Vuelta Espana: Stage 12

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Jens Keukeleire sprinted to victory on stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana, hitting out early to finish well clear of the reduced bunch

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Vuelta Espana: Stage 12

Jens Keukeleire finished off a perfect day to take a sprint victory on stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana today, hitting out early to finish well clear of the reduced bunch.

Keukeleire

Photo: Graham Watson
Team Press Release

ORICA-BikeExchange reached the finale in numbers and a great team performance was brought home by 26-year-old Keukeleire after Briton Simon Yates covered late moves and Australian Damien Howson executed the lead out.

“The first thing I thought about (after crossing the line) was my girlfriend and my son who are here today,” said Keukeleire. “It has only been a month since I became a father for the first time and they’ve been here the last couple of days, so to get my first Grand Tour win in front of them is amazing.”

“I’ve been feeling pretty good for the last couple of days and we knew that today was going to be a hard stage and we decided this morning if I was still there in the finale we could for it. I am really happy that the team gives me this opportunity because understandably when you have guys in good positions on the general classification it’s not easy to give everyone a chance and I’m very grateful.

“The first time over the climb (on the finishing laps) I was on my limit and thought I would never make it over again, but I felt a lot better the second time. It’s amazing and I’m very happy that I was able to finish off the work of the team.”

Colombian general classification contender Esteban Chaves remains in fourth overall with stage six winner Yates also finishing at the front and retaining seventh place going in to tomorrow’s stage 13. Sport director Neil Stephens was delighted with the win and praised the selfless work and attitude of the team. “It was a really special outcome today,” said Stephens. “In the team meeting this morning we said that our main goal is obviously the general classification.”

“Everyone has noticed that Jens (Keukeliere) has been recovering well and going about his work with relative ease and we all agreed that if it came to a reduced bunch then Jens should go for it. In a way, we went one step further because everyone rallied around Jens in the finale to help him pull off the win. It was a great win for the workers and a great win for the team all round.

“I think Jens felt honoured that his teammates recognised the fact that he was going well and the stage suited him and the victory is maybe a way to repay that confidence.”

How it happened:
The 193 kilometre stage 12 began under blue skies and bright sunshine in Los Corrales de Buelna with the peloton still together after a very fast first hour of racing. Splits began to form on the first ascent of the day, the Puerto de las Alisas, only for the bunch to re-form on the following descent. Gradually a seven-man move began to pull clear.

The pace slowed a little over the second hour of racing, enabling the seven escapees to push their lead out to two and a half minutes over the watchful peloton. The finishing circuits included two ascents of the Alto El Vivero climb and by the first time over the top with the peloton had clawed back nearly minute on the leaders. The catch was made with 17kilometres remaining and the speeding peloton was reduced to around 60 riders on the final time over the El Vivero.

Dries Devenyns (IAM-Cycling) attacked towards the summit and gained 30seconds as the bunch began to split behind him. The bunch caught and passed Devenyns with only two kilometres to go and immediately shaped up for the sprint. ORICA-BikeExchange were well represented in the finale with Howson holding a strong position on the right and Keukeleire tightly on his wheel.

As Howson pulled off, Keukeleire hit out early and magnificently held his sprint to the line to take the stage victory by a number of bike lengths. Stage 13 takes place tomorrow and is the longest stage of this year’s race, covering 213.4kilometres from Bilbao to Urdax-Dantxarinea. The stage includes four third-category climbs before a technical and undulating finale.  … continued after advert

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Other Reactions

Nairo Quintana (race leader): “Calm days? Today wasn’t one, we didn’t find any in this Vuelta… and I don’t really hope for ay of those until Madrid. People getting into breaks are so close in terms of GC and force everyone to go fast, especially us in the pursuit.

Plus, as we saw today, on a finish that really suited escapes and where we wanted to leave them some space, other squads looking for the stage pushed hard for the junction. That’s the reason why it wasn’t an easy day.

Worried about Sky’s moves? Not at all. We were really calm: we controlled the whole race before Bilbao with two riders – Imanol and Rory – and later on, squads chasing the stage win completed that job. All in all, it was’t quite troubling today. We kept ourselves composed. Stages like today’s are ones that I like, too: I won here the Itzulia, in such circuits, and enjoying good weather and fantastic fans here makes it even better. Obviously, descents are not so easy, but this is cycling: we like it, and there are some risks inherent to it.”

