Warren Barguil again rode a very aggressive finale of today's stage of the Vuelta a Espana but his many attacks were futile. The Frenchman admits that he learns how to time his moves as he continues to learn how to ride for GC in a grand tour.

Warren Barguil continues to go from strength to strength at the Vuelta a España with an impressive tenth place finish on stage 18, one that saw him put in numerous attacks from the front group of favourites on the tough final climb of Monte Castrove.

He continues to climb the GC, moving up to eighth after today’s stage, but it was not all good news on the day as the team lost Koen De Kort early in the stage – more on this here.

The race started with another long fight for the breakaway, with attacks coming and going for over 60 kilometres before something stuck. It was during this early fight that Koen De Kort succumbed to the issues caused by a saddle sore and infection he had been fighting for a few days. The issue led to a high fever last night and this morning he had to call it a day after around 20km of racing.

That leaves the team with seven riders in the race after the earlier withdrawal of Lawson Craddock on stage 14, but they battled on to keep Barguil out of trouble and then in position for the day’s difficulties.

With just three riders up the road the advantage never ballooned and after the first of two climbs of Monte Castrove the race was all back together.

The first ascent had done enough to slim the peloton down to a select front group in which Barguil was positioned. On the final ascent to the line Barguil put in a handful of attacks to try and get away but he couldn’t break the hold of the leaders and when they started to attack each other he dropped back to finish in the small chase group that came over the line 48 seconds behind the stage winner, Fabio Aru (Astana).

With Robert Gesink (Belkin) not starting the stage, Barguil moves up a place in the overall classification as well, and with three days of racing left a top ten result is looking more and more likely.

John Degenkolb’s lead in the points classification was reduced to 19 today, and the fight to defend the green jersey is going to be a tight one right to the end.

“I feel that I have progressed a lot this race and am now in the position to be there attacking in the final but I must focus my energy and wait for the right moment to attack,” said Barguil after the stage. “I lost some time today and that’s a shame but I’m learning and I can’t wait for stage 20 this weekend.”

Coach Lionel Marie said after the stage: “It was unbelievably fast today. The first 50 to 60 kilometres were just full gas all the time with a big fight. Then with just three guys away the break wasn’t going to last and this wasn’t ideal for us in the points classification.

“The team worked well again to support Warren and that was the goal today. He was on his own in the final 20km but he was up there. He still needs to learn when to time his attacks at this level of racing, but being there and fighting on these types of finishes will help him to learn this and get stronger.

“It’s a shame we lost Koen today. He was suffering and in pain early on so he had to stop, but he has been a great asset to the team over the past 17 stages and played key roles in all the team’s wins so he should be proud of his ride.”