Jasper Philippsen takes Vuelta a Espana stage 15 as Preston’s Hugh Carthy stays in touch

Jasper Philippsen (UAE Team Emirates) claimed the first Grand Tour stage win of his career with a strong sprint on an uphill finish on Thursday.

The Belgian hit the front with around 150 metres to go and held off Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe), with Jannik Steimle taking third place and Britain’s Fred Wright in fourth.

Carthy, from Fulwood, is nicely placed in the general classification, 47 seconds adrift of Vuelta leader Primoz Roglic and eight behind Richard Carapaz.

Meanwhile, former British champion Ian Stannard has been forced to retire from the professional cycling after being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

The 33-year-old has spent the last decade with what is now the Ineos Grenadiers, having been a founding member of Team Sky back in 2010.

The Wilmslow-based rider ends his career with seven wins, including back-to-back victories at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in 2014 and 2015 and stages of the Tour of Britain in 2016 and 2018. The 2012 British road race champion also took a notable third place at Paris-Roubaix in 2016.

Stannard was first diagnosed with arthritis 12 months ago.

He continued to race in 2020, starting his season in Australia in January prior to lockdown, but has appeared only once since the season resumed in late July – withdrawing from the Tour of Poland on stage four.

“It’s disappointing to have to stop like this but it is clearly the right decision for my health and my family,” said Stannard. “We have explored all of the options this year to deal with my condition, and the team has been there with me every step of the way.

“I started to hope that I could manage the problem during lockdown, but as soon as I returned to racing I knew that my body wouldn’t be able to perform at any level anymore.”