Vuelta a Espana 2015: Full Standings and Highlights After Stage 12 Results
Trek Factory Racing's Danny van Poppel won Stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana after a dramatic sprint finish to Thursday's race.
The 22-year-old suffered a puncture with 10 kilometres remaining but produced a wonderful attack to take the stage victory.
Daryl Impey of Orica-GreenEdge was edged out into second place, with Belgium's Tosh Van der Sande coming home in third.
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Italian Fabio Aru retains the overall lead by 27 seconds after Astana's wonderful team efforts in Stage 11.
Here are the full results and updated general-classification standings, via the Vuelta's official Twitter feed:
| 1 | Danny van Poppel (Ned) Trek Factory Racing |
| 2 | Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge |
| 3 | Tosh Van der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal |
| 4 | Nikolas Maes (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step |
| 5 | John Degenkolb (Ger) Team Giant-Alpecin |
| 6 | Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team |
| 7 | Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel) Team LottoNL-Jumbo |
| 8 | Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) MTN - Qhubeka |
| 9 | Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team |
| 10 | Leonardo Duque (Col) Colombia |
Stage 12 was a less harsh affair after Wednesday's gruelling climbing test between Andorra la Vella and Cortals d'Encamp. The big pre-race news of the day was the exit of Tour de France holder Chris Froome, who crashed early in Stage 11 and broke his foot, as reported by the BBC. The Brit bravely completed the stage, but his race is now run.
The BMC Racing Team shared the details of the stage, showing that the sprinters would favour the course:
A group of five riders made an early breakaway on the first downhill section, as Maxime Bouet, Miguel Angel Rubiano, Jaco Venter, Bert Jan Lindeman and Alexis Gougeard pushed hard.
AG2R La Mondiale's Gougeard once again showed his aggressive credentials in the early stages, with Lindeman in hot pursuit.
The peloton remained content—three minutes behind the leaders—with the main climb occurring before the midway point of the race. The Coll de Boixols climb is a second-category one and was 15.8 kilometres long at 5 percent.
Bouet led the pack on the descent as the gap to the peloton grew by a further 30 seconds. However, Giant-Alpecin were intent on attacking, attempting to allow John Degenkolb a chance on the sprint finish for the line.
Trek followed Giant's lead as they helped with the overall pace, working to place Van Poppel in a strong position in the final kilometres. Both teams lead the peloton to cut a minute off the leaders' pace in just a 20-minute period.
Astana sat calmly in the pack—after a successful day of racing on Wednesday—with red-jersey holder Aru looking cool and relaxed.
Despite the peloton making gains, the leaders sustained their gap at the front to two minutes as the race entered its last 30 kilometres.
However, the lead was suddenly down to just over a minute with 13 kilometres remaining, with Giant leading the charge with BMC.
Van Poppel's chances appeared to have been dashed after mechanical issues, damaging Trek's tactics, and Giant faded as tiredness kicked in. BMC hit the front of the peloton like an express train as the gap reduced, leading to a manic sprint finish.
The front riders were caught by the chasing pack in the final kilometre, and a dozen riders battled for the win in the home stretch. It was the power of Van Poppel that won the day, taking the win by inches as he produced a ruthless finish at the death.
Van Poppel's puncture in the final eight kilometres had seemed to have prematurely ended his battle, but the Dutch racer showed the depths of his resolve in the final 200 metres.
He is still a very young rider compared to many of his fellow challengers but is already a devastating sprint finisher when the chips are down.
Aru will be pleased with the frantic sprint finish and maintains his overall lead achieved in Stage 11.
The race continues on Friday with the 178-kilometre chase between Calatayud and Tarazona at Stage 13.
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