Alejandro Valverde: “Of course I tried to fight for victory into that sprint, but there were so many strong riders for that finish and you had to take so many risks. I got boxed in at some point of the final straight and it wasn’t reasonable to ‘kill’ yourself for maybe just a fourth, fifth spot.

However, that’s no excuse when you’ve got legs and win other days. It was a ‘big’ day, in the sense of big intensity. That, even when the big mountains are yet to start this weekend. We worked with Imanol and Rory all day, also with Rojillas and Dani – yet I think everyone is suffering in such a difficult Vuelta, I don’t feel like we spent extra energy. We remain in the best position we could, and that’s the only thing that matters.”

Alberto Contador: “It was a hard day for everyone, explained the Tinkoff leader. “Today was a day of great effort for everybody. The Sky riders spent quite a lot of energy in the breakaway, and Movistar were controlling the breakaway. It’s been a few days of incredible watt figures and I’m sure they have taken their toll. Everything went well today though and we finished the day out of trouble.”

Alberto was feeling the effort of the past few days’ racing and would be taking every day as it came. “It has been nearly 600 kilometres in three days with practically no flat part and at a fast pace. Today this was on top of the high temperatures. My SRM power meter was showing 25-26 degrees, which was combined with the high humidity here. All these factors mean we will reach the final week quite weak. We will see how I feel and how I recover.”

STAGE
1 KEUKELEIRE Jens ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE 04h 31′ 43”
2 BOUET Maxime ETIXX – QUICK STEP
3 FELLINE Fabio TREK – SEGAFREDO
4 BARAGLI Kristan DIMENSION DATA
5 SANCHEZ GIL Luis-Leon ASTANA PRO TEAM
6 BILBAO Pello CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA
7 BAKELANTS Jan AG2R LA MONDIALE
8 VALVERDE Alejandro MOVISTAR TEAM
9 DILLIER Silvan BMC RACING TEAM
10 FRANK Mathias IAM CYCLING
11 MOLARD Rudy COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS
12 MONFORT Maxime LOTTO SOUDAL
13 KOCHETKOV Pavel TEAM KATUSHA
14 HERMANS Ben BMC RACING TEAM
15 WYSS Marcel IAM CYCLING
16 CHAVES Johan Esteban ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE
17 LATOUR Pierre-Roger AG2R LA MONDIALE
18 SILIN Egor TEAM KATUSHA
19 BENNETT George LOTTO NL -JUMBO
20 FROOME Christopher TEAM SKY

26 QUINTANA Nairo MOVISTAR TEAM
32 YATES Simon ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE
41 KENNAUGH Peter TEAM SKY
151 THWAITES Scott BORA-ARGON 18 @ 19′ 25”
167 CARTHY Hugh CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA

OVERALL
1 QUINTANA Nairo MOVISTAR TEAM 46h 53′ 31”
2 FROOME Christopher TEAM SKY @ 00′ 54”
3 VALVERDE Alejandro MOVISTAR TEAM @ 01′ 05”
4 CHAVES Johan Esteban ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE @ 02′ 34”
5 CONTADOR Alberto TINKOFF @ 03′ 08”
6 KONIG Leopold TEAM SKY @ 03′ 09”
7 YATES Simon ORICA BIKEEXCHANGE @ 03′ 25”
8 SCARPONI Michele ASTANA PRO TEAM @ 03′ 34”
9 DE LA CRUZ David ETIXX – QUICK STEP @ 03′ 45”
10 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ Samuel BMC RACING TEAM @ 03′ 56”
11 TALANSKY Andrew CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM @ 05′ 03”
12 MORENO FERNANDEZ Daniel MOVISTAR TEAM @ 05′ 38”
13 FORMOLO Davide CANNONDALE-DRAPAC PRO CYCLING TEAM @ 05′ 44”
14 PARDILLA Sergio CAJA RURAL – SEGUROS RGA @ 05′ 55”
15 KENNAUGH Peter TEAM SKY @ 06′ 30”
16 PÉRAUD Jean-Christophe AG2R LA MONDIALE @ 06′ 59”
17 LATOUR Pierre-Roger AG2R LA MONDIALE @ 07′ 50”
18 BENNETT George LOTTO NL -JUMBO @ 07′ 53”
19 HERMANS Ben BMC RACING TEAM @ 08′ 22”
20 ATAPUMA Darwin BMC RACING TEAM @ 09′ 22”

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