La Vuelta 2015 - Stage 21 - [FULL STAGE + Ceremony Award]

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• published: 14 Sep 2015
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Follow me on Twitter to stay updated : https://twitter.com/Tizucumacu Alcalá de Henares - Madrid 98,8 KM Alcalá de Henares - Madrid 98,8 KM ********************************************************************************************************************************************** John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) won the concluding stage of the Vuelta a Espana in a sprint finish while Fabio Aru (Astana) enjoyed an untroubled evening on the finishing circuit in Madrid to seal final overall victory. Victory for Degenkolb put a different slant on his Vuelta after a series of near misses earlier in the race, and it also offered consolation of sorts to his Giant-Alpecin team after a traumatic afternoon in the Sierras of Madrid the previous afternoon. Tom Dumoulin, so impressive for so long in this Vuelta, lost his grip on the overall lead on the Puerto de la Morcuera and ultimately slipped to sixth place on general classification, but the Dutchman was to the fore in the finale here as Giant-Alpecin worked to set up the sprint finish. The usual festive atmosphere en route to Madrid was broken up only by the intermediate sprint on the second passage through the finish line, where Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) slipped away to claim the points. That was enough to see him divest his rival Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) of the green jersey as the Catalan had suffered a puncture ahead of the sprint. A group of six escapees ghosted clear soon afterwards, though Ben King (Cannondale-Garmin), Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Omar Fraile (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Laurent Pichon (FDJ), Carlos Verona (Etixx-Quick Step) and Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) were never able to gain more than 30 seconds on the peloton. The sextet was swept up on the penultimate lap, and late attacks from Iljo Keisse (Etixx-QuickStep) and Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) couldn’t prevent the inevitable bunch finish, as Trek, Lampre-Merida, BMC and Orica GreenEdge all made contributions on the front. Giant-Alpecin took over in the final 1500 metres, providing a pitch perfect lead-out for Degenkolb. At first glance, it appeared as though the German had opened his sprint too soon, but he had more than enough in the tank to kick again and held off Danny van Poppel (Trek) by two bike lengths, while Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC) took third. Results : 1 John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin 2:34:13 2 Danny Van Poppel (Ned) Trek Factory Racing 3 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team 4 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica GreenEdge 5 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 6 Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Arg) Lampre-Merida 7 Nikolas Maes (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step 8 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) MTN - Qhubeka 9 Kévin Reza (Fra) FDJ.fr 10 Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo FINAL General Classification : 1 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 8:36:13 2 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:00:57 3 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:09 4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:42 5 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica GreenEdge 0:03:10 6 Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Giant-Alpecin 0:03:46 7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:06:47 8 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 0:07:06 9 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:07:12 10 Songezo Jim (RSA) MTN - Qhubeka 0:10:26