France’s Bastien Tronchon won Stage 10 of the Vuelta a España after claiming a dramatic bunch sprint in a photo finish.
The Groupama-FDJ rider edged out Magnus Cort Nielsen and Thibau Nys to take his first victory of the race, while Wout van Aert narrowly missed out on a place on the podium.
With one kilometre remaining on the 184.7km route from Alcaraz to Elche de la Sierra, Astana’s Yevgeni Fedorov and Q36.5 rider Xabier Azparren launched a late attack from the peloton. However, the breakaway pair were caught just before the finish, allowing Tronchon to time his sprint perfectly.
“I launched my sprint and I just finished it on the line, but I wasn’t sure if there was some guys in front or not, so I did not put my hands in the air,” Tronchon said.
“That’s crazy, I can’t believe it. The last two days were really hard for me and today I was good, and I said to [team-mate] Guillaume [Martin] go full gas until you die and I take the win, so it’s crazy.”
Enric Mas keeps Vuelta a España red jersey
Movistar’s Enric Mas retained the red jersey as leader of the general classification. The Spaniard is more than one minute ahead of his closest challenger, Primoz Roglic of Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe.
British rider Oscar Onley, racing for Netcompany Ineos, is fourth overall, two minutes and two seconds behind Mas.
Stage 11 on Wednesday runs from Cartagena to Lorca over 153.8km. The largely flat route includes a category-three climb up Morron de Totana but is expected to favour the sprinters.
