Stage 17

The road

At the start

Out of the rest day, the longest stage

Jakob Fuglsang soloed through the mist on La Cubilla for his first Grand Tour stage win, Geoffrey Bouchard took the mountains jersey, and Quintana shipped two more minutes. Roglič leads Valverde by 2:48, Pogačar by 3:42, López by 3:59. Out of the second rest day comes the longest stage of the race and the rarest thing in a Vuelta: 219 kilometres without a single categorised climb, to a flat finish in Guadalajara.

How it was won

1. 1199 km to go

   Crosswinds tear it apart

   A cross-tailwind rips the race to shreds in the opening kilometres; a near-fifty-rider group forms containing both Gilbert and — crucially — Nairo Quintana, while Roglič is caught out.

2. 250 km to go

   Movistar isolate Roglič

   On an uncategorised climb with 50km to go Movistar put the hammer down — racing against their own man up the road — and blow the peloton to just twenty riders, stripping Roglič and Pogačar of help.

3. 32 km to go

   Quick-Step soften up Bennett

   With Jakobsen dropped, QuickStep send Štybar clear at 2.2km and lure Sam Bennett into opening his sprint far too early on the dragging finish.

4. 4At the line

   Gilbert wins again

   Gilbert works across in the last 200m and drops a spent Bennett for his second stage of the race, while five minutes up the road Quintana has hauled himself back into the overall fight.

The result