Meersman grabs his second win at Vuelta

BELGIAN Gianni Meersman won stage five of the Vuelta on Wednesday, his second victory after triumphing on stage two, both wins coming on flat terrain. Meersman won the sprint finish in the 171.3km stage from Viveiro to Lugo in a time of 4hr 16min 42sec, while Colombian BMC rider Darwin Atapuma retained the overall lead. Because of a crash in the last kilometre, overall leader Atapuma lost more than a minute and the stage results had Spain’s Alejandro Valverde first, but the 3-kilometre rule was applied and the Colombian kept his red jersey. Another crash nearly involved Chris Froome, who managed to dodge it late on, eventually finishing in 14th place to stay third in the general classification behind Atapuma at 17hrs 39mins 52secs and Alejandro Valverde at +28secs, but ahead of Nairo Quintana at +38secs