Vuelta a Espana: Keukeleire wins stage 12 in Bilbao

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Jens Keukeleire (Orica-BikeExchange) delivered a fine sprint to win stage 12 of the Vuelta a España after a breathless finale in Bilbao. The Belgian opened his effort from distance and held off Maxime Bouet (Etixx-QuickStep) and Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo) to claim the most prestigious victory of his career from a reduced front group.

"I've been going pretty well the last couple of days, but I still knew it was going to be hard to win today," said Keukeleire as he waited to mount the podium, adding that he had not been lacking in motivation. "I just became a father four weeks ago and my girlfriend and son are both here so to win when they are watching like this is an amazing feeling."

The demanding stage brought the peloton into the heart of the Basque Country by way of some rugged terrain, and though the anticipated ambush on Nairo Quintana's red jersey never materialised, it provided some compelling racing nonetheless.

The presence of Sky's Pete Kennaugh and David Lopez in the day's early break had compelled Quintana's Movistar team to maintain an active brief at the front of the peloton, and the seven-man move was only finally snuffed out inside the final 20 kilometres, ahead of the second of two ascents of the Alto El Vivero.

Sensing the briefest of lulls in preceding, the on-form Dries Devenyns (IAM Cycling) forged clear just as the climb began, and he carved out a 45-second lead for himself as the gradient began to stiffen.

Behind, George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Andrey Zeits (Astana) were among the most active pursuers, though the greatest frisson arrived when Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) accelerated in familiar bobbing style at the head of the vastly reduced peloton.

Dani Moreno (Movistar) was prompt in bringing Contador to heel, and then joined a counter-attack led by Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and featuring Bennett, Jan Bakelants (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) over the summit, with 12 kilometres remaining.

Bennett pressed on alone on the sweeping descent back into Bilbao, but he could make little inroads into Devenyns' 30-second lead and it appeared as though the Belgian, who was second at the Alto del Naranco last weekend, was destined to claim stage honours.

When the road flattened out in the final five kilometres, however, Devenyns' lead dwindled dramatically, as local rider Haimar Zubeldia (Trek-Segafredo) and Simon Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) battled to forge across, with a mini peloton of 30 or so riders just behind.

They duly caught Devenyns with 1,500 metres, but by that point, the main group was already upon them, and the scene was set for a rather confused group finish, where Kristian Sbaragli (Dimension Data) was the man with the most obvious sprinting pedigree.

Keukeleire had been given the green light by Orica-BikeExchange management to try his luck in just such a scenario, and the Belgian gauged his effort perfectly in the finishing straight by opening his sprint from distance and gaining an insurmountable lead. A frustrated Bouet and Felline gained ground in the final 50 metres, but it was a forlorn effort as Keukeleire took the stage, while Sbaragli had to settle for fourth ahead of Luis Leon Sanchez.

"Neil Stephens said to me: 'If you're still there in the final, you can give it a crack,'" Keukeleire said. "I'm not going to say I was feeling very good today because everybody was suffering but I made it over the climb and knew I could get a good result."

Watch Vuelta a Espana stage 12 video highlights

Sky probe Movistar

There was the now seemingly obligatory rapid start to proceedings on stage 12 as Astana policed the moves, and it ultimately took more than an hour of racing – and the category 1 Puerto de las Alisas – for the early break to go clear.

Shortly before the summit, Sky's Pete Kennaugh and David Lopez went up the road with Darwin Atapuma (BMC), Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-QuickStep), Kenny Elissonde (FDJ), Louis Meintjes (Lampre-Merida) and Romain Hardy (Cofidis). They eventually established a lead of two minutes over the peloton, but though Kennaugh was almost seven minutes off Quintana's red jersey, Movistar were unwilling to give a group with two Sky riders on board any leeway.

"Every stage in this Vuelta is very hard, and every day you have 18 teams trying to get in the break," said Movistar's Jonathan Castroviejo. "Today it was good riders in good places on GC, so we couldn't let them go very far. It was a tough stage but it was still easier than we expected in the end."

Movistar were glad to have an ally of circumstance, too, in the shape of Astana, who were eager to keep the break close at hand ahead of the finale around Bilbao and indeed it was the Kazakh team who took up the reins in the final 50 kilometres and on the first ascent of the Vivero. By that point, the leaders had lost Atapuma (to a crash) and Hardy from their number, and despite Elissonde and Kennaugh's forcing, they were swept up with 18 kilometres remaining.

Of the podium contenders, only Contador saw fit to test the waters on the final haul up the Vivero, with Froome, Quintana and Valverde all content to follow in the wheels. Quintana remains 54 seconds clear of Froome in the overall standings, but they will both be mindful that there are greater tests to come in the Pyrenees this weekend.
 

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