Stage 17

The road

At the start

Los Machucos, and its farm roads

Chris Froome won the time trial by 29 seconds from Wilco Kelderman and stretched everything out: 1:58 on Nibali, 2:40 on Kelderman, 3:07 on Zakarin, with Contador climbing to fifth at 4:58. Today crosses Cantabria over the Lunada and the Alisas to the Alto de los Machucos — 7.2 kilometres at 8.7 per cent, except the average lies badly, and rain is forecast on it.

How it was won

1. 174 km to go

   Into the mist

   The break climbs the Portillo de Lunada, disappearing into low cloud and wet roads.

2. 219 km to go

   Yates and Chaves attack

   On the Puerto de Alisas, Adam Yates and Esteban Chaves launch a clearly planned move before the final wall.

3. 36 km to go

   Froome dropped

   Contador attacks with 6km to go and the savage gradient exposes Froome, who is dropped by all his overall rivals despite five teammates around him.

4. 41 km to go

   Contador hunts on Los Machucos

   On the brutal cow-track of Los Machucos, Contador catches the remnants of the break, only Denifl still ahead.

5. 5At the line

   Denifl holds off Contador

   Stefan Denifl holds on from the break to win on Los Machucos — a result later erased when he was banned for doping — while Froome limits his losses in the fog.

The result