BARCELONA: Wout van Aert won the 10th stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Tuesday to seal a hat-trick of victories on his debut in the Spanish Grand Tour. The Belgian Visma-Lease a Bike rider worked with Quentin Pacher on the way to the finish in Galicia, with the French rider leading out but soon accepting defeat against the sprint king.

Australian Ben O’Connor keeps the overall lead from Primoz Roglic on a relaxed afternoon for the red jersey rider, as the peloton rolled in five-and-a-half minutes down on Van Aert. It was a tricky 160 kilometre ride from Ponteareas to Baiona, with four categorized climbs, as the race moved north after Monday’s rest day. “It’s not too often that I can win when (my family) visits me on the race,” said Van Aert, 29, who celebrated with his loved ones after his victory. “It was my aim to be in the breakaway, I had a hard time to be honest on the first climb, I almost gave up, I had one more try at the top... for 50km we had to fight for a bit of a gap.”

Van Aert is making his debut on the Vuelta after a disappointing Tour de France, when he was unable to secure any victories. “I have a versatile profile and when I get in a situation like this I have a chance,” he added. Midway through the stage the breakway finally got up the road and opened up a significant gap on the peloton, with O’Connor’s team Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale content to let them go as the group contained no general classification threats.

Van Aert took off with around 30km to go and Pacher followed him to form a leading duo. Groupama-FDJ’s Pacher has never won a pro race and left up against Van Aert, the Frenchman clearly did not fancy his chances.

With 1.6km remaining he burst forward but Van Aert followed and waited on his back wheel, ready for his inevitable sprint triumph. 

“It’s not really easy to find a place to attack Wout because he is strong everywhere, so I tried to stay in his wheel and I just gave my best and didn’t think too much,” Pacher told Eurosport.

“I can only be satisfied because I am beaten by a guy who was stronger.” UAE Team Emirates rider Marc Soler came in third to complete the day’s podium. O’Connor leads overall by three minutes 53 seconds from three-time winner Roglic. Wednesday’s stage 11 takes riders on a 166.5km route starting and finishing in Galician town Padron. – AFP