"My energies were almost exhausted and Pedersen proved superior" - Pascal Ackermann comes second in explosive Vuelta finish

There were many stories to talk about following the 16th stage of the Vuelta a Espana, and one was regarding the final sprint which has seen Mads Pedersen ride into the win in Tomares. Pascal Ackermann rode into a second place, after suffering through the final kilometers.

“Roglic attacked by surprise with excellent timing and I tried to follow him. I was hoping that only the two of us could go to the finish line, but three other guys joined," Ackermann said after the finish. UAE entered the final hilltop in front, and the German had a ready response to the attack of Primoz Roglic. In highly impressive fashion, he was in fact the only rider to be able to immediately follow. That effort however was necessary as the move went all the way to the line, but he had the bad luck of having Mads Pedersen link up to the duo before the final sprint.

The quintet went into the sprint, with four sprinter and Roglic in contention. Ackermann looked to let the wheels go inside the final kilometer but could still sprint to the end. However, Pedersen's sprint proved too much for him to handle. "My energies were almost exhausted and Pedersen proved superior, I congratulate himI gave everything to try to win, it wasn’t enough," he added.

"Now there is only the stage in Madrid left to try to win, I will try to be ready," he concluded. He will have the opportunity to succeed in the final stage, but in the meantime the team will be looking to support Juan Ayuso and João Almeida in their stints for the overall classification.