Italian Kristian Sbaragli celebrated the biggest win of his career on Monday after sprinting to victory in stage ten of the Vuelta handing his newly
ADVERTISEMENTItalian Kristian Sbaragli celebrated the biggest win of his career on Monday after sprinting to victory in stage ten of the Vuelta handing his newly formed South African team MTN-Qhubeka a second Grand Tour stage triumph.
It was a short 146 kilometre ride from Valencia to Castellón and despite featuring a climb not too far from the finish was definitely one for the sprinters.
A break formed after 25 kilometres but it was more of a split in the peloton than a breakaway group as it contained some 40 riders.
All were together again with 55 kilometres to go.
The last climb of the day 16 kilometres from the line inevitably led to another few attacks.
But the once the road flattened out with about 7km left everything was back in order ready for a mass sprint to stage ten honours.
It turned out to be a scrappy final kilometre but Sbaragli came surging past the front runners in the final few metres to take a tight victory ahead of favourite John Degenkolb of Germany and Spaniard José Joaquín Rojas.
Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin finished safely in the bunch to retain the overall race lead 57 seconds clear of Spain’s Joaquim Rodriguez.