Vuelta a Espana: Jesus Herrada secures stage 11 win as Geraint Thomas comes fifth

Jesus Herrada wins stage 11 of the Tour of Spain

Spain’s Jesus Herrada produced a strong finish on the final climb to win stage 11 of the Vuelta a Espana.

The Cofidis rider, 33, was part of a breakaway which was pulled up the climb by Ineos Grenadiers’ Filippo Ganna.

He was trying to tee up Geraint Thomas, but when Herrada attacked, the Ineos rider had no answer and finished fifth.

Thomas pulled back over five minutes on GC leader Sepp Kuss but said: “I’m just disappointed I couldn’t finish it off. I had no real gas at the end.”

Herada finished three seconds ahead of Groupama’s young Frenchman Romain Gregoire, with Lotto Destiny’s Andreas Kron third at the end of the 163.5km ride from Lerma to La Laguna Negra.

The contenders for the general classification finished together, nearly six minutes behind Herrada, after Remco Evenepoel’s Soudal-Quick-Step team largely neutralised the final climb.

Thomas, whose difficult race so far was compounded by chain issues on the stage 10 time trial, may have missed out on winning the stage.

However, the 37-year-old has moved back within just over four minutes of the top 10, although he trails red jersey-wearer Kuss by seven minutes 34 seconds.

“We gave it everything and that’s what we had on the day,” the former Tour de France winner said.