Oliveira, Lampre Merida, imposes alone goal in the 13th stage of the Vuelta

USPA NEWS - Perseverance and teamwork are two decisive factors in a team sport such as cycling. Win individual... but collective. On Thursday it became apparent in the 13th stage of the Vuelta of Spain, with the triumph of Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida) in Tarazona.

The Portuguese pulled past the Alto del Moncayo, pulling force and claw, tucked behind by Valerio Conti and, above all, by Ruben Plaza. Both they dried all attempts to approach Oliveira, giving their partner their best success as a professional, international first. He shouted that the stage would end with the triumph risking a leak in the last kilometers. The teams knew and that cost a lot to curdle the good movement of the day. It was not until the ramps of the first two ports of the day where they would join up to 24 men in front of the race, with representation from most sets of this Vuelta of Spain.

The first units of this ripped away at the base of the Alto Collado de Oseja (3rd). However, it was in Upper Beratón (1st) where the following cyclists joined: Sergio Henao and Nicolas Roche (Team Sky), Mikael Cherel and Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Alessandro de Marchi (BMC), David Arroyo (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Yohan Bagot and Julien Simon (Cofidis).

Also Niki Terpstra and Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-Quick Step), Kenny Elissonde and Kevin Reza (FDJ), Sylvain Chavanel and Jerome Coppel (IAM Cycling), Rubén Plaza Valerio Conti and Nelson Oliveira (Lampre-Merida), Maxime Monfort (Lotto-Soudal), Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), Stephen Cummings (MTN-QHUBEKA), Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge), Yukiya Arashiro and Romain Sicard (Europcar ) and Pawel Poljanski (Tinkoff-Saxo). Sicard and Brambilla, to just under 7 minutes Fabio Aru, were best placed overall.

But the big news had jumped at the first port. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) platoon suffered a tail, even to lose contact with the other runners. Colombia continues to pass some very difficult days after confirming an illness that made him lose several kilos and, therefore, much of its strength on a bicycle. Nairo managed to recover and finish the stage in the main bunch.