Nicolas Roche was on the attack and is coming good at Vuelta 2018 with plenty of chances remaining.
Nicolas Roche attacks all-out Vuelta stage 11
Having confirmed his long-rumoured transfer to Team Sunweb, Nicolas Roche went on the attack at the Vuelta today.
And while he could not add a third stage victory to his career wins on this race, his BMC Racing squad won the day with Alessandro De Marchi victorious.
The 207.8km stage 11 from Mombuey to Ribeira Sacra Luintra was an unusual one.
There was barely a flat stretch of road and the terrain produced many attacks from the general classification men.
But it wasn’t until just after the halfway point that the winning escape, with 19 riders, went clear.
BMC Racing were present with a strong trio; Dylan Teuns joining De Marchi and Roche.
Thibaut Pinot of Groupama-FDJ, who has lost time but still has general classification aspirations, was also there along with team mate Léo Vincent.
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Other stand-out names included Omar Fraile (Astana), Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) and Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal).
Sergio Henao (Team Sky) was also there, as was Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) who had been 2nd on stage 9 on Sunday.
The line-up was very strong as the 9.5km climb on Alto de Covelo had been instrumental in helping make the selection.
Top down: De Marchi savours his win. Valverde leads in those riding for overall. Yates saw off the aggression, and rain, to hold on to the race lead.
Further into the stage Mollema took flight on the lower slopes of the near-9km Mirador de Cabezoas with 26km remaining.
And though he was caught by some of the escape, only the best of them got across.
Jhonatan Restrepo (Katusha-Alpecin) was also up front and he made the selection that pushed clear in pursuit of Mollema’s surge.
Restrepo would attack on the Mirador de Cabezoas and Roche went after him. Behind it was Mikel Bizkarra (Euskadi-Murias) who jumped after the two leaders.
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He was tracked by De Marchi, who would drop him and catch Roche and Restrepo to make three up front.
De Marchi then kicked on again and went solo. But he was caught by Restrepo before the top of the climb.
After they descended off the climb, and Roche went back to what remained of the breakaway, the heavens opened and De Marchi surged again up front.
This time he got clear to win the day, with Restrepo the runner-up some 28 seconds back.
Etapa 11 | Stage 11 #LaVuelta18
?? Vive el último kilómetro de la victoria de De Marchi gracias a @CarrefourES
?? Live the last km. of De Marchi's victory thanks to @CarrefourES#CarrefourConLaVuelta pic.twitter.com/NneeUf0lnE— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 5, 2018
Franco Pellizotti (Bahrain-Merida) had attacked the chasers and he took 3rd some 59 seconds down on the winner.
Then came Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale) 25 seconds later. He was followed by Teuns, Benoot, Majka and Nicolas Roche.
The Irish rider end the stage in 8th place some 1:48 down on his team mate; his best result so far.
Pinot had been virtual race leader for a long period during the stage. But rode too hard too early and was generally tactically poor.
He finished two places and two seconds behind Roche and not far up on the big guns.
What was left of the peloton picked up the pace late in the stage. And that meant Pinot remained 16th overall some 2:20 behind race leader Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott).
Gaps reduced by finish
In the end, a reflection of how aggressive and difficult the stage had been was in the composition of the group around Yates.
It numbered just 15 men and all of them were general classification riders, on a day when only 11 of the 19-man breakaway survived.
The GC riders finished in places 12th through 26th. They were some 14 seconds down on Roche and 2:01 off De Marchi.
It meant a really aggressive stage, during which the field split to pieces, produced no real changes in the general standings.
Yates still leads by one second from Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). The Spanish veteran’s team mate Nairo Quintana is 3rd at 14 seconds.
Roche moved up a little; by four places to 31st at 13:43. However, more significant for him was his team winning and the fact his form is coming good.
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