Nicolas Roche has taken his second ever Stage win at the Vuelta a Espana after out-sprinting Haimar Zubeldia to take Stage 18, the 204 kilometre run between Roa and Riaza.
It is also the second stage win of this year's event for Team Sky. After starting this year's tour strongly and lying in the top ten of general classification in the early stages, Roche had fallen back into the pack in recent races.
It is the 22nd stage win by an Irish rider in the history of the Vuelta. 16 of that total were recorded by Sean Kelly, who won the competition outright in 1988. Shay Elliot won two stages back in the early 60s, while Dan Martin and Philip Deignan have won stages in recent years.
Interestingly, Kelly won five stages at the Vuelta in 1980, but only finished fourth in the race overall.
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