Cort Nielson sprints to victory in Vuelta stage 18

Magnus Cort Nielson (Orica Bike Exchange) won a thrilling group sprint which decided the 18th stage of the Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) cycling race on Thursday.

Nielson, who was riding his first ever grand tour, drove to the line from around 300 meters from the line and had the strength to hold off the challenge of the other sprinters in what was an exciting finish to a relatively straightforward stage between Requena and Gandia.

The 200 kilometers between the two cities in eastern Spain featured a second category climb around a third of the way through, but was relatively flat after that.

The day's breakaway opened up a six-minute gap, but that was reigned in over the last 80 kilometers as the sprinters looked for one of their rare opportunities in this year's race.

That led to the bunch sprint while race leader Nairo Quintana, who holds a 3.37 minute lead over second placed Chris Froome, was happy to remain out of trouble as was his British rival for the race.

Friday sees a relatively flat 37 kilometer time trial which will be the penultimate chance for Froome to try and chip into Quintana's lead ahead of the final mountain stage on Saturday. Enditem