Egan and Magnus score top 10s in Vuelta break

Egan Bernal and Magnus Sheffield took sixth and ninth place respectively following a big day out in the stage 15 breakaway at the Vuelta a Espana. 

The INEOS Grenadiers duo were joined by Michal Kwiatkowski in a sizeable move approaching 50 riders which went clear after an undulating start to the day. 

The three riders got through a lot of work before the move splintered on the run-in, with Bernal and Sheffield powering their way into a group of seven. That move was able to haul back in lead duo Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) and Louis Vervaeke (Soudal - Quick-Step) with 6.8km to go. 

Bernal immediately pushed on, with the pair working together but unable to split up the move. Sheffield would go down in a crash heading into the final right-hander and was unable to contest the sprint - but was still able to come home with a top-10.

The result saw Bernal jump up four places on the GC back to 14th as the race reaches its second rest day.

After the stage Bernal said: “It’s a shame Magnus crashed, but it’s part of cycling. He was saving some legs for the final sprint as I was trying to shake things up, and he was quite unlucky.

“I have enjoyed the stage in a different way. I haven’t gone on the breakaway many times in my life, and it’s been exciting. Obviously, the stage being that flat in the final part, it was difficult for us to come away with something yet we tried in all possible ways.”