Warren Barguil put in a very aggressive showing in today's stage of the Vuelta a Espana and was rewarded for his aggression by moving into the overall top 10. The Frenchman promises to continue his attacks as it is not his style to follow wheels.

Warren Barguil rode a very strong final climb of the 15th stage of the Vuelta a España, attacking his rivals on the tough slopes of the difficult ascent to Lagos de Covadonga before eventually finishing eighth on the stage.

Barguil showed his strength once again today, confirming that he is getting better as the race goes on, and with the result moves back into the top ten overall, now sitting in tenth. Earlier in the stage John Degenkolb got himself into the day’s breakaway, collecting more points for the green jersey competition.

The usual hard fight to get in the day’s breakaway came and the team, wanting to target some sprint points if possible, were represented in the five rider break that stuck with the green jersey himself, John Degenkolb.

Degenkolb easily took the points at both of the day’s sprints to help comfort his lead in the competition, but eventually let go with around 30km of the stage remaining, and the tough finishing mountain looming large.

Behind the team had to work hard on what was a testing day in tough, wet conditions that made the descents slippery. They made sure that Barguil was well supported and positioned, and then on the approach to the final climb the front peloton caught Degenkolb and he was able to help Barguil with bottles for the final climb, playing into the hands of the team as feeding was difficult in the conditions.

As the final climb started, a select front group formed behind the one remaining escapee, Przemslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) and Warren was sitting comfortably in the front selection of climbers.

Barguil started to test his legs early on the climb, with small attacks, and kept this going all the way up as the leaders took it in turns to attack each other and try to break the elastic and the other riders.

Barguil was one of the last riders left with the top three overall on GC and only slipped off the pace in the final kilometres, before eventually coming over the line 44 seconds down on the day’s winner Niemiec who did enough to just hold on to the line to take the stage. Barguil moved himself up from 13th to tenth in the overall classification ahead of tomorrow’s next tough test.

“It was a really good ride from the whole team today, and Warren finished it off with an impressive final ascent,” said coach Christian Guiberteau. “He tried early on the climb to see if they would let him get away and then kept attacking but quite intelligently too, knowing when not to waste energy and following wheels when he could.

“He is getting better and better here and it is a promising place to be ahead of the tough final week. He’s proving that he can be present on the climbs when the fights really kick off and at a young age this is very promising for his development.

“Having John up the road also put us in a good position. We wanted to try and get some more sprint points if possible today and having him in the break meant that he could take points without stress and then also help Warren later on.

“John was feeling good today and I think he surprised himself with how he was. The race was split all over the road with the tough conditions and having him there to give bottles and help to Warren before the final climb was very helpful.”

Barguil added: “It was a hard day today, especially after yesterday. The guys got me up there in position at the base of the penultimate climb and then on the final ascent I really enjoyed myself attacking because I felt really good.

“I love racing and I don’t like sitting in the wheels and waiting, so today it was good to be able take pleasure from attacking and really giving it a go.

“It’s been hard! I’ve tried to ride at my own rhythm as a response to the attacks of the leaders. I’ve also tried to regain some time to position myself higher on GC. This stage wasn’t made for staying in the wheels and waiting. It’s not my style of racing to be waiting anyway. Some riders look really tired and will lose time now. I hope it’ll rain tomorrow in stage 16.”