2017 Vuelta a España Stage 20 Results & Recap
Stage 20 of the 2017 Vuelta a España is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Contador wins atop the Angliru
Alberto Contador (Trek – Segafredo) claimed the final win of his professional career today atop of the brutal Angliru ascent, soloing to the summit 17 seconds ahead of Wout Poels (Team Sky). It was a fitting exclamation point for the Spanish legend, set to retire at the end of the 2017 Vuelta a Espana.
“There couldn't be a better finale than this, winning in the Angliru to put an end to my career as a professional rider,” Contador said after the stage. “This morning, I had it clear that it would be my day and that I had to say farewell in this fashion. I knew there was history in the downhill from Cordal with crashes in previous years. It was a hard day and in that moment we had to be careful with my teammate (Jarlinson) Pantano. I'm delighted with how things went.”
Chris Froome (Team Sky) finished with his teammate to secure his lead in the overall standings, putting more time into Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain - Merida), who cracked on with five kilometers to go and finished sixth on the stage, 51 seconds down.
“It's an absolutely amazing feeling,” Froome said. “What a final. The Angliru definitely doesn't disappoint. It's such a brutal climb. We did everything to catch (Alberto) Contador in the final but he was just too strong for us. It's an amazing way for him to finish his career with such a big victory like that, so congratulations to him. Obviously, also a massive thank you to my teammates for all the work they have done over the last few weeks. It's been an incredible experience. Probably one of the hardest Grand Tour I've ridden, if not the hardest.”
Play by Play
On arguably the most difficult stage of the Vuelta, it took 25 kilometres of constant attacks before a group of 18 riders peeled off the front.
The break included some dangerous names, including: Julian Alaphilippe, Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors), Nicolas Roche (BMC), Adam Yates, Simon Yates (Orica-Scott), Nelson Oliveira, Marc Soler (Movistar), Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb), Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), Rui Costa, Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates), Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto-Soudal), Tobias Ludvigsson (FDJ), Igor Anton (Dimension Data), Lluis Mas, Jaime Roson (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Stefan Denifl (Aqua Blue Sport).
When they broke away, Trek-Segafredo came to the front to keep the gap at around 1 minute and 30 seconds. Contador attacked with his teammate Pantano before the Angliru hit and steadily worked his way through dropped breakaway riders to eventually take the lead in the race. Back in Froome’s group, he and his teammate Wout Poels attacked with 2.5 km left in the climb. Meanwhile Ilnur Zakarin (Team Katusha - Alpecin) put in a fantastic ride to claim the third step of the GC podium.
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