Jens Keukeleire (Orica-BikeExchange) delivered a fine sprint to win stage 12 of the Vuelta a España after a breathless finale in Bilbao. The Belgian opened his effort from distance and held off Maxime Bouet (Etixx-QuickStep) and Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo) to claim the most prestigious victory of his career from a reduced front group.
"I've been going pretty well the last couple of days, but I still knew it was going to be hard to win today," said Keukeleire as he waited to mount the podium, adding that he had not been lacking in motivation. "I just became a father four weeks ago and my girlfriend and son are both here so to win when they are watching like this is an amazing feeling."
The demanding stage brought the peloton into the heart of the Basque Country by way of some rugged terrain, and though the anticipated ambush on Nairo Quintana's red jersey never materialised, it provided some compelling racing nonetheless.
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The presence of Sky's Pete Kennaugh and David Lopez in the day's early break had compelled Quintana's Movistar team to maintain an active brief at the front of the peloton, and the seven-man move was only finally snuffed out inside the final 20 kilometres, ahead of the second of two ascents of the Alto El Vivero.
Sensing the briefest of lulls in preceding, the on-form Dries Devenyns (IAM Cycling) forged clear just as the climb began, and he carved out a 45-second lead for himself as the gradient began to stiffen.
Behind, George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Andrey Zeits (Astana) were among the most active pursuers, though the greatest frisson arrived when Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) accelerated in familiar bobbing style at the head of the vastly reduced peloton.
Watch Vuelta a Espana stage 12 video highlights
Sky probe Movistar
— Vuelta a España (@lavuelta) September 1, 2016
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