Bardet wins and is now best climber

Outsider Odd Christian Eiking has surprisingly defended his red jersey of the overallest at the 76th Spain tour in the mountains. The Norwegian lost at the mountain arrival on the 14th Vuelta stage on Saturday only 20 seconds on defending champion and potavorit Primoz Roglic. After 165.7 kilometers from Don Benito to Pico Villuercas, the daily victory won the former tour de-France second Romain Ballet, who was alone by the other outliers Jesus Herrada (Spain) and Jay Vine (Australia) won.

At the 14.4-kilometer final rise with an average of 6.3 percent gradient, Eiking, who had adopted the lead on the tenth stage, piled up to his red jersey. In the overall standings he is now 54 seconds in front of the Frenchman Guillaume Martin and 1:36 minutes before Roglic.

On Sunday, the Vuelta again asked the climbing specialists. On the 197.5 kilometers of Navalmoral de la Mata to El Barraco are four mountain ratings, including two of the first category. The third large state tour of the year ends on 5 September with a single time trial in Santiago de Compostela.

14 . Stage Don Benito - Pico Villuercas (165.70 km):

1. Romain Bardet (France) - Team DSM 4:20:36 hrs.; 2. Jesús Herrada Lopez (Spain) - Cofidis + 44 sec.; 3. Jay Vine (Australia) - Alpecin-Fenix; 4. Thomas Pidcock (United Kingdom) - Ineos Grenadiers + 1:12 min.; 5. Clement Champoussin (France) - AG2R Citroën Team + 1:14; 6. Matthew Holmes (United Kingdom) - Lotto Soudal + 1:16; 7. Andrei time (Kazakhstan) - Team BikeExchange + 1:19; 8. Kevin Geniets (Luxembourg) - Groupama-FDJ + 1:46; 9. Nicolas Prodhomme (France) - AG2R Citroën Team + 2:04; 10 Jan Tratnik (Slovenia) - Bahrain Victorious + 2:15

Total standings single, stand after the 14th stage:

1. Odd Christian Eiking (Norway) - Wanty-Gobert 55:03:17 hrs.; 2. Guillaume Martin (France) - Cofidis + 54 sec.; 3. Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) - Jumbo Visa + 1:36 min.; 4. Enric Mas Nicolau (Spain) - Movistar Team + 2:11; 5. Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Colombia) - Movistar Team + 3:04; 6. Jack Haig (Australia) - Bahrain Victorious + 3:35; 7. Ean Arley Bernal Gomez (Colombia) - Ineos Grenadiers + 4:21; 8. Adam Yates (United Kingdom) - Ineos Grenadiers + 4:49; 9. Sepp Kiss (USA) - Jumbo Visa + 4:59; 10. Felix Grandschartner (Austria) - Bora-Hansgrohe + 5:31

German Vuelta stages winner: Ackermann stands twice