Fabio Aru of Astana has won the 70th edition of the Vuelta a Espana, with Giant-Alpecin’s John Degenkolb proving his form ahead of next weekend’s UCI Road World Championships by winning the final day's sprint in Madrid.
The German’s victory this afternoon gives some consolation to the Dutch UCI WorldTour outfit after Tom Dumoulin lost the overall lead to Aru yesterday in the mountains outside the Spanish capital.
2009 winner Alejandro Valverde wins the points jersey, and his Movistar team also win the team classification.
The mountains jersey, meanwhile, goes to Omar Fraile of Spanish UCI Professional Continental outfit, Caja Rural, and Katusha's Joaquim Rodriguez wins the combination jersey.
Degenkolb, who has now won 10 Vuelta stages, outsprinted Danny van Poppel of Trek Factory Racing and BMC Racing’s Jempy Drucker – winner of last month’s Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic – to win the 90.8 kilometre stage from Alcalá de Henares today.
The overall podium is completed by Rodriguez, 57 seconds down on the race leader, and Tinkoff-Saxo's Rafal Majka, a further 12 seconds back.
For Degenkolb, winner of Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix this year, this afternoon's win signals a warning shot to his rivals ahead of the World Championships in Richmond, Virginia next weekend, on a course that should suit him.
Aru, meanwhile - who apart fromthe Vuelta and the Giro d'Italia in May, where he was runner-up to Alberto Contador, has only raced 22 days this year, and came to the Spanish race fresher than his rivals - has announced himself as a rider who will figure in the overall challenge at cycling's biggest stage races over the coming decade.
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Have to wonder, will Dumoulin be able to perform on a slightly more favourable course. A bit of luck and hopefully a s**t load of self belief that I hope he has got out of this, he should be able to contend for a GT.
Dumoulin showed real guts and determination. In some ways that's more impressive for me than being first across the finish line (though the two are not incompatible).
A tweet from Laurens Ten Dam.
and one by the Giant Alpecin team.
DaveE128 - thanks, amended
Was gutted for Dumoulin, it would have been a fantastic underdog story. Can't help but wonder how Froome would have done if it weren't for the broken foot/ankle.
"Aru, aged 25, also takes the white jersey of best young rider"
I'm no expert on cycling races, but this would appear to be incorrect. See:
http://inrng.com/2011/08/vuelta-espana-jerseys/
Re Aru,
If he's wise he'll stay at Astana cos somehow their cheating goes more or less unpunished..
Anywhere else clean he'd be making up the numbers....
http://road.cc/content/news/149263-fabio-aru-threatens-greg-henderson-le...
any rider at Astana will be accused of doping.
If he was wise he'd name his price and move to a cleaner team. Any win in an Astana jersey is tainted.