John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) demonstrated once again that he is the perfect sprinter for the Vuelta a España. He has enough speed to be competitive with the faster pure sprinters, but it's his superior climbing, stamina and resilience that sets him apart, and makes him perfect for a race that eschews the straight forward sprint stages, preferring instead to make things more interesting by placing obstacles along the way. Today was a typical example, although there was no serious climbing (the highest point was just 260 metres), it was a spiky parcours, particularly towards the finish where the short ramps offered a potential springboard for attackers, and there was a cobbled section thrown in for good measure. All of that gave an advantage to the break, forcing the chasing teams to work very hard to bring the race to a sprint finish. That chase took its toll; by the time the break was finally subdued, just 500 metres short of the finish line, the peloton had been whittled down and team support was in short supply, leaving those with stage winning aspirations to seize the initiative for themselves.
Maximiliano Richeze (Lampre-Merida) was the first to try, launching off the front in the brief lull caused when Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) and Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merida), the final members of the break, were caught. However Yannick Martinez (Team Europcar) was swiftly onto the wheel of Richeze, bringing the rest of the peloton with him. After that it was a tale of two sprints, Fabian Cancallara (Trek Factory Racing) led out his team mate Jasper Stuyven on the left-hand side of the road, while John Degenkolb went head to head with Michael Matthews (Orica GreenEDGE) on the right. The Australian had the advantage of following Degenkolbs wheel, but it was no avail as the German was simply too strong to pass; Degenkolb duly claimed victory ahead of Matthews and Cancellara.
A five rider group escaped early with Rohan Dennis, Elia Favilli, Lluis Mas Bonet (Caja Rural), Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka), and Bob Jungels (Trek). However Giant-Shimano were conscious of the fact that this was the last obvious sprint stage (though Degenkolb may survive the climbs to contest stage nineteen as well) and kept a tight rein on of the break, refusing to let them establish a strong advantage.
This break wasn't keen to be caught, and tempers flared in the leading group when Dennis and Jungels felt others were failing to pull their weight. Mas Bonet was the first to be jettisoned, then Teklahaimanot with 10km remaining, after some gesticulations in his general direction from Dennis. From that point on Dennis, Jungels and Favilli did all they could to snatch the victory, but they were unable to hold off the charging peloton behind.
Giant-Shimano were eventually joined at the front of the bunch by Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Orica GreenEDGE and close to the end, Lampre-Merida. However the Dutch team did the majority of the work throughout the stage, which showed at the end of the when they had no one left to help Degenkolb. Though as it transpired, Degenkolb was more than capable of finishing their fine work off on his own.
In a team press release Giant-Shimano directeur sportif Christian Guiberteau spoke of the effort his team put in: "Incredible. What a day. Everyone rode their hearts out today for that win, I'm so proud of the team. Everyone played their part in another big team victory today. We didn't get much help in controlling but we had decided that we were going to ride for a sprint and stuck to the plan. The break in front was strong with some good time trialists and they rode well, making it hard behind."
Degenkolb was also keen to remark on the work carried out by his team mates, and the difficulty of the stage:
"It looked easy but it really wasn't today. We had to work really hard for it, harder than the other days. We did everything for a sprint today and it turned out to be the right decision. "It's the fourth victory from strong teamwork, and everybody can see that the spirit is very good in our team. "It was a hard final, but we looked at the last 10km yesterday and today everything worked out as we had planned it on the rest day. There are not so many opportunities anymore for sprints but for sure I will help to defend the top ten place of Warren. Friday may be an opportunity for me if I can survive the climbs and I will do my best to defend the green jersey."