Chris Froome and Team Sky wanted and easy day in the Vuelta a Espana and that's exactly what they got on a largely uneventful stage. The team managed to avoid the late carnage and is now looking ahead to tomorrow's tricky stage.

 

Chris Froome was kept out of harm’s way as stage 12 of the Vuelta a Espana reached a crash-affected conclusion with John Degenkolb emerging triumphant in Logrono.

 

Froome was well marshalled throughout the eight laps of a largely flat 20.8km circuit and rolled home unscathed as Team Sky avoided the carnage on the final corner of the day.

 

Indeed, such was the effect of the pile-up that only 13 riders emerged to contest the sprint finish, with Degenkolb benefiting from a textbook lead-out which allowed him to romp to his third stage win and extend his points classification lead in the process.

 

Froome was among the vast majority of riders credited with the same time as Degenkolb, ensuring he retained fourth spot on the overall standings, just 1min 20sec back on race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo).

 

After the stage Sports Director Dario Cioni was pleased to report a clean bill of health and

 

He told TeamSky.com: "None of our riders came down in that crash, which is always nice to hear, and they'll be good to go again tomorrow.

 

"Everything went to plan for us today - we wanted an straightforward stage and we got it. The weather was perfect, warm but no wind, and we were one of several teams who were saving our energies for the harder stages to come.

 

"Tomorrow is a lumpy day and how that plays out will depend on how the other teams ride it. The finish is a tough one to predict in that respect but we'll be ready to react to any eventuality.

 

"It should suit a punchy sprinter but a lot of factors will come into play, so it's important we keep Chris well positioned and protected again."