Nicolas Roche wins stage 18 as Tom Dumoulin stays in red

Roche secured his first major victory in Team Sky colours by denying what would have been a sentimental win for experience Basque rouleur Zubeldia of Trek Factory Racing.

The leading duo had broken clear of a break of 25 riders on the third and final categorised climb on the 204km stage from Roa in central Spain.

Portugal's Jose Goncalves was the only other escapee to stave off the returning group of main favourites on the fast descent to the finish, the Caja Rural rider taking third place 18 seconds down on the winner.

Veteran Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) led the main pack containing both Dumoulin and Aru over the line 20 seconds later.

Despite a volley of attacks from third-place Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and in particular Aru (Astana), Dutchman Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) stayed cool to keep his dream of riding into Madrid in red alive.

With three stages remaining Dumoulin is three seconds to the better of the Sardinian Giro d’Italia runner-up, with veteran Spaniard Rodriguez 1:15 in arrears.

“We survived the first one but there’s going to be three more very hard days left,” Dumoulin told Eurosport after finishing safely in the main pack, 38 seconds down on winner Roche.

“Today Aru tried very hard to take back the red jersey but I was never in trouble and as soon as I responded to his first attack I was pretty confident.”

As the entire top ten battled it out on the Cat.1 Alto de la Quesara, Roche and Zubeldia rode over the summit with a minute to play with before holding their nerve on the twisting descent.

Riding his 11th Vuelta and his 26th Grand Tour, 38-year-old Zubeldia dug deep in the final sprint but didn’t have the strength in his legs to beat Roche, the clear favourite on paper.

Roche’s second victory on the Vuelta came two years after the 31-year-old picked up his maiden win in Spain en route to his highest Grand Tour finish, fifth place in 2013.

“I’ve never hidden that the Vuelta is my favourite race. It’s where I’ve got my best GC results and the terrain really suits me, the roads, the short and steep climbs, the heat and the fans. I come here every year and just look forward to it,” Roche said.

It took just over 50km but once the day’s main break of 25 riders formed one name stood out on the sheet: that of Belgian Bart de Clercq (Lotto Soudal) who was lurking in 14th place on the overall standings.

After two third-category climbs the gap was still the best part of six minutes as MTN-Qhubeka came to the front of the peloton to protect the top ten position of their man Louis Meintjes, which was under threat by De Clercq.

Just four teams were unrepresented in the break: Orica-GreenEdge and Team Colombia missed the cut while Giant-Alpecin and Astana had bigger fish to fry.

With the pack closing in ahead of the final climb, Frenchman Cyril Gautier (Europcar) attacked from the break with 28km remaining – prompting a reply from both Roche and Zubeldia.

The rolling roads ahead of the final categorised climb saw Aru’s Astana team spark into action, whittling down the advantage of the escapees while reducing the main pack to less than 40 riders.

While the baby blue of Astana illuminated the head of the pack it was Katusha who fired the first warning shots to Dumoulin as Rodriguez, the green jersey, darted ahead after team-mate Angel Vicioso had prepared the terrain with 34km remaining.

The Katusha pair was quickly reeled in by the high-tempo riding of Astana before the baton was passed to Aru, whose searing pace at the start of the climb had burnt off all his remaining lieutenants.

Aru, wearing the white combined jersey, wasted little time before making his intentions known, reducing the field with a series of explosive attacks at the start of the Alto de la Quesara.

But every time the white jersey bounded clear he was adeptly shadowed by the tall, rangy figure of Dumoulin in red. The Dutchman gave Aru no leeway as he thwarted his every move while around them the likes of Estaban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), Mikel Nieve (Team Sky) and Valverde all tried their luck – to no avail.

The entire top ten on GC crossed the summit in a select group one minute down on the two leaders, with Goncalves trailing Roche and Zubeldia by 30 seconds just ahead of the remnants of the break.

All the remaining escapees bar Goncalves were caught on the descent inside the final 10km before Roche used his superior kick to break the heart of Zubeldia.

For Dumoulin, it was a case of a job well done: one down and three to go.

COMING UP: Friday’s 186km stage 19 from Medina del Campo features two lower category climbs ahead of a ramped finish in Avila – yet more terrain for Aru to try and steal back those precious three seconds.