Vuelta a Espana: De Marchi wins stage 14 in Fuente del Chivo

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Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) took an impressive win on stage 14 of the Vuelta a Espana after surviving from the day’s main break to win at the summit finish of Fuente del Chivo. The Italian won ahead of Salvatore Puccio (Team Sky) and José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar) while the battle raged on for the red jersey with race leader Fabio Aru going on the attack as the peloton tackled the final climb.

Aru used his team wisely, with Astana winding up the pace before he attacked with 5km to go. Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) was unable to respond although Nairo Quintana was able to follow.

"With a bit of luck, in the right moment, I had the energy to do a fast attack. I was lucky because I do not think I was the strongest."

"I never thought I would be able to win a stage," he added. "Today was very difficult, first to get in the breakaway and then to take the win. But everything felt great."

The pint-sized Colombian even managed to attack – proving he has recovered from his illness – and reigniting his own overall ambitions in the race.

Aru remains in the race lead but lost a second to his principle rival, Joaquim Rodriguez, who is second, 26 seconds in arrears.

Dumoulin remains in third overall but conceded time and is now 49 seconds off the race lead. Quintana has moved back inside the top 10 and is three minutes off Aru’s lead.

However, the day belonged to De Marchi, who instigated, marshalled and then destroyed the break with a display full of verve and vigour. He attacked several times in the opening hour and would not be denied his break, with a third acceleration enough to create a move that included Puccio, Joaquín Rojas, Mikael Chérel (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Carlos Quintero (Team Colombia).

The impressive break, full of horsepower, experience and most importantly, intent, volleyed clear after 50km of racing and never looked back. Their lead moved out towards five minutes, but by the time they crested the first climb of the Puerto de Estacas de Trueba their advantage has moved out towards eight minutes.

 With Cherel the closest rider on GC, but well over an hour down on Aru, there was little reason for the peloton to give chase and they rode tempo over the undulating terrain.

On the descent and along the valley towards the second climb of the day, the break rammed home their advantage, drawing their lead out towards 10 minutes.

Even the next climb, the first category Puerto del Escud - Provincia de Burgos, could not break up the break’s lead and harmony and they rolled to the foot of the final climb with their lead still hovering around nine minutes.

The stage would ultimately be theirs to decide with Movistar, Katusha and Astana willing to save their powder for the final climb.

Astana knew that the responsibility to drop Dumoulin rested on their shoulders, and Luis Leon Sanchez's rapid surge lead the foundations, isolating the Dutchman from the majority of his team as the bunch thinned down to less than 40 riders.

When Sanchez peeled over, Dario Cataldo kept the momentum with Aru’s men, as up the road the break began to sense a victory.

De Marchi was clearly the strongest but it was Cherel who jumped first. Puccio was briefly dropped but de Marchi once again let his power decide both tactics and pace. He caught the AG2R rider, then when Rojas later countered with a recovered Puccio, de Marchi simply used the move as a marker for his own acceleration. When it came it was decisive, and with 2km to go he had enough of a gap to ensure another stage win in this race for BMC.

"Everybody else was was looking at me, so I had to do the big job to bring them back.Then I had to keep waiting and waiting for the right time," De Marchi said.

Further down the climb Aru’s telegraphed but impressive attack came as Cataldo tired. Only Majaka and Quintana could follow with Dumoulin scrambling for allies in the chase group.

Soon only Aru and Quintana were left, Majka paying for his efforts and drifting back as Rodriguez and Chaves moved up. The climb’s only steep section near the top gave Quintana the launch-pad that he needed to distance Aru, who was passed by Rodriguez.

With two more stages in the mountains coming over the next two days, this Vuelta a Espana is far from over.

Full Results

General Classification after stage 14

Points classification

Mountains classification

Combination classification

Teams classification