There are only three stages left of the Vuelta a Espana, but it would be unwise to suggest that any of them aren’t going to be filled full of action. Today’s stage, packed with climbing during the last 60 kilometres, became a spectacle of two races for the price of one, with Sander Armee (Lotto-Soudal) managing to blow apart previous stage winner Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) on the wall like finish to Alto de Santo Toribio de Liébana, whilst Chris Froome (Team Sky) managed to claw back more than half the time he had lost back on Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) to extend his lead with the Angliru on Saturday now just a day away.
The climbing was all backloaded into the second half of the stage, with three sharp climbs back to back before an uphill drag towards a very sharp finish, and all of the peloton suffered after a day that was raced on the limit.
It took an hour for a break to get clear once again, with the profile inviting an escape to go to the line – as had been the case for seven previous stages of the race – and it was no surprise that a large break of 20 riders with a real range of talents would eventually make the escape.
Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica-Scott), Nelson Oliveira and Marc Soler (Movistar), Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Clément Chevrier and Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La Mondiale), Toms Skujins (Cannondale-Drapac), Antwan Tolhoek (LottoNL-Jumbo), Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Giovanni Visconti (Bahrain-Merida), Jérémy Maison and Anthony Roux (FDJ), Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis), Sergio Pardilla (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Aldemar Reyes (Manzana-Postobón), Armee (Lotto-Soudal), Julian Alaphilippe, Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors) and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) were the 20 who managed to tear themselves clear, and with Sky happy to grant a long leash, they went 13 minutes clear and started to tackle the he category 3 Collada de Carmona well before the main bunch.
They stayed as a group over the first two climbs, with the group sharing the work, but when they hit the category 2 Collada de la Hoz, Gougeard and Armee began to kick on and managed to get clear of the group, chased by Soler, Lutsenko and Alaphilippe. On the descent, the frantic pace managed to dislodge Gougeard and Soler, leaving a trio of Lutesnko, Alaphilippe, and Armee to push towards the final climb.
In behind, the Peloton did not waste much time picking up the pace when the climbing started. Katusha-Alpecin, presumably inspired or haunted by their horrendous, horrendous advert that has tortured the living rooms of innocent cycling fans for the summer, went so hard in support of Ilnur Zakarin that they broke off the front of the peloton and managed to gain a gap of several seconds before Team Sky and others managed to reel them in. The pace was Sky high though, and already the peloton was being trimmed down at a rate of knots.
When they were absorbed, Italian champion Fabio Aru, who had suffered badly on the climb to Los Machucos yesterday, went on a big attack and set off at an impressive rate down the descent. Other riders attacked over the top, leading to a frantic downhill.
Esteban Chavez was spat out of the back and along with many others, was struggling as the pace was kept high until the base of the 2 Collada de la Hoz where Contador managed to explode the peloton with his attack, followed quickly by the likes of Lopez, Nibali, Kelderman and Zakarin as mini groups began to form up and down the road. Froome was hard at work chasing, although he did have the incredible machine of Gianni Moscon to help pull back the attacks.
David de La Cruz went hard for Quick-Step, and he was first of the other leaders over the top of the climbs, whilst the main group was ragged and down on a frantic downhill.
Up ahead, Armee and Lutsenko pushed on the approach to the final climb, eager to jettison Julian Alaphilippe from their midst, and a big turn of pace from the Belgian led the Frenchman to crack, with Lutensko managing to just about follow and ensure there was a two man shootout for the line.
Armee drove into the climb hard, but appeared to be merely setting up the Kazakh for a special birthday present. However, with 750 meters to go, he took off, and left the Astana rider pedalling squared, eventually taking the win by 34 seconds, giving a sign of the damage that could be wrought over the last kilometre or two.
Fabio Aru came with a good lead into the climb, but his earlier efforts had taken a toll and he was being reeled in all the time by the main peloton, who hit the climb at pace as several attacks came and went from the main field. Alberto Contador was once again at it, attacking twice, and succeeding in taking the main group down to just 10 riders. Wout Poels managed to get to the head of the group and calm the situation down for a second whilst behind the likes of Lopez and Van Garderen were spat out of the back.
Then, with Nibali beginning to struggle at the rear of a fragmenting top 10 group, Froome attacked and took Contador and Woods with him, as Zakarin and Kelderman just slipped off the back wheel and a gap began to open up. The Red Jersey would come to the line with those two, whilst Nibali lost 21 seconds on what was a poor day for his chances of overhauling the Briton, which now surely rest on a huge attack – or Froome cracking – on the Angilru.
