Matteo Trentin scored the sixth stage win of the Vuelta for Quick-Step Floors in Madrid yesterday and the sixteenth Grand Tour stage win of the season for the team.
Trentin became only the third rider this season to win at least four Grand Tour stages, after teammates Fernando Gaviria (Giro d’Italia) and Marcel Kittel (Tour de France).
The final day of the Vuelta was a stroll in the park until the peloton reached the local circuit in Madrid, where attacks fired off the front as several riders tried to make it into the breakaway.
Quick-Step Floors dutifully moved to the head of proceedings and marshalled the bunch, shutting down all these actions until the intermediate sprint, which was nabbed by Trentin, who had his eyes also on the coveted green jersey.
Quick-Step Floors controlled the final 30 kilometres of stage 21, brought the three riders who formed an escape back in the peloton and delivered Trentin in a perfect position for the final sprint of the 72nd Vuelta a España.
The 28-year-old accelerated with 200 metres to go and easily captured his seventh Grand Tour victory, over Lorrenzo Manzin (FDJ) and Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb). Trentin came close to taking home the green jersey, which in the end rested on the shoulders of GC winner Chris Froome (Team Sky), after the overall leader got involved in the bunch sprint.
“The guys were again awesome today and executed the plan perfectly, so I want to say a big thank you to them, not only for today, but for their entire work during these three hard weeks,” said Trentin after the stage.
“We took the reins once we entered on the circuit and didn’t leave anything to chance. I’ll admit, it would have been nice to get also the green jersey, but I won’t let that spoil these fantastic moments. We can be extremely proud of what we’ve achieved in this race: six stages is a remarkable run and this victory in Madrid is the cherry on the top.”
