Fabio Aru Wins His First Grand Tour
John Degenkolb of Team Giant-Alpecin won the final stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Sunday. Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team) won the overall General Classification victory by finishing the final stage without any trouble in the last Grand Tour of the 2015 season. Unfortunately Joaquim Rodriguez (Team Katusha) suffered a puncture on the lead up to the second intermediate sprint. Rodriguez was the Point Competition leader at that point, but Alejandro Valverde (Team Movistar) pulled ahead to win the sprint and gain the bonus four seconds to take the Vuelta Green Jersey. Omar Fraile (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) claimed the King of the Mountains jersey in Stage 3 and kept it throughout the Vuelta.
The largely ceremonial stage covered 93.7 km (58.2 miles) from Alcala de Henares, just outside of Madrid to Madrid itself. The route includes 12 circuits in the center of the capital and is run in the early evening, much like the final stage of the Tour in Paris. A group of six riders formed a breakaway on the second circuit, soon after the sprint win by Valverde. The breakaway could not develop a large gap between the group and the peloton. The peloton swept up the breakaway on the next to the last lap.
BMC Racing Team, Trek Factory Racing, Lampre-Merida, and Orica GreenEdge led the peloton initially toward the finish. However, Team Giant-Alpecin moved to the front with a solid lead out train for Degenkolb in the last 1.5 km (.93 mile) of the stage. Degenkolb emerged from the lead out and appeared to lead and then fade and then lead at the finish. Degenkolb barely held off a charging Danny van Poppel (Trek Factory Racing) and Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC Racing Team).
The climbing strength of the Astana Pro Team relative to Team Giant-Alpecin is shown in the Team Standings shown below. Astana finished fourth while Giant finished sixteenth in the standings. This strength was an excellent support system for Aru.
Stage 21 Results
1
|
John Degenkolb
|
Ger
|
Team Giant-Alpecin
|
2:34:13
|
2
|
Danny Van Poppel
|
Ned
|
Trek Factory Racing
|
0:00
|
3
|
Jean-Pierre Drucker
|
Lux
|
BMC Racing Team
|
0:00
|
4
|
Daryl Impey
|
RSA
|
Orica GreenEdge
|
0:00
|
5
|
Tosh Van Der Sande
|
Bel
|
Lotto Soudal
|
0:00
|
6
|
Maximiliano Ariel Richeze
|
Arg
|
Lampre-Merida
|
0:00
|
7
|
Nikolas Maes
|
Bel
|
Etixx - Quick-Step
|
0:00
|
8
|
Kristian Sbaragli
|
Ita
|
MTN - Qhubeka
|
0:00
|
9
|
Kévin Reza
|
Fra
|
FDJ
|
0:00
|
10
|
Tom Van Asbroeck
|
Bel
|
Team LottoNL-Jumbo
|
0:00
|
Final General Classification Standings
1
|
Fabio Aru
|
Ita
|
Astana Pro Team
|
8:36:13
|
2
|
Joaquim Rodriguez
|
Spa
|
Team Katusha
|
0:00:57
|
3
|
Rafal Majka
|
Pol
|
Tinkoff-Saxo
|
0:01:09
|
4
|
Nairo Quintana
|
Col
|
Movistar Team
|
0:01:42
|
5
|
Esteban Chaves
|
Col
|
Orica GreenEdge
|
0:03:10
|
6
|
Tom Dumoulin
|
Ned
|
Team Giant-Alpecin
|
0:03:46
|
7
|
Alejandro Valverde
|
Spa
|
Movistar Team
|
0:06:47
|
8
|
Mikel Nieve
|
Spa
|
Team Sky
|
0:07:06
|
9
|
Daniel Moreno Fernandez
|
Spa
|
Team Katusha
|
0:07:12
|
10
|
Songezo Jim
|
RSA
|
MTN - Qhubeka
|
0:10:26
|
Team Standings
1
|
Movistar Team
|
256:44:38
|
2
|
Team Sky
|
0:29:47
|
3
|
Team Katusha
|
0:35:44
|
4
|
Astana Pro Team
|
0:48:24
|
5
|
Team Europcar
|
1:11:00
|
6
|
Caja Rural-Seguros Rga
|
1:20:44
|
7
|
Tinkoff - Saxo
|
1:40:58
|
8
|
Etixx - Quick Step
|
1:43:44
|
9
|
Lotto Soudal
|
1:55:17
|
10
|
Cofidis, Solutions Credits
|
2:36:11
|
11
|
Team Cannondale - Garmin
|
2:51:12
|
12
|
Colombia
|
2:56:21
|
13
|
Ag2R La Mondiale
|
3:07:42
|
14
|
Trek Factory Racing
|
3:13:22
|
15
|
Lampre - Merida
|
3:36:14
|
16
|
Team Giant - Alpecin
|
4:00:15
|
17
|
Bmc Racing Team
|
4:20:42
|
18
|
Iam Cycling
|
4:30:43
|
19
|
Mtn - Qhubeka
|
4:36:14
|
20
|
Orica Greenedge
|
5:15:38
|
21
|
FDJ
|
5:21:51
|
22
|
Team Lotto Nl - Jumbo
|
6:24:41
|
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