Nicolas Roche had a day to forget in the Vuelta today and will be glad to see tomorrow's rest day as the race enters the home stretch.
By Brian Canty
Nicolas Roche has endured his worst day of this year’s Vuelta A Espana so far after losing over 28 minutes on the 16th stage of the race from Luarca to the summit finish at Ermita de Alba.
The Irishman was 78th across the line and dropped down to 30th overall and is now 44:22 down on new race leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).
The Spanish rider entered the stage one second adrift of overnight leader Fabio Aru (Astana).
But when the latter crossed the line two seconds down of Rodriguez he lost the race leader’s red jersey.
It is now Italian Aru that trails by one second overall, with Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) retaining his third place overall at 1:35.
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Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) put in a strong ride to keep his fourth spot at 1:51 on a day Frank Schleck (Trek factory Racing) took one of the biggest results of his career.
The 35-year-old from Luxembourg attacked from the day’s escape group on another brutal mountain stage that featured seven categorised climbs tallying and over 5000 metres of climbing.
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Rodolfo Torres (Colombia) was second on the stage with Moreno Moser (Cannondale-Garmin) in third.
Stage 16: Luarca to Ermita de Alba, Quirós, 185km
1. Frank Schleck (Lux) Trek Factory Racing in 5-49-56
2. Rodolfo Torres (Col) Colombia at 1-10
3. Moreno Moser (Ita) Cannondale-Garmin at 1-48
4. George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo at 2-42
5. Pierre Rolland (Fra) Europcar at 2-49
6. Omar Fraile (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA at 3-05
7. Carlos Verona (Spa) Etixx-QuickStep at 4-26
8. Larry Warbasse (USA) IAM Cycling at 6-02
9. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha at 8-51
10. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana at 8-53
78. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky at 28-52
General Classification
1. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha in 67-52-44
2. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana at 1 sec
3. Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo at 1-35
4. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin at 1-51
5. Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky at 2-32
6. Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge at 2-38
7. Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha at 2-49
8. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 3-11
9. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 3-58
10. Louis Mentjes (RSA) MTN-Qhubeka at 5-22
30. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sky at 44-22
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