Tom Van Asbroeck sprinted to seventh in the 12th stage of the Vuelta a España on Thursday. Bert-Jan Lindeman, winner of stage 7, was part of the main breakaway for the fourth time during this Grand Tour, and was caught just one kilometer from the finish line. Trek Factory Racing’s Danny van Poppel gave the Netherlands its third Vuelta stage win so far by winning the bunch sprint. Fabio Aru (Team Astana) held on to the lead in the GC.

“We were very active with the team in the beginning of the stage,” Bert-Jan Lindeman said. “We were attacking one by one to get into the break. When it was my turn, I got in the right move. I didn’t really have a great day, however. Of course, I had a plan for the final kilometres, but the legs couldn’t carry it out. I wanted to fight for a second victory today. Having won already is nice, but once you’re on your bike, you just want to win as badly as ever.”

Excellent lead-out
Van Asbroeck started the sprint from the pole-position after a strong lead-out by his team-mates, but did not have the strength to hold his advantage all the way to the line. Van Asbroeck finished 7th.

“The riders did an excellent lead-out for Tom,” Sports Director Merijn Zeeman said. “We are very pleased about that. Our youngster, Timo Roosen and Mike Teunissen, did well again, together with the other fellows. We are making real progress in that area. Tom was in a perfect position, but was short of power. He did what he could, but the lead-out deserved a better result. Of course, we wanted to win, but we also wanted to show ourselves again and we succeeded. That’s a good thing.”

Friday
The 13^th stage of the Vuelta starts in Calatayud and finishes 178 kilometres later in Tarazona. Along the way the pack will tackle three climbs, two of the third category and one of the first.

“Many teams worked hard for a sprint today, but were not rewarded in the end, so it depends whether or not a team is willing to control tomorrow”, Zeeman said. “We fancy our chances of going into a breakaway again.”