2019 Vuelta a España, Daily News Digest, Features, Nairo Quintana, News, Nino Schurter, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, Sep Vanmarcke, Tadej Pgacar -

Pogacar soars to victory on stage 9 of the Vuelta a España: Daily News Digest

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Welcome to your Daily News Digest. Here’s what’s happening today:

Tadej Pogacar soars to victory on a thrilling stage 9 of the Vuelta a España as Nairo Quintana takes the red jersey, Nino Schurter and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot claim cross-country titles at MTB worlds, Sep Vanmarcke nabs his long-awaited first-ever WorldTour win at the Bretagne Classic. Those stories and more in today’s Daily News Digest.

Story of the Day: Pogacar soars to victory on stage 9 of the Vuelta a España as Quintana takes red

Tadej Pogacar’s Grand Tour debut is going well so far. The 20-year-old Slovenian, in his first year as a pro with UAE-Team Emirates, climbed to victory in a thrilling, rain-soaked stage 9 at the Vuelta a España on Sunday.

Movistar’s Nairo Quintana scored runner-up honors on the day, with Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) taking third just ahead of Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde.

Quintana’s performance may have seen him come up just short of the stage win, but he earned him a prize of his own nonetheless. He will head into the Vuelta’s first rest day as the overall race leader, six seconds ahead of Roglic in the general classification.

More to come …

Socially Speaking

The incredible weather conditions in the finale of Sunday’s Vuelta stage at least brought some solid finish line videos to the Twittersphere.

Race Radio

Schurter, Ferrand-Prevot win 2019 cross-country titles at MTB worlds

The mountain bike world championships crowned this year’s cross-country champions on Saturday, and there were some familiar faces on the podiums in Mont-Sainte-Anne when all was said and done.

Nino Schurter (Switzerland) powered to his eighth career title, his fifth straight, in the men’s event. He soloed clear midway through the race on the technical circuit and gradually built a comfortable lead over the last few laps. He hit the line with plenty of time to celebrate another rainbow jersey, with Switzerland’s Mathias Flückiger in second 30 seconds back, and Stéphane Tempier rounding out the podium 38 seconds down.

On the women’s side, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot capped off an impressive comeback season with her second career cross-country world title. The 27-year-old Frenchwoman, who won her first mountain bike world championship in 2015 amid a brilliant stretch that also saw her take road and cyclocross world titles, underwent iliac artery surgery in February after battling health issues across multiple seasons.

After recovering and returning to training, Ferrand-Prevot proved she was back to winning ways at the start of August with a World Cup win at Val di Sole. On Saturday in Canada, she rode to an even bigger victory.

Australia’s Rebecca McConnel led early in the race but Ferrand-Prevot and Jolanda Neff (Switzerland) closed the gap, and then Ferrand-Prevot took off solo. She won with a 43-second advantage over Neff, with McConnell in third, 1:17 back. American Kate Courtney, the 2018 champion, finished the day in fifth.

Vanmarcke gets his long-awaited first WorldTour victory at the Bretagne Classic

Sep Vanmarcke (EF Education First) rode to an elusive career milestone on Sunday in Plouay, France. The 31-year-old Belgian, a consistent contender at one-day races for the better part of the last decade, took his first ever WorldTour win at the Bretagne Classic-Ouest France.

Vanmarcke nabbed the victory three seconds ahead of runner-up Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Soudal) and third-placed Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott).

Sep Vanmarcke wins the Bretagne Classic. Photo: Bruno Bade/Cor Vos © 2019

A string of attacks and regroupings whittled away at the bunch in the final hour of the up-and-down 248.1-kilometer race through Brittany. Vanmarcke, Benoot, and Haig formed the decisive move with around 22 kilometers to go in the day, and the trio powered over the last few climbs together, with the chasing pack unable to make much progress cutting down their advantage as the finish line neared.

Benoot jumped with under two kilometers left to race, but Vanmarcke closed him down. Inside the last kilometer, Vanmarcke made his own move. For the first time in his long career, his trademark solo attack held all the way to the line in a WorldTour event.

Stuyven wins the Deutschland Tour as Colbrelli takes the final stage

Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) sealed the overall victory at the Deutschland Tour.

The 27-year-old Belgian, who rode into the race lead on Saturday’s stage 3, delivered a solid fifth-place finish on Sunday’s fourth and final stage to claim the general classification title. Stuyven finished inside the top five of all four stages at the UCI 2.HC-rated event.

Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Merida) won the reduced sprint for the stage 4 victory at the end of the lumpy 159.5-kilometer stage from Eisenach to Erfurt. Yves Lampaert (Deceuninck-Quick-Step was second on the day with Alexander Kristoff (UAE-Team Emirates) in third.

Colbrelli also secured runner-up honors on the overall leaderboard, three seconds down on Stuyven, with Lampaert rounding out the final podium.

German Parliament member suggests cyclist should get an extra day of vacation

Stefan Gelbhaar, a member of Germany’s federal parliament, has a suggestion to incentivize cycling: Give people who ride to work an extra day of vacation each year.

The way Gelbhaar sees it, those who ride to work should get an added day off considering they “fall ill less frequently and have fewer days of absence from work,” according to studies he cited.

You can read the full story at CNN.com.

Coming up at the Vuelta

The Vuelta peloton will welcome the first rest day of this year’s race on Monday. The event resumes with stage 10 on Tuesday.

Feature Image: Tadej Pogacar wins stage 9 of the Vuelta a España. Photo: Luis Angel Gomez/Cor Vos © 2019

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