Nicolas Roche and Dan Martin both inside top-four at Vuelta
It was a good day for the Irish in the Vuelta a Espana, with Team Sky’s Nicolas Roche and Cannondale's Dan Martin coming third and fourth respectively in the first individual stage of the event.
Orica GreenEDGE’s Esteban Chaves is the new race leader after winning stage two, ahead of Team Giant-Alpecin’s Tom Dumoulin.
Behind Roche, fellow Team Sky rider and 2015 Tour de France winner Chris Froome finished seventh, 30 seconds behind Colombian Chaves’ time of three hours, 57 minutes and 25 seconds, and losing four seconds to sixth-placed Nairo Quintana in the process.
The victory for Chaves was his first in a grand tour stage, and gives him the lead of the general classification by five seconds ahead of Holland’s Dumoulin, whom he edged out in a sprint finish to the 158.7km ride from Alhaurin de la Torre to Caminito del Rey.
Chaves’ compatriot Quintana, of Movistar, took an early lead in pursuit of the general classification victory ahead of rival Froome, who is attempting to become only the third man to win the Tour and the Vuelta in the same year.
“I felt this was my moment to do it for the team, I felt like I was in a good position, and in the end I did it, I got this, the (red) jersey,” Chaves told British Eurosport.
“(Orica GreenEDGE) talked among ourselves, about how to deal with everybody around us. The main thing we needed to do was just attack these guys, so that’s what we did.
“Roche and Dumoulin were good company, and we got there in the end.
“At this point I’ve just got to keep going and be happy about this day, and think about tomorrow.”
