Vuelta 2018: Elia Viviani edges out Giacomo Nizzolo and world champion Peter Sagan in sprint finish
Quick-Step Floors rider Viviani displayed his sprinting prowess at Alhaurin de la Torre to claim his first La Vuelta stage win and his 16th of the season
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Elia Viviani edged out fellow Italian Giacomo Nizzolo and world champion Peter Sagan in a sprint finish to win stage three of La Vuelta.
Quick-Step Floors rider Viviani displayed his sprinting prowess at Alhaurin de la Torre to claim his first La Vuelta stage win and his 16th of the season.
Team Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski retained the leader's red jersey and holds a 14-second lead over Spain's stage two winner Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), with Sunweb's Wilco Kelderman third in the general classification.
An early breakaway led by Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis), Pierre Rolland (Education First-Drapac) and Hector Saez (Euskadi-Murias) opened up a four minute and eight seconds lead over the peloton after 34 kilometres. But Viviani's Quick-Step Floors team drove the main bunch and with 93km to go the gap was cut to two minutes.
Victor Campenaerts and Jelle Wallays (Lotto-Soudal), Lukas Postlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r-La Mondiale) attacked the leading pack with 45km to go and bridged the gap further.
Jordi Simon (Burgos-BH) was unsuccessful with a couple of attacks and after Campenaerts crashed 23km from the finish, Postlberger hit the front on his own.
Austrian Postlberger held a 25 second lead with 15km to go, but was caught by the peloton with 6km left and Viviani emerged strongest in the dash for the line.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments