Arndt wins the Vuelta’s rainy eighth stage from the break: Daily News Digest
Welcome to your Daily News Digest. Here’s what’s happening today:
Nikias Arndt wins stage 8 of the Vuelta a España from the break as Nicolas Edet rides into red, Anna van der Breggen solos to victory at the GP de Plouay, Kasper Asgreen takes stage 3 of the Deutschland Tour as Jasper Stuyven grabs the race lead. Those stories and more in today’s Daily News Digest.
Story of the Day: Nikias Arndt wins stage 8 of the Vuelta a España
Nikias Arndt (Sunweb) won the rainy eighth stage of the Vuelta a España after a long day in the breakaway. The 27-year-old German took a convincing win in a sprint out of a sizable breakaway group on rain-slicked roads in Igualada. Caja Rural’s Alex Aranburu took second with Tosh van der Sande of Lotto-Soudal in third.
With overnight leader Miguel Ángel López (Astana) finishing with the rest of the major GC contenders in a whittled-down peloton over nine minutes back, breakaway rider Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), the Vuelta’s king of the mountains in 2013, moved into the overall race lead.
More than 20 riders jumped clear in the early goings of stage 8 to form the day’s main break, and the peloton allowed the move to get some breathing room. The gap sat at around six minutes as the break approached the day’s main climb of the Puerto de Montserrat, where Pete Stetina (Trek-Segafredo) attacked his fellow escapees to build a small advantage off the front.
The climb shed several riders from the move, but from those that remained a group of chasers formed to bring Stetina back. With around 15 kilometers to go, a trio of Ruben Guerreiro (Katusha Alpecin), Martijn Tusveld (Sunweb), and Fernando Barceló (Euskadi-Murias) jumped clear on the ensuing wet descent, but the other escapees kept the move within striking distance.
Aranburu bridged to make it four but then the quartet was caught with around five kilometers to go. Then it was Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) who tried his luck solo. An initial surge saw him force open a small gap but he too was brought back, and despite a flurry of short-lived late attacks in the moments that followed, the break stayed together onto the finishing straight to set up a sprint for the win.
No one came close to matching Arndt, whose career palmares also includes a sprint stage victory at the 2016 Giro d’Italia, in the final kick.
Stage 8 results
1 ARNDT Nikias (Team Sunweb) 3:50:48
2 ARANBURU Alex (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA)
3 VAN DER SANDE Tosh (Lotto Soudal)
4 GUERREIRO Ruben (Team Katusha Alpecin)
5 KOCH Jonas (CCC Team)
6 TEUNS Dylan (Bahrain Merida)
7 LASTRA Jonathan (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA)
8 LUDVIGSSON Tobias (Groupama – FDJ)
9 BARCELÓ Fernando (Euskadi Basque Country – Murias)
10 HENAO Sergio (UAE-Team Emirates)
GC
1 EDET Nicolas (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) 32:16:24
2 TEUNS Dylan (Bahrain Merida) 2:21
3 LÓPEZ Miguel Ángel (Astana Pro Team) 3:01
4 ROGLIC Primoz (Team Jumbo-Visma) 3:07
5 VALVERDE Alejandro (Movistar Team) 3:17
6 QUINTANA Nairo (Movistar Team) 3:28
7 HAGEN Carl Fredrik (Lotto Soudal) 3:45
8 MAJKA Rafal (BORA – hansgrohe) 4:59
9 POGACAR Tadej (UAE-Team Emirates) 5:37
10 CHAVES Esteban (Mitchelton-Scott) 5:53
Moving Pictures
Peter Sagan is not racing this year’s Vuelta, but it’s nice to see that he is staying busy as he builds towards worlds…
Race Radio
Van der Breggen wins women’s GP de Plouay
World road champ Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) stormed to victory at Saturday’s GP de Plouay with a late solo move.
Anna van der Breggen wins the GP de Plouay. Photo: Anton Vos/Cor Vos © 2019
The 29-year-old Dutchwoman put in a powerful surge with a little over 10 kilometers to go in the lumpy WorldTour race. A handful of riders jumped to try to chase her down, but could not close the distance before being swept up by the pack. Van der Breggen held on to win with plenty of time to celebrate.
Coryn Rivera (Sunweb) won the sprint for second with Amy Pieters (Boels-Dolmans) rounding out the podium in third.
World Champion, Anna van der Breggen wins @GrandPrixPlouay Trophée WNT ????????@ClaraKoppenburg @JannekeEnsing and @EricaMagnaldi finish in the reduced bunch sprint after helping to animate the race #UCIWWT pic.twitter.com/B99cJHCSHj
— WNT-ROTOR Pro Cycling (@WNT_ROTOR) August 31, 2019
Asgreen takes stage 3 of the Deutschland Tour as Stuyven grabs the race lead
Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) won the third stage of the Deutschland Tour after getting away late in the day with Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo).
Asgreen topped Stuyven in a two-rider sprint at the end of the hilly, 189-kilometer stage from Göttingen to Eisenach, with Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) winning the sprint for third from the chasing group 17 seconds later.
Stuyven’s runner-up ride propelled him into the overall race lead. He will take a 13-second advantage in the general classification over Colbrelli into Sunday’s fourth and final stage.
Deceuninck-Quick-Step signs Belgian prospect Vansevenant
Belgian prospect Mauri Vansevenant will join Deceuninck-Quick-step next season on a three-year deal. The 20-year-old won this year’s Giro della Valle d’Aosta, a major under-23 event that counts Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Fabio Aru (UAE-Team Emirates) on its list of former winners.
In addition to his proven talent, Vansevenant also has a cycling pedigree. His father Wim Vansevenant spent more than a decade as a pro, riding for several years with the Lotto organization.
Coming up at the Vuelta
Stage 9 of the Vuelta a España should be a thriller.
Across the 94.4 kilometers of racing in Andorra, the stage features five categorized climbs. The special-category Coll de la Gallina at the midway point of the day is sure to tire out some legs before a stair-step finale, culminating in the Cortals d’Encamp climb, where a GC battle seems inevitable.
In case you missed it …
Feature Image: Nikias Arndt wins stage 8 of the Vuelta a España. Photo: Dario Beligheri/RB/Cor Vos © 2019
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