MTN-Qhubeka went into today's stage of the Vuelta a Espana with a dual approach to the sprint. However, both Kristian Sbaragli and Gerald Ciolek were held up behind the late crash.

The 12th stage of La Vuelta a Espana was a 8 lap circuit race around Logrono that John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) won quite easily in the end. There was a big crash just before the kilometer to go sign that held up 90% of the peloton, including all the MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung riders. Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma Quickstep) was 2nd on the stage and Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana) was 3rd.

While the day’s racing was a great spectacle for the crowds, the stage itself was rather uneventful until the final lap. One rider, Matthias Krizek (Cannondale) would escape from the peloton early on and would gain up to 9 minutes on the peloton. A 166km solo escape would not work out to be the winning move of the day though as at 10km to go, the race was all together.

Jaco Venter and Jay Thomson were trying to position Kristian Sbaragli and Gerald Ciolek near the front of the bunch for the sprint but the chaotic nature of the finish kept causing the riders to lose each others wheels. In the end it was Kristian Sbaragli who had the best position for the sprint but it was not to be his day as the crash put an end to his chances of a result.

"Today was stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana and it was a pretty nervous finish," Director Sportif Jens Zemke said. "Everybody was pretty fresh at the finish as it was a relaxing day for the bunch. They let one rider go who got nearly 9 minutes but the sprinters teams chased him down before the final and we had a mass sprint.

"Our boys were part of it with 1.2km to go but then the crash happened and it was right in front of Kristian, without that he could have got us one good result. Unfortunately, there was no result for us but we will keep our motivation going forward."