2018 Vuelta a España Stage 17 Results & Recap
Stage 17 of the 2018 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
Woods impresses on Balcon de Bizkaia\nBy Clara Beard
Michael Woods celebrated his first World Tour win at the Vuelta a Espana today after a fantastic win ahead of Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing) on the most feared climb of the tour, Alto del Balcon de Bizkaia. David De La Cruz (Team Sky) came across the line in third place.
“It’s a special moment for me,” Woods said. “I was very moved on the finish line. There were so many people on the side of the road screaming my name. My coach was in the car and in the final 500 metres he told me on the radio to think about my family. My wife was pregnant for 37 weeks and we lost the kid. We were going to name him Hunter. My wife also lost her father one month ago. It’s been a very hard year. I was cracked on the finish line. I bluffed Dylan Teuns in the end, I thought I didn’t have so many metres to go when I accelerated and then I saw the sign for the 500 metres to go. I figured I still had two minutes of effort. I tried to stay calm, I tried to think of my family and to think of my little Hunter as an inspiration. This is also a special area for me. I love racing in the Basque Country. The fans are amazing.”
In the overall competition, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) accelerated in the final metres of the 24 percent grade slopes of the climb and distanced himself from red jersey leader Simon Yates (Mitchelton – Scott) by eight seconds. The move brought Yates’ advantage down to 25 seconds. Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) jumped up two positions to slot into third overall, while Nairo Quintana (Movistar) lost more than a minute on Balcon de Bizkaia and moves out of the top five down to sixth place.
“There’s still a lot of racing to come, hard stages ahead,” Yates said. “The gaps are still small behind me. Nobody really attacked in the climb. My brother Adam was riding. Alejandro (Valverde) went at the beginning but we had the guys to cover his move with Jack (Haig) and Adam. Lopez went with 1.5km to go but again Adam closed him down. Alejandro opened his sprint and that’s where the gaps were created. My legs were similar than the day I won at Les Praeres. It was slightly longer and further in the race so it was more difficult. There’s no shame in losing a few seconds to Valverde and Mas in such a finale. I truly believe Andorran stages are much better for me. Of the stages left, this is the one I feared most. I know Andorra very well and I think the climbs suit me very well. Quintana will probably try to go early if he has the legs, so it makes my life more difficult. He lost one minute, it’s not that much. I’ll still be wary, I’ll be very careful but I’m obviously happy to gain time on him.”
Knowing the stage was going to be one of the most strenuous, it took about 15 kilometres for a break to separate on the Alto de la Arboleda. Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Alexandre Geniez (AG2R-La Mondiale), Omar Fraile (Astana), Alessandro De Marchi, Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing Team), Rafal Majka, Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-hansgrohe), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), Andrey Amador (Movistar Team), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Dimension Data), Simon Clarke, Michael Woods (Education First-Drapac), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), David De La Cruz, Jonathan Castroviejo (Team Sky), Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Cristian Rodriguez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Jesus Herrada, Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis) and Hector Saez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) opened up a gap of 2 minutes and 30 seconds at the 40 kilometre mark.
Franco Pellizotti (Bahrain-Merida), Pieter Serry (Quick-Step Floors), Merhawi Kudus (Dimension Data), Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) and Jose Mendes (Burgos-BH) managed to bridge across and from there, the gap grew to a maximum of eight minutes.
The Basque team of Euskadi-Murias rose the pace in the final 60km, but by the final climb, the break was still three minutes ahead. Rafal Majka, Michael Woods, Dylan Teuns and David de la Cruz distances their breakaway companions and started their battle for the stage win that saw Woods eventually crack Teuns in the closing kilometres. \n
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