At the end of a very active stage in the Vuelta a España, Nicolas Roche held on to his 13th place overall.
The 24 year old Irish rider finished 22nd in today’s race to Segovia, crossing the line as part of a 22 man group sprinting for third.
David Arroyo Duran (Caisse d'Epargne) won, outsprinting breakaway companion Vasili Kiryienka (Tinkoff Credit Systems) to the line. Roche’s group finished 11 seconds behind Arroyo Duran.
The stage featured two first category mountains and saw a hectic pace being set by the teams of the race favourites. Roche finished with the overall contenders and thus retained his high place in the general classification. He is eleven minutes 42 seconds behind overall leader Alberto Contador.
The Vuelta a España continues on Saturday with the penultimate stage, a 17.1 kilometre hill climb time trial to the Alto de Navacerrada.
