Aru Wins the Vuelta a Espana
Dumoulin Falls to Sixth Place
Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida) won Stage 20. Plaza pulled away from an 11 rider breakaway group early in the stage and stayed away for the stage victory. Fabio Aru (Astana Pro Team) finished the stage 4 minutes ahead of Tom Dumoulin, who could not keep up with the Vuelta leader group over the four Category 1 climbs on the stage route.
With 49 km (30 miles) to go in the 181 km (112 mile) stage from San Lorenzo de El Escorial to Cercedilla, Dumoulin was alone, with none of his teammate with the other Vuelta leaders. With 43 km (26 miles) to the finish, Aru, Nairo Quintana (Team Movistar) and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) attacked Dumoulin, opening up a small gap on the third of the four climbs. Over the next climb, the gap between the leader group and Dumoulin opened up to nearly 4 minutes.
Along with Aru, Quintana and Majka finishing well ahead of Dumoulin to move past him in the General Classification Standings, Esteban Chaves (Orica GreenEdge) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Team Katusha) finished ahead of Dumoulin to also finish ahead of Dumoulin in the GC Standings. This was an impressive Grand Tour for Dumoulin. He and his Giant team held their own in a tough mountainous stage race until the very last competitive stage against the stronger climbing teams of Astana and Movistar. If today’s stage had been flat, Dumoulin might have won the Red Jersey. Also, the anticipated showdown between GC contenders from the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia did not materialize. However, the Vuelta was very competitive.
Stage 20 Results
1
|
Ruben Plaza
|
Spa
|
Lampre-Merida
|
4:37:05
|
2
|
Jose Goncalves
|
Spa
|
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
|
0:01:07
|
3
|
Alessandro De Marchi
|
Ita
|
BMC Racing Team
|
0:01:08
|
4
|
Romain Sicard
|
Fra
|
Europcar
|
0:01:29
|
5
|
Amaël Moinard
|
Fra
|
BMC Racing Team
|
0:01:30
|
6
|
Carlos Verona
|
Spa
|
Etixx - Quick Step
|
0:01:30
|
7
|
Sergio Luis Henao
|
Col
|
Team Sky
|
0:01:30
|
8
|
Kenny Elissonde
|
Fra
|
FDJ
|
0:01:35
|
9
|
Matteo Montaguti
|
Ita
|
AG2R La Mondiale
|
0:01:43
|
10
|
Moreno Moser
|
Ita
|
BMC Racing Team
|
0:02:40
|
General Classification Standings
1
|
Fabio Aru
|
Ita
|
Astana Pro Team
|
83:01:40
|
2
|
Joaquim Rodriguez
|
Spa
|
Team Katusha
|
0:01:17
|
3
|
Rafal Majka
|
Pol
|
Tinkoff-Saxo
|
0:01:29
|
4
|
Nairo Quintana
|
Col
|
Movistar Team
|
0:02:02
|
5
|
Esteban Chaves
|
Col
|
Orica GreenEdge
|
0:03:30
|
6
|
Tom Dumoulin
|
Ned
|
Team Giant-Alpecin
|
0:03:46
|
7
|
Alejandro Valverde
|
Spa
|
Movistar Team
|
0:07:10
|
8
|
Mikel Nieve
|
Spa
|
Team Sky
|
0:07:26
|
9
|
Daniel Moreno
|
Spa
|
Team Katusha
|
0:07:32
|
10
|
Luis Mientjes
|
RSA
|
MTN-Qhubeka
|
0:10:46
|
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