Danny van Poppel wins Vuelta stage despite puncture

Danny van Poppel won a messy bunch sprint at the end of the 12th stage.

Danny van Poppel won the 12th stage of the Vuelta a Espana in a bunch sprint despite suffering a puncture just a few miles from the finish.

The Dutchman, 22, had to stop with a flat tyre 10km from the end but beat South Africa's Daryl Impey on the line.

Italian Fabio Aru, 25, retained his overall lead after the 173km stage from Escaldes-Engordany to Lleida.

Earlier Chris Froome had been forced to quit at the start of the stage with an injury sustained the previous day.

The British Team Sky rider, 30, crashed on Wednesday's 11th stage and quit before the start on Thursday.

Froome had been hoping to become the third man to win the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in the same year.

Meanwhile, the Tinkoff-Saxo team have confirmed that they will continue to race after two of their riders were hit by motorbikes and forced to withdraw.

The Russian outfit sought safety guarantees after Peter Sagan, who is Slovakian, and Portugal's Sergio Paulinho were both injured.

The 21-stage Grand Tour finishes in Madrid on 13 September.

Stage 12 result:

1. Danny van Poppel (Ned/Trek) 4 hours 2 minutes 11 seconds

2. Daryl Impey (SA/Orica) same time

3. Tosh Van der Sande (Bel/Lotto) same time

4. Nikolas Maes (Bel/Etixx-Quick-Step) same time

5. John Degenkolb (Ger/Giant) same time

6. Jempy Druecker (Lux/BMC Racing) same time

7. Tom Van Asbroeck (Bel/LottoNL) same time

8. Kristian Sbaragli (Ita/Team MTN) same time

9. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa/Movistar) same time

10. Leonardo Duque (Col/Colombia) same time

General classification after stage 12:

1. Fabio Aru (Ita/Astana) 47 hrs 14mins 30secs

2. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa/Katusha) +27secs

3. Tom Dumoulin (Ned/Giant) +30secs

4. Rafal Majka (Pol/Tinkoff-Saxo) +1min 28secs

5. Esteban Chaves (Col/Orica) +1min 29secs

6. Alejandro Valverde (Spa/Movistar) +1min 52secs

7. Daniel Moreno (Spa/Katusha) +1min 54secs

8. Mikel Nieve (Spa/Team Sky) +1min 58secs

9. Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar) +3min 7secs

10. Louis Meintjes (SA/Team MTN) +4min 15secs

Selected others:

21. Nicolas Roche (Ire/Team Sky) +13mins 3secs

59. Geraint Thomas (GB/Team Sky) +1hr 05mins 50secs