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John Degenkolb wins in Madrid as Fabio Aru seals Vuelta victory

German's 10th Vuelta stage proves form ahead of Road World Championships, Aru takes maiden Grand Tour...

Fabio Aru of Astana has won the 70th edition of the Vuelta a Espana, with Giant-Alpecin’s John Degenkolb proving his form ahead of next weekend’s UCI Road World Championships by winning the final day's sprint in Madrid.

The German’s victory this afternoon gives some consolation to the Dutch UCI WorldTour outfit after Tom Dumoulin lost the overall lead to Aru yesterday in the mountains outside the Spanish capital.

2009 winner Alejandro Valverde wins the points jersey, and his Movistar team also win the team classification.
The mountains jersey, meanwhile, goes to Omar Fraile of Spanish UCI Professional Continental outfit, Caja Rural, and Katusha's Joaquim Rodriguez wins the combination jersey.

Degenkolb, who has now won 10 Vuelta stages, outsprinted Danny van Poppel of Trek Factory Racing and BMC Racing’s Jempy Drucker – winner of last month’s Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic – to win the 90.8 kilometre stage from Alcalá de Henares today.

The overall podium is completed by Rodriguez, 57 seconds down on the race leader, and Tinkoff-Saxo's Rafal Majka, a further 12 seconds back.

For Degenkolb, winner of Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix this year, this afternoon's win signals a warning shot to his rivals ahead of the World Championships in Richmond, Virginia next weekend, on a course that should suit him.

Aru, meanwhile - who apart fromthe Vuelta and the Giro d'Italia in May, where he was runner-up to Alberto Contador, has only raced 22 days this year, and came to the Spanish race fresher than his rivals - has announced himself as a rider who will figure in the overall challenge at cycling's biggest stage races over the coming decade.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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mrmo | 8 years ago
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Have to wonder, will Dumoulin be able to perform on a slightly more favourable course. A bit of luck and hopefully a s**t load of self belief that I hope he has got out of this, he should be able to contend for a GT.

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Simon E | 8 years ago
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Dumoulin showed real guts and determination. In some ways that's more impressive for me than being first across the finish line (though the two are not incompatible).

A tweet from Laurens Ten Dam.

and one by the Giant Alpecin team.

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Simon_MacMichael | 8 years ago
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DaveE128 - thanks, amended

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DaveE128 | 8 years ago
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Was gutted for Dumoulin, it would have been a fantastic underdog story. Can't help but wonder how Froome would have done if it weren't for the broken foot/ankle.

"Aru, aged 25, also takes the white jersey of best young rider"

I'm no expert on cycling races, but this would appear to be incorrect. See:
http://inrng.com/2011/08/vuelta-espana-jerseys/

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shadwell | 8 years ago
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Re Aru,

If he's wise he'll stay at Astana cos somehow their cheating goes more or less unpunished..

Anywhere else clean he'd be making up the numbers....

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mrmo | 8 years ago
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HalfWheeler | 8 years ago
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If he was wise he'd name his price and move to a cleaner team. Any win in an Astana jersey is tainted.

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