Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana: Vandenbergh upsets the sprinters on final stage

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Stijn Vandenbergh (Etixx-QuickStep) upset the sprinters on the final stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, making a late bid for freedom on the finishing circuit in Valencia and holding off the chasers, incredibly, despite getting a plastic bag lodged against his back wheel. 

Wout Poels (Team Sky) finished safely in the bunch, which crossed the line just a couple of seconds behind the triumphant Belgian, and duly wrapped up the general classification victory. Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo) won the bunch kick for second place, with Raymond Kreder (Roompot) third.

The final stage of the race was cut short and the riders tackled six laps of the city-centre finishing circuit instead of the anticipated 10. Not long after they got onto the circuit, Vandenbergh broke away with Mirco Maestri (Bardiani CSF) and after collaborating for a few laps, he dropped the Italian with 5km remaining. 

As Cofidis organised the chase behind for Nacer Bouhanni, Vandebergh's prospects suffered a blow when he picked up a plastic bag that lodged itself between the seat stay and the wheel on the opposite side of the bike to the rear mech. With a lead of 18 seconds that was ever decreasing, Vandenbergh did his best to ignore the bag and defied the odds to hold his lead to the line.  

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