Vuelta a Espana: John Degenkolb wins stage 17 as Alberto Contador retains overall lead
Thursday 11 September 2014 11:21, UK
John Degenkolb sprinted to his fourth victory of this year’s Vuelta a Espana on stage 17 as Alberto Contador retained his overall lead and Chris Froome stayed third.
Degenkolb lost all of his Giant-Shimano team-mates on a rolling run in to the finish line in A Coruna but had enough power to beat Michael Matthews into second place and Fabian Cancellara into third.
All of the contenders for overall victory followed in the peloton to ensure Contador remains 1min 36sec ahead of second-placed Alejandro Valverde and 1min 39sec in front of third-placed Chris Froome in the general classification.
The stage took the riders on a 190.7km route from Ortigueira to A Coruna in northern Spain, ending with a short uncategorised climb and then a stretch of cobbled road just before the flat finish.
Tough run-in
A five-man breakaway opened up a lead of over four minutes, but when the peloton started to close the gap, Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merida), Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing) and Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing) dropped their weaker companions and took an advantage of about a minute into the final 10km.
They were slowed by the late climb and the gap fell further over the cobbled section, but Favilli and Dennis kicked again when the smooth road returned and it wasn’t until inside the final 1km that they finally succumbed to the chasing peloton.
Back in the pack, the climb and subsequent cobbled section saw all of Degenkolb’s team-mates fall away, but the German stayed in the slipstream of the Team Sky train that was leading the bunch and duly arrived in the final 500m just off the head of the race.
Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida) was the first man to launch his sprint, only for Degenkolb to surge past him and take a ninth career Vuelta stage win after holding off powerful surges from Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) and Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing).
Stage 17 result
1 John Degenkolb (Ger) Giant-Shimano, 4:26:07
2 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica GreenEdge, same time
3 Fabian Cancellara (Sui) Trek Factory Racing, st
4 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek Factory Racing, st
5 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st
6 Koldo Fernandez (Spa) Garmin-Sharp, st
7 Geoffrey Soupe (Fra) Cofidis, st
8 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing, st
9 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale, st
10 Vicente Reynes (Spa) IAM Cycling, st
Selected others
27 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, st
28 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar, st
34 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo, st
General classification
1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo, 67:51:07
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar, +1:36
3 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, +1:39
4 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha, +2:29
5 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana, +3:38
6 Dan Martin (Ire) Garmin-Sharp, +6:17
7 Robert Gesink (Ned) Belkin, +6:43
8 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing, +6:55
9 Warren Barguil (Fra) Giant-Shimano, +8:37
10 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale, +9:10
