Pezcyclingnews: Vuelta’15 St.18: Roche Romps In Riaza!

Race Report: Astanas Fabio Aru has to take the race to overall leader Tom Dumoulin if he wants to claw back the 3 seconds he need for the final win. The Sardinian attacked, attacked and attacked again, but he could not shake the big Dutchman. At the head of the race Nico Roche and Haimar Zubeldia sprinted it out for the stage honors, with Roche taking the victory.With only three days for Fabio Aru (Astana) to un-seat Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) from the red jersey, the Sardinian has to take every chance he can and today he made many attacks, but gained nothing. The break of the day was big, 25 riders, it split and Nico Roche (Sky) and Haimar Zubeldia (Trek) crossed the final climb together and fought out the sprint with the Irishman edging out the Basque.Tom Dumoulin in red again at the start After the strong ride from Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) in the Burgos time trial, the Dutchman now has 3 seconds advantage over Fabio Aru (Astana) and 1:15 over Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) going into the last three decisive stages. Saturday will be the big day, but there are opportunities today in stage 18 and on Friday. Tom Dumoulin said at the start: As of now Im not going to ride the Vuelta at my own pace but at that of Fabio Arus. I will ride conservatively. Its true that he is explosive but I will not give him anything.Stage 18 has three climbs, the first comes after...

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