Upon reflection, it will be a great shame when this Vuelta a Espana ends, and Alberto Contador gets off the bike for the last time in his storied, legendary Grand Tour career.
The three time Vuelta winner and nine time Grand Tour winner has made every single stage of this brilliantly crafted race a pulsating contest, and whilst his stinging attack today bought no rewards thanks to 15.2km of flat racing and the big efforts of Team Sky, his rivals should be very wary of what might happen tomorrow on the Angilru.
Up ahead, we once again got two races for the price of one as Thomas De Gendt took a hugely deserved stage win for (Lotto-Soudal), unleashed a power packed sprint to get the better of Jarlinson Pantano (Trek Segafredo) and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Bahrain Merida) by half a bike length.
There were two big break groups that went early, with Edward Theuns, Jarlinson Pantano (Trek-Segafredo), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Ivan Garcia (Bahrain-Merida), Dani Navarro, Kenneth Vanbilsen (Cofidis), David Arroyo (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Bob Jungels, Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors), Nicolas Roche (BMC), Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Julien Duval (AG2R La Mondiale), Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), Floris De Tier, Juanjo Lobato (LottoNL-Jumbo), Rui Costa, Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates), Laurens De Vreese (Astana) and Juan Felipe Osorio (Manzana-Postobon) escaping primarily on the Alto de la Colladona, where Villea extended his short lead in the King of the Mountains competition to 17 ahead of tomorrow’s big finale.
Meanwhile, Romain Bardet, Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), Antonio Pedrero (Movistar), Koen, Bouwman, Antwan Toelhoek (LottoNL-Jumbo), Carlos Verona, Christopher Juul-Jensen (Orica-Scott), and Simon Clarke (Cannondale-Drapac) endeavoured to join them and reached the base of the first climb 2:20 behind the original escapes with a good amount of chasing to do.
They eventually caught the front group, and with 15 minutes and more in hand, attacks began to come to and from. Edward Theuns went from the peloton and built up a lead of 25 seconds whilst Davide Villela went past him to attack the Alto de Sto. Emiliano and build more points in the mountains classification.
He was caught on the flat run towards the Alto de la Falla de Los Lobos whilst the peloton was 15:20 behind.
The breakway hit the middle climb, and it was no surprise that Romain Bardet hit the accelerator first and hardest before Thomas De Gendt followed and Lobato, De Vreese, Villella and Trentin were dropped. Indeed only a select few from the break could go and Rui Costa, Roche, Navarro, Tolhoek, Jungels and De Tier were the ones that were able to follow the pace as other wilted.
Riders would go in bits and bobs with a big gap the Peloton behind, and Ivan Garcia (Bahrain-Merida) went off the front and opened up a lead of 30 seconds and had build a buffer of 47 seconds over the final climb. He would be chased down on the final ascent by Bardet and De Gendt with only Rui Costa and Nicholas Roche able to follow, and the four would try and make the finish their own.
However, Bob Jungels had different ideas, and pulled a number of riders including De Gendt and Navarro back to the original four upfront, who themselves had just caught Nicholas Roche after his solo effort. They would have a bunch sprint that was led out brilliantly by Ivan Garcia, although the powerhouse that is De Gendt would overhaul him late.
14 minutes behind, Contador attacked early on the last climb and distanced first the peloton and then Zakarin, putting in a sting and sustained attack that managed to distance the main group by a minute. He and Edward Theuns rode brilliantly to try and preserve that advantage but on the flat roads, the main group was too large and pulled him back.
They will not have such a chance if he can repeat the feat tomorrow.