Bert Jan Lindeman won Friday’s seventh stage of Spain’s Vuelta at La Alpujarra summit during a first stage in the mountains which proved gruelling for Chris Froome.
The Lotto-Jumbo rider withstood the searing Andalusian heat, powering ahead of Belarusian Ilia Koshevoy of Lampre and Italy’s Fabio Aru of Astana at the line. France’s Jerome Cousin of Europcar finished fourth after taking a tumble in the final straight while en route to victory.
Colombian Johan Esteban Chaves of Orica-GreenEdge holds the leader’s red jersey, gaining valuable time on Tour de France winner Froome, who crossed the line some 27 seconds behind the favourites.
Froome limits his losses at the line on stage 7. @nicholasroche leads home @TeamSky in 10th. Lindeman (TLJ) wins from the break
— Team Sky (@TeamSky) August 28, 2015
Sky’s Froome is bidding for a Tour-Vuelta double but fell outside the top 10 in the overall standings and is now 12th at 1min 22sec after the first test at altitude.
The summit finish favoured the breakaway group with five riders including Lindeman building up a 13-minute lead on the peloton at one point with the Dutch rider proving the strongest and most cunning in the final race for the line.
“For me, it’s unexpected to win on our arrival in the mountains, with so many riders targeting the overall standings,” said Lindeman.
The 26-year-old cleverly let his rivals tire themselves out by repeatedly attacking before he broke through with the decisive acceleration.
“It’s never easy,” said Chaves. “It was a long day with sweltering heat. I’m very happy, each extra day in the red jersey is an important day. I feel good, my legs are very good. To be with the best is an honour.”
Froome’s title rivals – Fabio Aru (Astana), Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) – all profitted from his difficulties.
Aru was impressive gaining 34 seconds on Froome with a brutal acceleration in the final 1.5km.
“It’s the first summit finish and I was looking for some answers,” Aru said. “I wasn’t great on the shorter climbs but now I’m recovering and that’s good. Now we’ll just look to recover for the stages to come.”
Saturday’s eighth stage will leave Andalusia with the 182.5km run from Puebla de Don Fadrique to Murcia largely set to favour the sprinters despite a category three climb to cross twice in the final 40km.
