Nielsen wins stage 18 bunch sprint, Quintana retains race lead

Nielsen, 23, became the second youngest stage winner on this year's Vuelta (after Frenchman Lilian Calmejane of Direct Energie) and added a third scalp for his Orica-BikeExchange team after powering home at the end of the 200.6km stage from Requena to Gandia on the Mediterranean coast.

Just days before the end of his maiden Grand Tour, Nielsen outsprinted Giant-Alpecin's Arndt and stage 16 winner Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC) of Luxembourg in a fiercely contested bunch sprint to take his second win of the season.

Italian veteran Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff) and Belgian stage seven winner Jonas Van Genechten (IAM Cycling) completed the top five, while Gianni Meersman – the Belgian sprinter who notched a brace in the opening week – could only manage eighth place despite some hard work from his Etixx-QuickStep team to reel in a five-man break which at one point held a seven-minute advantage over the pack.

Race leader Quintana (Movistar) negotiated the many roundabouts on the fast approach to Gandia without any mishaps to retain the red jersey. The Colombian heads into Friday's 37km time trial with a commanding lead of three minutes and 37 seconds over triple Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Team Sky).

Japan’s Fumiyuki Beppu (Trek-Segafredo), Frenchmen Quentin Jauregui (Ag2R-La Mondiale) and Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac), and Italian Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre-Merida) broke clear shortly after the start of the stage before being joined by Belgian Louis Vervaeke (Lotto Soudal).

Over rolling roads in the province of Valancia and in temperatures that hit the mid-30s, the quintet fast established a large lead over the peloton as Beppu crested the summit of the only categorised climb of the day – the Cat.2 Puerto de Casa del Alto – in pole position.

With Etixx-QuickStep coming to the front of the peloton to lend a hand to the Giant-Alpecin and Bora-Argon18 teams the break’s gap of seven minutes came tumbling down as the road flattened out on the approach to the finish.

Cattaneo was first to call it a day, the Italian sitting up with 35km to go. The remaining four escapees were swallowed up with 11km to go after Dimension Data and IAM Cycling had joined the chase.

Belgian Jan Bakelants (Ag2R-La Mondiale) went off-script and tried his luck from distance with 3.5km to go but was quickly swept up by the rampaging peloton.

One of the tightest and most hotly contested bunch sprints of the race then ensued, with Nielsen proving his pedigree with a strong finish – a week after team-mate Jens Keukeleire added a second scalp for Orica-BikeExchange following Simon Yates’ opening week win.

“It’s fantastic – really a big dream come true,” said Nielsen, whose team-mates Esteban Chaves and Yates are both in the top five of the general classification.

“Our main goal is to keep our eye on our GC guys but every now and then we have a go in the sprints. It’s fantastic – this is my first Grand Tour and the team now has three stage wins and two guys up on GC,” added Nielsen, having become the 12th first time Grand Tour stage winner since the start of the race.

The Vuelta continues on Friday with a flat 37km individual time trial that could see Britain’s Froome close the gap on Quintana at the top of the standings. Froome currently trails Quintana by 3:37 with Colombia’s Chaves a further 20 seconds back and five seconds ahead of fourth-place Alberto Contador (Tinkoff).