Ireland's Nicolas Roche came back from a late scare on Vuelta stage 11. He even put time into some of his rivals for a top general classification place. The peloton split during the hard finale under the pressure of QuickStep.
Nicolas Roche recovers after Vuelta puncture
Nicolas Roche has recovered from a late puncture at the Vuelta to take a top 10 finish on what was a very hard finale.
The Irish rider punctured with just 12km to the finish of today's stage 13. Two of the early breakaway were still out front and the sprinters' teams were driving the pace.
Roche's team mates waited for him and paced him back into the flying peloton. And as soon as he was back in the pack he made his way to the front to get ready for a tricky finale.
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With a steady incline just before the flat finish, the field split up under the pressure of QuickStep driving on the front.
And at the finish a front group of 15 riders pulled clear, with the rest of the bunch scattered very far back the road.
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The stage was won, for the third time on this race, by Matteo Trentin of QuickStep from Gianni Moscon (Team Sky).
Roche would take 10th place. But he was not the only general classification rider to fight to the front.
Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Christopher Froome (Team Sky), Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb), Alberto Contador Velasco (Trek-Segafredo) and Roche filled places 6th to 10th.
That finishing order meant Roche did not move up overall; he remains 11th. But he did gain time of some key riders.
Roche gained seven seconds on a group that included Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb), Miguel Ángel López (Astana), Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing), David de la Cruz (QuickStep) and Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates).
López, de la Cruz and Zakarin are all ahead of Roche overall. And the others are rivals for the final general classification top 10.
More to follow.
Stage 13: Coín to Tomares (198.4km)
1 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 4:25:13
2 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
3 Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb
4 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Cannondale-Drapac
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
7 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
8 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb
9 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
10 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
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