Hanson ambushes peloton to win Vuelta stage 19

Adam Hanson (Team Lotto) ambushed the peloton in the final moments to take a surprise win on the 19th stage of the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race.

The Australian, who is riding his tenth consecutive grand tour, Friday took advantage of a few moments of confusion in the peloton with four kilometres remaining on the 183-km stage to put his head down and open up a 14-second gap as the rest of the riders took too long to organise their pursuit and that gap was enough to see him hold on to the finish line, reports Xinhua.

Stage 19 was a reasonably straightforward route over a mixture of flat and rolling terrain with a second category climb peaking before a winding descent 15 km from the finish.

That meant it was unlikely to affect the overall leaders, Alberto Contador, Chris Froome and Alejandro Valverde, but was going to have a lot to say in the outcome of the Green Jersey for the points away which usually goes to the best sprinter.

The day's escape of three riders never got further than three minutes ahead of the group and was reeled in before the final climb, the second category Alto de Monte Faro.

The descent of the Alto de Monte Faro proved to be difficult on narrow roads and Sky's Dario Cataldo took a nasty fall as his back wheel slipped away on a corner of the road.

Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) led the race up the climb and then rode for home over a relatively flat last 10-km, but with teams like Giant Shimano and Orica Green Edge looking to give their sprinters John Degenkolb and Michael Matthews a chance on the final straight, Lutsenko's brave escape ended with five km left to ride.

A bunch sprint looked to be a certainty, before Hanson took advantage of the confusion to spring into the lead and win the stage, lifting his arms in triumph as Degenkolb led the rest of the peloton over the line to take second place, which will virtually assure him the green jersey

Saturday sees the last mountain stage ending on a special category climb which should decide the overall podium positions with a short 10 km time trial Sunday in case any questions remain unanswered.