MADRID, Sept. 13 -- Jelle Wallays (Lotto-Soudal) won a thrilling 18th stage of the Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race after forming part of a three-man breakaway which was out in front of the main peloton for 183 of the 186.1km stage which finished in the city of Lleida (north-east Spain) on Thursday.

Walleys and fellow escapee, Sven Erik Bystron (UAE- Team Emirates) finished just ahead of the main pack in the final sprint with world champions, Peter Sagan, breathing down their necks as they crossed the finish line.

The win was a surprise on a flat stage which looked certain to provide a bunch sprint, but even though the break never had more than a three-minute lead on a stage ridden at a speed of around 47 kilometers an hour, a following wind and perhaps miscalculations from the main sprinting teams allowed them to go into the last kilometer with a lead of 18 seconds. That advantage was just enough to take them over the line inches ahead of Sagan who was given the same finishing time.

The fact that the main bunch finished together means that there is no change to the overall classification which is still lead by Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) with a 25-second lead over Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

Friday's stage to Andorra features a mountain top finish and Yates will almost certainly be put under pressure by the Movistar team ahead of Saturday's stage 20 which packs four first category a second category and a special category climb into what promised to be 97 intense and decisive kilometers.

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