France’s Bastien Tronchon won a thrilling bunch sprint to take stage 10 of the Vuelta a Espana.

The Groupama-FDJ United rider held off Magnus Cort Nielsen and Thibau Nys to cross the line first in a photo finish, with Wout van Aert edged off the podium.

With a kilometre of the 184.7km route from Alcaraz to Elche de la Sierra remaining, Astana’s Yevgeni Fedorov and Xabier Azparren of Q36.5 broke clear of the peloton.

However, they were caught just before the line with Tronchon timing his sprint to perfection to claim the stage victory.

“I launched my sprint and I just finished it on the line, but I wasn’t sure if there was some guys in front or not, so I did not put my hands in the air,” Tronchon said.

“That’s crazy, I can’t believe it. The last two days were really hard for me and today I was good, and I said to [team-mate] Guillaume [Martin] go full gas until you die and I take the win, so it’s crazy.”

Spain’s Enric Mas, riding for Movistar, retains the red jersey as leader of the general classification, more than a minute clear of nearest challenger Primoz Roglic of Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe.

British rider Oscar Onley of Netcompany Ineos is fourth, two minutes and two seconds down on Mas.

Wednesday’s 11th stage from Cartagena to Lorca is 153.8km and is largely flat so, despite a category three climb up Morron de Totana, should suit the sprinters.