Alicante, August 26th 2019 – It was a very humid, windy and warm day with start at Ibi. Ciudad del Juguete and with finish after 188 km in Alicante, on a typical sprint stage of the Vuelta a Espana with not much of actions till Puerto de Tibi, a Cat.3 climb (150 km) after which the real race started.

About the time breakaway was caught and 30 km to go Heinrich Haussler came closer at the front part of the peloton and made sure Phil is and will be in a position for the final sprint. Phil Bauhaus had to make a long breakthrough in last kilometer to get into a position for the final few hundred meters to unblock himself in a sprinting bunch and with a huge energy he managed to take 5th place. Another 5th place after BinkBank Tour.

Phil Bauhaus said shortly after the: "I already took lots of 5th places and I was looking for more, but I still feel like I'm missing some percent of my top shape. I was dropped a bit on the last climb and I had to come back, so my position was not good enough for a better result".

Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) won clearly todays sprint stage in Alicante.

Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) is holding a leaders red jersey ahead of two Columbians, Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) 0:00:02 and Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First) 0:00:08

(All pictures can be used for editorial and non-commercial usages only and are copyright @Bettiniphoto @Team Bahrain Merida)