Vuelta a Espana: Drucker wins stage 16

Jempy Drucker (BMC Racing) claimed his first Grand Tour stage victory after winning the sprint finish on stage 16 of the Vuelta a Espana. Drucker outsprinted Bora Argon's Rudiger Selig and Giant-Alpecin's Nikias Arndt in Peñíscola.

Gianni Meersman (Etixx-QuickStep) finished fourth after being forced to take up his sprint with more than 200 metres to go. The Belgian, who has won two stages of this Vuelta a Espana, was left alone by his team had to wind up his sprint to bring back late attacker Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff), who had a small gap with just metres to go.

Drucker blew past a tiring Meersman with a hundred metres to go and won by a clear margin in the end. Meersman faded further with Selig and Arndt passing him before the line.

"It's nice, it's cool to have a victory in a Grand Tour it's nice to have that by your name," Drucker said after the stage. "I suffered a lot in the last stages, especially the day on the Aubisque. I always kept believing in the sprint stages and I was confident in my sprint. I only took my chance.

"[The finish] was hectic because of all the roundabouts, so it was about choosing the right wheels. I had Danilo Wyss who made a perfect job until almost the final kilometre and then I was just hoping and hoping to get the an opening and I made the perfect sprint."

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) finished safely inside the bunch to keep his place in the red jersey ahead of Chris Froome (Team Sky).

Watch Vuelta a Espana stage 16 highlights video

How it happened

The start of stage 16 was bogged down in the contentious issue surrounding the decision to keep 93 riders in the race despite them missing the time cut by more than 20 minutes on an explosive stage 15 to Formigal. Race director Javier Guillen stood by his decision when questioned by reporters, calling the situation exceptional.

Whatever the riders thought, the decision had been made and 164 riders made the start in Alcañiz, much to the relief of several teams who would have seen all their riders head home. With just one third category climb and a lengthy descent to the finish, stage 16 always looked like it would be one for the fast men. With so few opportunities for the sprinters, this was not one they were going to give away.

A six-man break got away very quickly, with Luis Angel Maté (Cofidis) among the number. Prior to the stage, Mate had garnered the opinion of his Twitter followers as to whether or not he should go in the break. On overwhelming number said yes and Maté duly abided. Joining Maté was Silvan Dillier (BMC), Sven Erik Bystrom (Katusha), Julien Morice (Direct Energie), Davide Villella (Cannondale) and Mario Costa (Lampre - Merida).

Simon Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) had an unexpected interruption to his day when he and teammate Sam Bewley (Orica-BikeExchange) hit the deck in the middle of the peloton on a flat stretch of road. After a quick visit to the doctor's car, the pair were easily able to make it back up to the peloton.

IAM Cycling and Etixx-QuickStep kept a tight leash on the escapees, giving them no more than 3:30 minutes of an advantage before they started bringing them back. Giant-Alpecin and Dimension Data also lent a hand, giving Movistar a welcome break from the effort on the front of the bunch. As the leaders descended the Alto Castillo de Morella, with 60 kilometres still to run, the six men had just over two minutes to play with.

The peloton never looked too troubled in the chase and with 20 kilometres remaining they had the six men in their sights. The day would finally be done for the escapees with 12 kilometres to go and the GC teams immediately moved to the front with a technical run to the line a serious danger for their race leaders. The peloton had to negotiate a large number of roundabouts as they twisted and turned towards the finish line.

Tinkoff's Bennati decided to try and take advantage of the difficult finish, attacking as they approached one of the many roundabouts in the final three kilometres. He had a slim margin going into the final kilometre but was eventually overtaken when Meersman began his sprint, a move that proved too soon.

Meersman slipped back in the final hundred metres, with Drucker overtaking him to take his first Grand Tour stage win.

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