2014 Vuelta a España Stage 12: John Degenkolb wins hectic sprint

The Vuelta a España made its way to La Rioja Thursday for Stage 12, a 166-km circuit race around the city of Logroño. Early on, the peloton enjoyed a siesta, letting a sole rider, Cannondale’s Matthias Krizek, gain nearly nine minutes advantage. Eventually, Giant-Shimano and FDJ.fr came to the fore, setting a gentle tempo to keep Krizek in check. Krizek’s advantage slowly dwindled as the kilometres passed by, before FDJ.fr finally decided to mount a serious chase. With two, of eight, 21-km laps to go, Krizek was 3:30 up on the peloton. With one to go, he was 1:20 in front. He was brought back to the fold, after a gallant fight, with 12 km remaining.

From there the race became a battle between the sprinters’ teams, though Saxo-Tinkoff stayed prominent in front, keeping race leader Alberto Contado safe in the tight and technical finale.

Out of the final corner, a small group, including Canada’s Guillaume Boivin, broke clear while the rest pulled themselves from a pileup that saw Orica-GreenEdge’s Michael Matthews, Astana’s Andrea Guardini and FDJ’s Nacer Bouhanni among the many who hit the deck. “Nacer [Bouhanni] was on my wheel,” said Geoffrey Soupe, the sprinter’s teammate. “We were looking for the 500-m-to-go mark to launch our sprint when [Matteo] Pelucchi and Guardini crashed into each other. It was impossible to avoid them and we also crashed. It’s a pity because the team had worked all day for that sprint. Fortunately, there’s no consequence for Nacer nor myself.”

Under the 1-km-to-go banner, Lampre-Merida’s Roberto Ferrari jumped with Yauheni Hutarovich of Ag2r-La Mondiale on his wheel. Down the long finishing straight, the race turned into a drag race as Giant-Shimano’s John Degenkolb kicked and Tom Boonen of Omega Pharma-QuickStep mounted a charge. At the line, Degenkolb proved strongest, taking the win ahead of Boonen. Jacopo Guarnieri of Astana claimed the final podium spot.

“I’m very happy,” said Degenkolb. “I came here to win stages. Now I’ve already bagged three stages. It’s great for the team. We’ve also Warren Barguil in the general classification. He’s close to the first positions. As a team, we’re doing really good. We can trust each other. That’s the most important.”

Boivin finished 10th in the sprint, a great result for the young Cannondale rider.

The GC remained largely unchanged, with Contador still in front, 24 seconds ahead placed Alejandro Valverde of Movistar, who sits in second, and 1:12 in front of third-placed Rigoberto Uran.