Vuelta a Espana Stage 18 Results

Dumoulin Wins the First of 3 Remaining Tests, Roche takes the Stage Win

Nicolas Roche of Team Sky won Stage 18 of the Vuelta while Tom Dumoulin of Team Giant-Alpecin was able to defend his 3 second lead in the Vuelta despite repeated testing by Fabio Aru of Astana Pro Team on the last climb of the day. Roche was able to edge out Haimar Zubeldia of Trek Factory Racing at the finish line to win the stage. He and Zubeldia were the only two riders ahead of the leaders group and were the remaining riders of the day’s breakaway group. Aru and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) repeatedly tried to pull away from the leader's group with 2 km (1.2 miles) to go in the stage. For each of Aru's attempts, Dumoulin was able to respond and keep pace with Aru. Valverde’s attacks were to counter Esteban Chaves (Orica GreenEdge), who was attacking to pass Valverde in the GC Standings. Valverde leads Chaves by only 15 seconds.

This 204 km stage had two categorized climbs, a Category 3 and 1, on the route from Roa de Duero to Riaza. A 24 rider breakaway, including Roche and Zubeldia,  formed and the peloton, especially the leaders had to monitor and keep the breakaway close or it would have the chance to stay away and win. The breakaway gradually fell apart as riders dropped off of the pace and the breakaway was eventually caught with 18 km to go with Roche and Zubeldia proceeding alone up the last climb of the day.

Tomorrow’s 185 km Stage 19 from Medina del Campo to Avila could be another stage where a breakaway could win the day. The stage has one categorized climb, a Category 2, Alto de la Paramera. This climb is 16 km (9.9 miles) long with a 4% grade. Dumoulin’s team was not with him at the end of today’s stage. The Giant-Alpecin team may have to support Dumoulin throughout the next stage.

Stage 18 Results

1	Nicolas Roche	Irl	Team Sky	5:03:59
2	Haimar Zubeldia	Spa	Trek Factory Racing	0:00:00
3	José Gonçalves	Por	Caja Rural-Seguros RGA	0:00:18
4	Alejandro Valverde	Spa	Movistar Team	0:00:38
5	Esteban Chaves	Col	Orica GreenEdge	0:00:38
6	Joaquim Rodriguez	Spa	Team Katusha	0:00:38
7	Pieter Serry	Bel	Etixx - Quick-Step	0:00:38
8	Adam Hansen	Aus	Lotto Soudal	0:00:38
9	Gianluca Brambilla	Ita	Etixx - Quick-Step	0:00:38
10	Domenico Pozzovivo	Ita	AG2R La Mondiale	0:00:38
11	Fabio Aru	Ita	Astana Pro Team	0:00:38
12	Rafal Majka	Pol	Tinkoff-Saxo	0:00:38
13	Andre Cardoso	Por	Cannondale-Garmin Pro Cycling Team	0:00:38
14	Mikel Nieve	Spa	Team Sky	0:00:38
15	Tom Dumoulin	Ned	Team Giant-Alpecin	0:00:38

General Classification Standings

1	Tom Dumoulin	Ned	Team Giant-Alpecin	73:45:13
2	Fabio Aru	Ita	Astana Pro Team	0:00:03
3	Joaquim Rodriguez	Spa	Team Katusha	0:01:15
4	Rafal Majka	Pol	Tinkoff-Saxo	0:02:22
5	Nairo Quintana	Col	Movistar Team	0:02:53
6	Alejandro Valverde	Spa	Movistar Team	0:03:15
7	Esteban Chaves	Col	Orica GreenEdge	0:03:30
8	Daniel Moreno Fernandez	Spa	Team Katusha	0:03:46
9	Mikel Nieve	Spa	Team Sky	0:04:10
10	Louis Meintjes	RSA	MTN - Qhubeka	0:06:51