Vuelta a España. Astana’s Manuele Boaro 8th in Bilbao, Stage 12

NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM The spectators alongside the streets of Bilbao saw another breakaway win as the Belgian rider Philippe Gilbert arrived solo at the finish line, winning after his late attack on the final climb of the day. The Astana rider Manuele Boaro made part of the breakaway group and after a very solid race he finished 8th.

«It was a very fast stage. Initially, I did not plan to go in a break, but in a moment when I saw that a big group is trying to escape, I did my best to join them. When our group has got a good advantage of 4-5 minutes, together with the sports directors we decided to try to fight for a stage win. The final was very hard, I did my best, tried to catch the leaders on the descent and finished 8th. Well, tomorrow we come back to important mountain stages and as a team we are ready to support Miguel Angel Lopez,» said Manuele Boaro.

The race started on the Circuito de Navarra with a lot of attacks, but it took more than 100 km until a group of riders, finally, went away. Manuele Boaro was able to join this group and until the last 500 meters of the final climb he was up there among the leaders fighting for a stage victory, Astana Pro Team’s official website reads.

For the main group of GC contenders it was another hard day with high pace and many climbs on the distance. Astana Pro Team did a great job protecting Miguel Angel Lopez, who tried to attack on Alto de Arraiz, but all the rivals followed him. In the end of the day, a group of GC favorites finished all together, 3 minutes 2 seconds behind the stage winner.

The stage did not produce any change in the upper part of the general classification: Primoz Roglic still leads the race, while Miguel Angel Lopez is 3rd, 2.11 behind the leader. The Astana rider is the leader in the best young rider classification.

The Vuelta a España comes back to the mountains with stage 13 from Bilbao to the top of HC category climb Los Machucos. Monumeno Vaca Pasiega (166.4 km).