John Degenkolb prevails at last as Aru takes maiden Vuelta title

USPA NEWS - Fabio Aru (Astana) claimed his first grand tour title when the Italian retained the overall leader's red jersey on the Vuelta a Espana after John Degenkolb won a bunch sprint in the 21st and last stage in Madrid.

Gian-Alpecin's Degenkolb beat Danny Van Poppel (Trek Factory) and Jempy Drucker (BMC Racing). They were 158 riders at the start in Alcara de Henares at 17:42. The Movistar-led peloton entered Madrid at 19:05 and Alejandro Valverde won the intermediate sprint to bag four points and leapfrog fellow Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) in the points classification to secure the green jersey. Just like in 2012.

Six men jumped away from the pack : Pichon (FDJ), Fraile (Caja Rural), Montaguti (AG2r-La Mondiale), Visconti (Movistar), Verona (Etixx-Quick Step) and King (Cannondale-Garmin). The Giant-Alpecin and Trek Factory teams, however, controlled the gap as they were looking to set up a bunch sprint. Three laps from the finish, the fugitives were about to get caught when King tried his luck solo. He failed, just like Gougeard (AG2r-La Mondiale) and Thomas (Sky) after him.

As expected, the 97.8-km stage ended in a bunch sprint won by Degenkolb after he was perfectly set up by his team. Finishing safe in the peloton, Aru secured the red jersey, the green sent to Valverde while the polka dot jersey was won by Omar Fraile (Caja Rural). Rodriguez won the white jersey for the combined classification and Movistar won the teams classification.