Drucker sprints to victory in stage 16 as Quintana stays in red

Riding only his second Grand Tour at the age of 30, BMC's Drucker picked the right wheel to follow before powering from the slipstream of Belgium’s Gianni Meersman to take the biggest win of his career.

Etixx-QuickStep's Meersman – the in-form fastman after snatching a brace of wins in the opening week – faded to fourth place in the finale thanks to late surge from Selig (Bora-Argon 18) and Arndt (Giant-Alpecin).

The 156.4km stage from Alcañiz to the Mediterranean coast was animated by a six-man break which was swept up with 12km remaining of what proved to be a rather hectic finale.

Italian veteran Daniele Bennati decided that the best way to deal with the twists and turns and multiple pieces of road furniture was to ride off the front inside the final three kilometres. The Tinkoff sprinter opened up a small gap but was swept up just two-hundred metres from the line.

Drucker then won the shoot out after Meersman appeared to set off in pursuit of his hat-trick a tad too early.

"I suffered a lot the last few days – especially the day on the Aubisque – but I kept on believing in the sprint stages and I was confident in my sprint," said 'Jempy' Drucker, who turned 30 on that very day which concluded on the Col d'Aubisque.

"It's nice. It's cool to get a victory in a Grand Tour. It was hectic with all the roundabouts in the city. I had [team-mate] Danilo Wyss doing a great job and then I was just hoping and trying to get an opening."

After the dramatics and craziness of the preceding two days in the Pyrenees, it was a relatively calm day in the peloton for the big race favourites.

Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) finished safely to protect his commanding 3:37 lead over Britain's Chris Froome (Team Sky) in the overall standings on the eve of a much-needed second rest day. A second Colombian, Esteban Chaves of Orica-BikeExchange, completes the virtual podium 20 seconds behind Froome with Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) breathing down his neck a further five seconds back.

Featuring just one third-category climb ahead of a long and sinuous downhill towards the coast, Monday’s transitional stage was played out in fierce temperatures and saw four riders attack from the gun.

Silvan Dillier (BMC), Sven Erik Bystrom (Katusha), Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) and Julien Morice (Direct Energie) were swiftly joined by Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac) and Mario Costa (Lampre-Merida) before the six escapees combined to build up a maximum lead of three minutes over the pack.

Besides a touch of wheels that brought down Orica-BikeExchange duo Simon Yates and Sam Bewley, there was little to no drama in the pursuing peloton as the teams of the main sprinters combined to reel in the break on the outskirts of Peñíscola.

Unable to rely on his finishing speed alone, veteran Bennati tried his luck from distanced but was reeled in within touching distance of the line after Drucker timed his surge to perfection to open BMC’s account in style.

The Vuelta continues on Wednesday with the ninth summit finish of what has already been a mountain-heavy 71st edition of the race. The 177.5km stage from Castellon features three lower-category climbs ahead of the Cat.1 Alto Mas de la Costa where the red jersey contenders will no doubt resume their battle.