South Africa's Louis Meintjies claim his first World Tour victory, powering to victory on stage 9 of La VueltaSouth Africa's Louis Meintjies claim his first World Tour victory, powering to victory on stage 9 of La Vuelta
It was Meintjes’ maiden stage win at the Vuelta as he emerged the strongest among the nine-man breakaway group, finishing more than a minute ahead of Italian duo Samuele Battistella and Edoardo Zambanini. Victory had seemed out of reach for Meintjes when Battistella and Jimmy Janssens broke away in the final 10km but the Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert rider made a remarkable recovery to go past them with 2.5km to go and claim the biggest win of his career.
“I think it still needs some time to set in. I’ve actually never been on the podium of a World Tour race except for team classifications,” said Meintjes after his first Grand Tour stage win.