Nicolas Roche finishes eighth on stage 11 of Vuelta a España

Nicolas Roche had an aggressive performance on the undulating 11th stage of the Vuelta a España, being part of the day's break en route to the finish at Ribeira Sacra. Luintra.

Roche was one of the most aggressive in the finale and ultimately helped set up his BMC Racing teammate Alessandro De Marchi up for the stage win. The Italian ride beat Colombian Jhonatan Restrepo (Katusha-Alpecin) by 28 seconds, with the next rider 59 seconds back.

Roche finished eighth, one minute 48 behind, while race leader Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) finished with the other main favourites two minutes and two seconds back. Yates is one second clear of Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), with Roche up four places to 31st.

Meanwhile, Mark Downey (Team Wiggins) was best of the two Irish riders on stage four of the Ovo Energy Tour of Britain. German sprinter Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) was first to the line in Royal Leamington Spa, with Downey 17th and his teammate Matthew Teggart 68th. They both finished in the same bunch as Greipel. Teggart slips down one place to second in the sprints classification, but is level on points with the new leader Matthew Holmes (Madison Genesis).