Jempy Drucker, delighted to win the sprint
The breakaway was caught in good time, there were lead out trains in the final kilometres, a recognised sprinter won the stage and there was no change to the GC standings. What? Unusually for this year's Vuelta we had a more conventional Grand Tour Stage today after some brutally hard climbing in the mountainous North of Spain and Southern France.
With temperatures as high as 45 degrees, the peloton still had to work hard to finish. The day began with some controversy after more than 90 riders who missed yesterday's time cut were allowed to continue. If the race organisers had stuck to their rules we would have had a reduced peloton of only about 70 or so riders going to the finish in Madrid and Chris Froome would have had only one team member left.
Today's winner was Jempy Drucker of BMC who has been suffering through the mountain stages. He can now look forward to a couple more opportunities to win some flat stages before this tour is over. Before then we have a tough day on Wednesday after tomorrow's rest day, with some significant climbing and a steep uphill finish. Froome has no choice but to attack hard if he is to stand any chance of making up the time he lost yesterday.
Carlton Kirby quote of the day: "He's one of those Anglo-Saxons that tans beautifully."
