Vuelta a España stage 16 - Live coverage

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Another GC day in the Asturian mountains

(Image credit: ASO/Vuelta a Espana)

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 16 of the Vuelta a España!

After four first-category climbs yesterday, there are another two up today, with an 'especial' catogory climb to finish off. It's another day for the GC contenders and climbers.

(Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Here's the GC top ten ahead of today's stage.

We're around ten minutes away from the start of stage 16 now.

Will anybody be able to take any time on this man today?

And they're off. The riders have started the neutralised zone.

144km remaining from 144km

Paweł Bernas (CCC Team) is among the early attackers. Team Ineos are also trying to get men away.

135km remaining from 144km

Four men are out front now.

Casper Pedersen (Team Sunweb), Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida), Zdenek Štybar (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Jonas Koch (CCC Team) are up the road.

30 seconds between that quartet and the peloton.

124km remaining from 144km

Well they were close to being caught but now they've gotten a gap on the peloton again.

Riders are still trying to get away from the peloton, around 15 seconds back.

110km remaining from 144km

And the four riders out front are brought back.

A large group has split off the front now. There's around 30-40 riders there, all lined out.

Cavagna, Padun, Romain Seigle (Groupama-FDJ) and Cavagna's teammate James Knox have gone off the front now.

100km remaining from 144km

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) are among those on the move from the peloton.

The four men up front hit the first climb of the day. There's a group of around 15 riders chasing them.

Here's the profile of this climb, the Puerto de San Lorenzo.

Luis León Sánchez (Astana Pro Team), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos), Fernando Barcelo (Euskadi-Murias), Imanol Erviti (Movistar Team) are among the chase group.

Over three minutes between the leaders and the peloton. The gap shot out really quickly.

The chasers have made it up to the break now.

Imanol Erviti (Movistar Team), Geoffrey Bouchard (Ag2r La Mondiale), Jakob Fuglsang, Luis León Sánchez (Astana Pro Team), Max Richeze, Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Damien Howson (Mitchelton-Scott), Amanuel Ghebreizhabier (Team Dimension Data), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos), Nikias Arndt (Team Sunweb), Nikias Eg (Trek-Segafredo), Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates), Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Fernando Barceló (Euskadi-Murias) are up there with the leaders.

The latest episode of the Cyclingnews podcast is out and it's a special edition looking back at the 1999 World Championships and Óscar Freire win.

87km remaining from 144km

Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) is dropped from the peloton already. He was 11th overall before today.

Madrazo tries a surprise attack 300 metres out but Bouchard is too strong for him.

Bouchard takes over the KOM lead now. He's two points up on Madrazo.

Bouchard has a 20-second lead on the descent.

It's a long descent and valley road to the base of the next climb.

Bouchard is back in the break now.

Jumbo-Visma still lead the peloton, with Tony Martin on the front.

The break are 6km from the bottom of the Alto de la Cobertoria.

53km remaining from 144km

Fuglsang is driving the break onwards.

Here's the profile of the Cobertoria. The break are already on it.

The gap between break and peloton is up to five minutes now.

In case you missed it, Dimension Data have announced that they have signed Carlos Barbero from Movistar for next season.

Padun, Richeze and Arndt are dropped from the break.

De Gendt is also struggling.

Bouchard and Madrazo tried an attack 2km from the summit but the break chased back on. De Gendt, Erviti and Eg are dropping away though.

Bouchard leads the break over the top after a late attack. Madrazo put a lot of effort into the opening half of the race and it looks like it's paying.

Almost seven minutes between the break and peloton now. The peloton are almost at the top.

Alto de la Cobertoria KOM standings

Ex-Team Sky rider Jonathan Dibben has moved back to the WorldTour, signing a deal with Lotto Soudal.

Earlier, Eurosport commentator Carlton Kirby talked at length about how Omar Fraile riding out of the peloton to get a newspaper to stuff down his jersey was a sign of intent for an attack on the descent. Sean Kelly's reply, a withering "well I'm not sure about that."

De Gendt leads the way over the intermediate sprint. He got back in on the descent.

Just under 9km to go until the break hit the climb to the finish.

Bouchard, Fuglsang, Siegle, De Gendt and Gilbert are off the front of the break.

Several riders are catching back on now.

Around 9-10 men remain at the head of the race.

Current composition of the break: Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R La Mondiale), Luis León Sánchez, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team), Philippe Gilbert, James Knox (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Romain Seigle (Groupama-FDJ) and Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos), Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) and Fernando Barcelo (Euskadi-Murias)

Madrazo is making his way back to the group now. They start the climb to the finish.

And here is the climb. It's a long one, but not steep.

15km to go for the break.

Another reminder to check out our new podcast – Oscar Freire: The rise of a legend at the 1999 World Championships

Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) punctured out of the peloton. He's chasing back on.

10km remaining from 144km

Kelderman makes it back to the peloton.

Fuglsang, Sanchez, Knox, Geoghegan Hart and Brambilla have gone away from the leading break group.

Amanuel Ghebreizhabier is chasing on.

7km remaining from 144km

Knox and Geoghegan Hart chase as Sánchez gets back to them.

Meanwhile, 7:30 down the mountain Astana take it up on the front.

Quintana is right at the back of the peloton, which numbers over 20 riders.

Two Astana riders work for López.

And Quintana drops.

4km remaining from 144km

Just Ion Izagirre left for López.

Quintana 40 seconds down on the peloton.

Geoghegan Hart is 15 seconds down on Fuglsang.

Pogačar and Roglič follow the Colombian. 

Marc Soler drags Valverde up to the trio. Majka gets there too.

Marc Soler pushes on.

2km remaining from 144km

Still 15 seconds between Fuglsang and Geoghegan Hart.

Majka and Soler are up ahead of the main GC guys.

1km remaining from 144km

López and Pogačar have left the rest behind. They're a few seconds up the road.

Roglič is with Majka, chasing the duo. Valverde and Soler are further back with the remnants of the break as they pass the 3km mark.

Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) wins stage 16 of the Vuelta a España.

Geoghegan Hart takes second, 24 seconds down.

Sánchez and Knox take third and fourth.

Roglič is with Pogačar and López now. Valverde and Majka are chasing.

What was a López attack has now turned into Pogačar pushing on to gain time on Valverde.

López is taking turns as well.

Pogačar needs 1:17 to take second overall away from the 39-year-old.

Stage result

Final kilometre for López, Pogačar, Roglič, and Valerio Conti, who dropped from the break.

They're maybe 15-20 seconds up on Valverde.

Soler works for Valverde.

Majka might be up to fifth overall here, by the way.

The Pog-Rog-López group crosses the line, followed by Valverde. He loses about 23 seconds.

Quintana crosses the line over two minutes after the Valverde-Majka group did so.

The Roglič group was 5:58 down on Fuglsang. Valverde and Majka were around 6:21. Quintana around 8:32 behind.

That's Fuglsang's first Grand Tour stage win, by the way.

General classification after stage 16        

Check here for our stage 16 report, gallery and results.

Here's Fuglsang celebrating his win.

Fuglsang on his stage victory.

Here's our report on stage 3 of the Tour of Britain.

Jakob Fuglsang is, unsurprisingly, our Monster Hydro rider of the day.

And here is our full stage 16 report, including a photo gallery and full results.

That's all from our live coverage of stage 16 of the Vuelta a España. Tomorrow's a rest day so we'll see you on Tuesday for stage 17!

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