Vuelta a Espana: Chris Froome retains second place on stage 12

Chris Froome stayed second behind Vuelta a Espana leader Nairo Quintana after both riders finished safely in the peloton on a rolling 12th stage won by Belgium’s Jens Keukeleire.

Keukeleire (Orica-BikeExchange) claimed the first Grand Tour stage victory of his career by comfortably beating Maxime Bouet (Etixx - Quick-Step) into second place and Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo) into third in a sprint finish in Bilbao.

Froome (Team Sky) crossed the line in 20th place and Quintana (Movistar) followed in 26th, meaning the gap between the pair remains 54 seconds.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) is still 1min 5sec back in third place in the general classification after sprinting to eighth place on the day.

Keukeleire said: "I have been going pretty good the last couple of days and we knew it was going to be a hard stage today. The sports director, Neil Stephens, said, 'If you're still there at the final, you can give it a crack and see how it goes'.

"I'm not going to say I felt really good today - I think everyone was suffering - but I was just good enough to make it over those climbs in the final and then I was really confident in the sprint. The win is unbelievable."

The Vuelta continues on Friday with a 213.4km 13th stage from Bilbao to Urdax-Dantxarinea. Find out more about the route in our race guide and follow the action with our live blog from 3pm BST.

Stage 12 result

1 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) Orica-BikeExchange, 4:31:43
2 Maxime Bouet (Fra) Etixx - Quick-Step, same time
3 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, st
4 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Dimension Data, st
5 Luis Leon Sanchez (Esp) Astana, st
6 Pello Bilbao (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, st
7 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st
8 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, st
9 Silvan Dillier (Sui) BMC Racing, st
10 Mathias Frank (Sui) IAM Cycling, st
Selected others
20 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, st
26 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, st

General classification

1 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, 46:53:31
2 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, +54sec
3 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +1:05
4 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-BikeExchange, +2:34
5 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff, +3:08
6 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky, +3:09
7 Simon Yates (GB) Orica-BikeExchange, +3:25
8 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana, +3:34
9 David de la Cruz (Esp) Etixx - Quick-Step, +3:45
10 Samuel Sanchez (Esp) BMC Racing, +3:56