Gianni Meersman (Etixx-QuickStep) claimed his second stage of the Vuelta a Espana in a crash marred finale in Lugo. He was set up perfectly by his team and the Belgian finished it off beating Fabio Feline (Trek-Segafredo) and Kevin Reza (FDJ) in the tricky uphill run to the line.
Etixx-QuickStep moved to the front of a very reduced bunch inside the final kilometre with Zdenek Stybar. The Czech rider peeled off on the final corner, leaving Meersman with a little more than 100 metres to the line. On his wheel was Feline, who tried to come around Meersman but didn’t have the finishing speed to make it work.
"I was extremely happy with the first victory and it gave me a lot of confidence," Meersman said of his stage win on Sunday. "I started today with zero stress, everything was good but the leadout that Stybar did was incredible, and then I saw the sign for 200 and I knew that if I didn’t start then the other guys would come from behind.
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"I would rather do my own sprint and then they pass me then get boxed in. In the end, they didn’t pass me. It was quite nervous, I think that some places behind me there was a crash. I hope the guys that crashed are OK."
It was a chaotic finish on a narrow, twisting stretch of road as the teams battled for the position on the front. As the peloton chased down a late attack from Philippe Gilbert (BMC) and Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac), several riders went down in multiple incidents. One of the victims was Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo), who had already lost time earlier in the week. It was quickly apparent that Kruisjwijk’s race was over and he could be seen receiving medical attention on the side of the road.
Many more riders were caught by a second crash in the final kilometre, which, on the narrow roads, blocked a large portion of the peloton. The crash very nearly caught out Chris Froome, who only just avoided hitting the tarmac. Race leader Darwin Atapuma lost more than a minute in the finale but the three kilometre rule was applied, meaning that the Colombian could stay in red for at least another day.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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