Vuelta a Espana: Danny van Poppel wins stage 12

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Danny van Poppel (Trek Factory) won a hectic last-gasp sprint in Lleida on stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana after an intense chase by the peloton caught the five-rider breakaway in sight of the finish line.

Van Poppel flatted with 10km to go but managed to get back into the peloton and then timed his sprint to perfection, passing his sprint rivals in the final twenty metres. Daryl Impey (Orica-GreenEdge) was second with Tosh van der Sande (Lotto Soudal) third. John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) was again thwarted after being blocked in in the sprint.

Trek Factory Racing had done much of the work in pursuit of the breakaway on the fast downhill roads from Andorra and van Poppel paid them back with his first ever Grand Tour victory.

“We pulled all day with the Italian guys, and in the end it was a really nice sprint,” van Poppel said immediately after his victory.

“It was not really a puncture, it was just slowly going down. I changed it and I came back really well. My teammates did a great job to bring me back. I suffered a lot yesterday (during the mountain stage in Andorra) and I really wanted to win today.”

Fabio Aru (Astana) finished safely in the peloton and so kept the race leader’s red jersey for a second day. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) remains second overall at 27 seconds, with Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) third at 30 seconds. Chris Froome failed to start the stage due to a fractured foot he sustained on stage 11.

Aru should be able to enjoy another quiet day on Friday. The 168km stage is a hilly affair between Calatayud and Tarazona and seems perfect for a breakaway to try its hand yet again.

How it happened

Following the suffering on the six climbs during the Andorra stage, the riders were happy to enjoy the largely downhill run to Lleida.

There were some tired legs at the start but also some proud smiles for having made it though what has been described as he hardest ever stage in a Grand Tour. Despite threats to quit the race after Sergio Paulinho’s incident with a television motorbike, the Tinkoff-Saxo riders rolled out with the peloton after securing extra safety assurances from the race organisers. Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Team Sky) did not start after a morning MRI scan revealed a fracture in a bone in his foot. Mikel Nieve is now the British team’s protected rider.

With the stage widely expected to finish in a sprint, the overall contenders were looking for a recovery day and it was no surprise that the break formed early. After a few attacks, Maxime Bouet (Etixx-Quick Step), Miguel Ángel Rubiano (Colombia), Jaco Venter (MTN-Qhubeka), Bert Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), and Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) got away, with the Astana team hitting the front of the peloton to control any chase.

The five did not hesitate or look back and worked together to establish a three minute lead. They defended their advantage on the long but gradual Coll de Bóixols climb and kept working together. The five were all breakaway experts with Lindeman and Gougeard having made several attempts even in this Vuelta, and with the Dutchman winning the stage to La Alpujarra. They were not a threat to Aru’s lead, with Bouet best placed at over 20 minutes back. The five worked smoothly and efficiently together and so managed to hold off the peloton for much further than the sprinters’ teams would have liked.

With Astana not interested in leading the chase of the five it was up to the sprinters’ teams to pick up the pursuit. Giant-Alpecin did their share for Degenkolb, and so did Trek Factory Racing, with the black and white jerseys often alternating on the front. However the five battled on, making it a tough day for the domestiques doing the work in the peloton.

Trek Factory Racing’s hopes of success seemed in vain when van Poppel punctured with 10km to go. But he quickly fought back. He got a rapid front wheel change and chased back on in the slipstreams of the convoy of team cars. Several teammates helped him move back through the peloton in the final kilometres, while others continued to chase the five ahead. Their gap seemed enough on the flat roads outside of Lleida but then came down dramatically. That sparked several attacks with Bouet and then Gougeard surging ahead. However the peloton could see they were fading.

Venter tried his hand and had a gap inside the final kilometre, with Bouet getting up to him. But they were caught and passed by the sprinters on the rising finish. Impey hit out early as the other sprinters fought for the best line but then van Poppel emerged down the middle and an extra burst of power and speed took him ahead of the pack and gave him his first ever big win.

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