Magnus Cort Nilsen Wins Stage 18 as Quintana Maintains Froome Lead

Denmark's Magnus Cort Nielsen claimed stage 18 of the Vuelta a Espana in a sprint finish as Nairo Quintana maintained his lead over Chris Froome.

Nielsen took his first Grand Tour stage win from Nikias Arndt with Jean-Pierre Drucker of Luxembourg in third.

Colombia's Quintana finished alongside Britain's Froome in the 200km race from Requena to Gandia to stay three minutes and 37 seconds ahead in the standings.

Froome will hope to close the gap in Friday's crucial 37km time trial.

The Team Sky rider, who won Olympic time trial bronze in Rio, is bidding to become the first man for 38 years to win the Tour de France and Vuelta in the same season.

Following the time trial, there is only Saturday's mountain-top finish for Froome to challenge Quintana because Sunday's finale is a largely processional race to Madrid.

Nielsen, 23, who won a third Vuelta stage for his Orica-BikeExchange team, said: "It's a really big dream come true."