Michael Woods wins brutal mountain summit finish as Yates retains Lead

EF Drapac's Michael Woods won the brutal mountain top finish atop Alto del Balcón de Bizkaia as Yates defended his lead

Starting with a route that took in six categorised climbs, it was back to the more demanding and undulating terrain after the fairly flat Individual Time Trial of yesterday’s stage.

The first two climbs would be covered after 85km, but it was the final four that would reveal who was in good form, all  coming down to the final 40km of the day. Individually, these wouldn’t cause the peloton a great deal of trouble, but collectively and in quick succession, it would be a ferocious finale, where riders would have to end the day on the summit of the first category Alto del Balcón de Bizkaia. Starting at a gentle 3% the road became progressively steeper, ultimately hitting an unimaginable 24%.

An astonishing 21 riders went away on the first climb of the day and built up a huge lead of over 8 minutes with 60 kms to go; 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 Rodríguez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Jesus Herrada, Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis) and Hector Saez (Euskadi).

By the fooot of the final climb it was clear that the stage winner would come from the breakaway holding onto a lead of over 4 minutes.

As the road ramped up, the break splintered, but the stronger climbers struck out on their own, riders out of the saddle on the painful 23% gradient, but looking solid on the demanding climb.

Shrouded in cloud, this cruel climb put the hurt into every single one of the riders, four riders went clear; Woods, De La Cruz and Majka. Majka was distanced in the final kilometres and Woods attacked and got a 50m gap on Teuns. The final metres agony at over 16%, the finish line shrouded in mist.

Tomorrow's Stage 18 is one for the sprinters before two brutal mountain top finishes, that will decide the winners, before rolling into Madrid on Sunday.

VIDEO: 2018 La Vuelta Stage 17 Top 10

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2018 La Vuelta Stage 17 Top 10

1 Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 4:09:48 
2 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:05 
3 David De La Cruz (Spa) Team Sky 0:00:10 
4 Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:13 
5 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:38 
6 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:00:44 
7 Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Eri) Dimension Data 0:00:48 
8 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:00:51 
9 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:55 
10 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:48

2018 La Vuelta GC after Stage 17

1 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 69:05:34 
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:25 
3 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:22 
4 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:01:36 
5 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo 0:01:48 
6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:11 
7 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:04:09 
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale 0:04:36 
9 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:05:31 
10 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:06:05