’s my first Grand Tour ever, and three wins, two guys high up on GC (Chaves and Yates); it’s a nice team to be on at the moment.”
Meanwhile, race leader, Nairo Quintana (Movistar), finished safely in the peloton to retain his 3:37 race lead over Chris Froome (Team Sky).
Race Highlights
Fumiyukei Beppu (Trek – Segafredo), Quentin Jauregui (Ag2r La Mondiale), Louis Vervaeke (Lotto-Soudal), Pierre Rolland (Cannondale – Drapac) and Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre – Merida), marked the day’s first breakaway group.
From there, the quintet went on to establish almost a seven minute advantage over the peloton.
However, with around 30 kilometers to go, cohesion within the breakaway group began to dimmish, which prompted a last ditch attempt from Beppu, Jauregui, Vervaeke and Rolland to try and make things stick.
Their efforts held out until the final 12 kilometers, when the work of Etixx-Quick Step succeeded at reeling in the escapees.
With 3.5 kilometers to go, Jan Bakelants made a solo attack to no avail.
At that point, the race began shaping for an eventual sprint finale, which saw Nielsen hold-off his rivals to claim his first-ever Grand Tour victory.
Stage 18 Results DEN 1 NIELSEN, Magnus Cort (ORICA-BikeExchange) 4:54:31 GER 2 ARNDT, Nikias (GIANT – ALPECIN) LUX 3 DRUCKER, Jean-Pierre (BMC RACING) ITA 4 BENNATI, Daniele (TINKOFF) BEL 5 VANGENECHTEN, Jonas (IAM CYCLING) USA 6 REIJNEN, Kiel (TREK – SEGAFREDO) GER 7 SCHWARZMANN, Michael (BORA-ARGON 18) BEL 8 MEERSMAN, Gianni (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) ITA 9 SBARAGLI, Kristian (DIMENSION DATA) FRA 10 MANZIN, Lorenzo (FDJ) BEL 11 LAMPAERT, Yves (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) CZE 12 STYBAR, Zdenek (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) CAN 13 ANDERSON, Ryan (DIRECT ENERGIE) LTU 14 BAGDONAS, Gediminas (AG2R LA MONDIALE) FRA 15 HARDY, Romain (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) ESP 16 ROJAS GIL, Jose Joaquin (MOVISTAR) RUS 17 LAGUTIN, Sergey (KATUSHA) ESP 18 PRADES REVERTE, Eduard (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) FRA 19 LADAGNOUS, Matthieu (FDJ) JPN 20 ARASHIRO, Yukiya (LAMPRE – MERIDA) BEL 21 WALLAYS, Jelle (LOTTO SOUDAL) ESP 22 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) GER 23 KNEES, Christian (SKY) BEL 24 VAN DER SANDE, Tosh (LOTTO SOUDAL) NZL 25 BENNETT, George (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) ITA 26 FELLINE, Fabio (TREK – SEGAFREDO) COL 27 RESTREPO, Jhonatan (KATUSHA) COL 28 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) COL 29 CHAVES RUBIO, Jhoan Esteban (ORICA-BikeExchange) AUS 30 HANSEN, Adam (LOTTO SOUDAL) NED 31 DE KORT, Koen (GIANT – ALPECIN) GBR 32 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) ITA 33 SCARPONI, Michele (ASTANA) NOR 34 BYSTRØM, Sven Erik (KATUSHA) FRA 35 BIDARD, François (AG2R LA MONDIALE) BEL 36 KEUKELEIRE, Jens (ORICA-BikeExchange) ESP 37 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) LAT 38 SMUKULIS, Gatis (ASTANA) FRA 39 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) SUI 40 WYSS, Marcel (IAM CYCLING)
General Classification after Stage 18 COL 1 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) 74:30:03 GBR 2 FROOME, Christopher (SKY) + 3:37 COL 3 CHAVES RUBIO, Jhoan Esteban (ORICA-BikeExchange) + 3:57 ESP 4 CONTADOR VELASCO, Alberto (TINKOFF) + 4:02 GBR 5 YATES, Simon (ORICA-BikeExchange) + 6:03 USA 6 TALANSKY, Andrew (CANNONDALE) + 7:34 ESP 7 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) + 8:12 ITA 8 FORMOLO, Davide (CANNONDALE) + 8:13 ITA 9 SCARPONI, Michele (ASTANA) + 8:28 ESP 10 DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO, David (ETIXX – QUICK STEP) + 8:52 ESP 11 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (MOVISTAR) + 9:03 NZL 12 BENNETT, George (LOTTO NL – JUMBO) + 11:02 ESP 13 PARDILLA BELLON, Sergio (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) + 11:13 FRA 14 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 11:44 BEL 15 HERMANS, Ben (BMC RACING) + 12:32 ESP 16 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 13:48 RUS 17 SILIN, Egor (KATUSHA) + 15:56 BEL 18 MONFORT, Maxime (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 20:11 BEL 19 BAKELANTS, Jan (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 24:50 SUI 20 WYSS, Marcel (IAM CYCLING) + 29:36
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