Nicolas Roche got up the road early on the road to the Angliru at La Vuelta. But he never had a chance given what was going on back the road on the 117km stage which finished atop one of the hardest mountains in pro cycling. Roche and those he was with were marked out of it, ensuring he never even got a fighting chance for a result.
Nicolas Roche Vuelta breakaway marked closely
Nicolas Roche broke clear in a promising looking breakaway at La Vuelta today only for Astana to make sure they never took too much time.
Its rider Miguel Angel Lopez was within reach of taking the climbers classification.
But he needed to pick up points on the early climbs – especially the cat 1 Alto de la Cobertoria at 79.5km - today to give himself a fighting chance.
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And so the team sat on the front of the peloton, dragging it along for much of the early part of the stage to the frustration of the breakaway.
In the end Lopez, a double stage winner, faded and came nowhere close to taking the climbers’ classification from Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac).
Today's Vuelta breakaway, which featured Aqua Blue Sport’s stage winner Stefan Denifl, survived to contest the first two climb.
And Roche would not be caught until the racing dipped just inside the final 25km and had begun the Alto del Cordal; the second of three mountains today.
But without building a big early leader early mainly due to the work of Astana; the recapture of the escapees was inevitable.
Contador wins, Poels and Froome are next. The overall win embraces with the soon-to-be retired stage win.
And having ensured the escape would be caught, the Astana train ran out of steam only for Trek-Segafredo to take it up.
They drove the thinning peloton relentlessly towards the Angliru summit finish; hopeful Alberto Contador could win his last big bike race.
Roche was 27th on the day, at 7:01. And Conor Dunne of Aqua Blue Sport was 144th at 26:27.
Nicolas Roche Vuelta breakaway
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The breakaway had gone clear in the opening 10km of the short but brutish 117km. And thanks to Astana and then Trek-Segafredo, they never succeeded in getting more than 1:30.
With Roche were the QuickStep duo of Julian Alaphilippe and Enric Mas. Lluis Mas and Jaime Roson were there for Caja Rural-Seguros RGA while the Yates brothers were flying the Orica-Scott flag.
Movistar had Nelson Oliveira and Marc Soler in a Vuelta breakaway again, with Rui Costa and Jan Polanc present for UAE Team Emirates.
Also present were Soren Kragh Andersen (Team Sunweb), Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto-Soudal), Tobias Ludvigsson (FDJ), Igor Antón (Dimension Data) and Denifl.
While Roche would be caught with 24km to go and some of the others survived for longer, all were caught by the favourites playing out the general classification battle behind.
And the arena in which the fight unfolded was of course the fearsome Angliru climb to the finish.
Contador would repay his team’s early working by getting clear of the favourites group. And though it took him a while to shake of the early breakaway until well into the final climb, he was eventually on his own.
Once clear he pulled out a gap of more than one minute on race leader Froome and the small number of riders who could stay with him.
Eventually Froome and his Tea, Sky lieutenant Wout Poels would drop everyone and went off in pursuit of Contador.
With about 2km remaining it briefly looked like they may break Contador’s heart. The Spaniard seemed to be tiring badly as Poles and Froome narrowed the gap to below 30 seconds.
But Contador, roared on by the adoring home crowd, wasn’t for catching. He got to the top of the mountain, which had been battered by strong winds and heavy rain early in the day, to win.
He took victory, just ahead of his retirement, by 17 seconds from Poels and Froome.
Just 18 seconds behind the Team Sky pair was Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin). Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) would come home in 6th place at 51 seconds.
And Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb), who was third overall this morning, would place 8th, at 1:11.
That stage result meant Froome extended his lead on those rivals closest to him. Nibali retained his 2nd overall but Kelderman slipped two places to 5th.
Zakarin climbed one place from 4th and onto the podium; overtaking Kelderman and holding off the charging Contador.
Stage 20: Corvera de Asturias to Alto de L'Angliru (117.5km)
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 3:31:33
2 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:00:17
3 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky
4 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:35
5 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:51
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
7 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo
8 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:11
9 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:25
10 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac 0:01:36
11 Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar Team 0:01:46
12 Mikel Nieve Ituralde (Spa) Team Sky 0:02:15
13 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky 0:03:16
14 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:03:43
15 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 0:03:56
27 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:07:05
144 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport 0:26:27
General Classification
1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 79:23:37
2 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:15
3 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:51
4 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:11
5 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:03:15
6 Wout Poels (Ned) Team Sky 0:06:45
7 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac 0:08:16
8 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:08:59
9 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:11:04
10 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:15:36
11 Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-Scott 0:16:32
12 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates 0:17:15
13 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:21:27
14 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:21:46
15 Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:22:45
159 Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport 5:13:46
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