Sport

Nairo Quintana maintains red jersey after stage 12

Jens Keukeleire won the stage to Bilbao as Chris Froome chases down Quintana

Orica Bikeexchange’s Belgian cyclist Jens Keukeleire celebrates winning as he crosses the finish line during the 12th stage of the 71st edition of “La Vuelta” Tour of Spain, a 193.2km route between Los Corrales de Buelna and Bilbao. Photo: Jose Jordan/Getty Images
Orica Bikeexchange’s Belgian cyclist Jens Keukeleire celebrates winning as he crosses the finish line during the 12th stage of the 71st edition of “La Vuelta” Tour of Spain, a 193.2km route between Los Corrales de Buelna and Bilbao. Photo: Jose Jordan/Getty Images
Thu Sept 01 2016 - 17:08

Jens Keukeleire won stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana as Nairo Quintana retained the leaders’ red jersey ahead of Chris Froome.

The 193.2km stage from Los Corrales de Buelna to Bilbao ended in a much-reduced sprint finish, and Orica-BikeExchange’s 27-year-old Norwegian Keukeleire took victory ahead of Etixx-QuickStep’s Maxime Bouet and Trek-Segafredo’s Fabio Felline for his first Grand Tour stage win.

The main protagonists in the general classification battle were not far behind, with Quintana’s team-mate Alejandro Valverde taking eighth place on the day.

Quintana crossed the line 26th, five places behind Froome, but with no time splits in the pack there was no change in the battle for red. Quintana leads Froome by 54 seconds after Froome’s stage 11 victory in Pena Cabarga on Wednesday.

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Valderde is third, a further 11 seconds back on Froome.

Orica-BikeExchange’s Simon Yates sits seventh, three minutes and 25 seconds behind Quintana.

Froome’s team-mates Peter Kennaugh and David Lopez were part of the day’s breakaway, but the group splintered on the second of two laps of a circuit around Bilbao, which included the category two climb of Alto el Vivero.

IAM Cycling’s Dries Devenyns launched a late bid for glory as a spritely looking Alberto Contador of Tinkoff led the contenders up the climb, but it all came back together on the streets of the city before Keukeleire made his move in the sprint.