Nicolas Roche launched his Vuelta stage 10 attack coming down the final climb and was never seen again.
Nicolas Roche launches attack on Vuelta stage 10
[wpbrad id=125]
Ireland's Nicolas Roche has gained time on his rivals at La Vuelta with a late successful stage 10 attack.
He has been involved in the battle of seconds which has unfolded on the final climb of the day on many stages so far.
However, today he gave his rivals the slip on a late descent. And the BMC Racing man had the legs to keep it going all the way.
Roche remains 3rd overall. But while he had been 1:05 down on race leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) at the start of the day he has now cut that to 36 seconds.
And he has also pulled level on time with Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott), who remains 2nd with Roche 3rd.
Advertisement
Conor Dunne (Aqua Blue Sport) would today finish in a large group some 17:33 in arrears following his breakaway efforts on stage 9.
Top, Aqua Blue Sport off the front in the early stages trying to make the opening breakaway. Middle, the breakaway that would eventually form. Bottom, on-fire Matteo Trentin takes La Vuelta stage 10.
Related News
A large breakaway group of 20 riders scarpered up the road early today on the 164.8km stage. It took the riders from Caravaca Jubilar to Elpozo Alimentacion.
And just over half of the escapees were never seen again. Back the road in the peloton it was Bahrain-Merida who pushed the pace in the final.
The riders faced the cat 3 Alto del Morron de Totana and immediately the cat 1 Collado Bermejo on the back end of the stage.
That climbing section – for about 20km – ended with 20km remaining to the finish.
After his team had driven the pace, it was Vincenzo Nibali who attacked just over the top of the final climb.
He flew down the mountain, clearly looking to take time out of Froome.
The race leader was back in a select group that numbered around 20 riders on the early section of the descent.
Roche would attack after Nibali, catching him and passing him. And when the Italian was caught by the select group behind, Ireland’s Roche put his head down and kept going.
He picked off some of the early breakaway men. However, four minutes ahead of him Matteo Trentin (QuickStep) took his second stage win.
He was too good in the two-up sprint with Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar). That duo had proven strongest of the breakaway.
Nicolas Roche would finish 12th on the stage, some 4:03 down on the winner. But he was 29 seconds ahead of the select group that swelled to 26 riders by the finish.
And while he had not moved up the general classification, Roche’s prospects of a top GC ride have been boosted a little with a very good ride today.
More significantly, his taking off in the final shows he is in great form. He is also clearly recovering well as the race is close to the halfway point; though with very big mountains still to home.
Stage 10: Caravaca Jubilar to Elpozo Alimentacion (164.8km)
1 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 3:34:56
2 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:01
3 Jaime Roson Garcia (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:19
4 Jacques Janse van Rensburg (RSA) Dimension Data 0:00:21
5 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:56
6 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:59
7 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:02:22
8 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team
9 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ 0:02:40
10 Rafael Reis (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:03:05
11 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:03:59
12 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:04:03
13 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:04:32
14 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
15 Aldemar Reyes (Col) Manzana Postobon
16 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
17 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Team Sky
18 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky
19 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
20 Niki Terpstra (Ned) Quick-Step Floors
21 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
22 David de la Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
23 Valerio Agnoli (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
24 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
25 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
26 Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-Scott
27 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
28 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
29 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
30 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Dimension Data
31 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team
32 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac
33 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team
34 Stef Clement (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
35 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team
166 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport 0:17:33
General Classification
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 40:12:44
2 Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-Scott 0:00:36
3 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:17
5 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:01:27
6 David de la Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:30
7 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:33
8 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:52
9 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:01:55
10 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:15
11 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:02:31
12 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:03:04
13 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:32
14 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:03:45
15 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:04:09
16 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:42
17 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:04:46
18 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Dimension Data 0:05:54
19 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Team Sky 0:07:24
20 Jaime Roson Garcia (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:08:08
Topics
