Roglič takes victory and red on waterlogged stage 17 of Vuelta a España
Roglič takes victory and red on waterlogged stage 17 of Vuelta a España
Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) won the 17th stage of the Vuelta a España and took back the red jersey from Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux). Jumbo-Visma managed to win the top two steps of stage 17 with Sepp Kuss finishing second ahead of Miguel Ángel López (Movistar).
The first 60 km were full gas with attacks from the peloton. A break didn’t so much go as the peloton split, especially on the first climb of the day, La Collada Llomena. Even though a big breakaway formed before the first climb, it was quickly ripped apart on the ascent. The speeds saw red jersey wearer Christian Eiking distanced from the peloton on the second climb of the day.
Ineos Grenadiers was keen to keep the pace of the peloton fast to set up an attack from Egan Bernal with 60.9 km to go. The attack was matched by Roglič, and the two started to ride away from the reduced peloton. Torturous weather impacted both the speed of the two out front and the chase from Bahrain Victorious. Christian Eiking found himself on the ground on a wet descent with about 49 km to go two minutes behind the leaders.
Bernal and Roglič worked together until the final climb of the day. With 7.6 km to go Roglič increased his pace to distanced the Giro d’Italia winner. Their lead on the chasing group was one minute 43 seconds at that point in the race, with only climbing to go.
From the chasing group, Ángel López attacked with Kuss and Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) as Bernal dangled 40 seconds behind the leader. Roglič led the race by a minute with 4.2 km to go. Enric Mas (Movistar), Kuss, Yates, López, Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious), and Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious) chased down Bernal 45 seconds ahead.
Bernal was scooped up by the chasing group in the final 900 meters as Roglič rode to victory.
La Vuelta ciclista a España (2.UWT) Unquera → Lagos de Covadonga
ROGLIČ Primož
JAKOBSEN Fabio
BARDET Romain
BERNAL Egan
Bahrain - Victorious