Vuelta a España stage 17: Primož Roglič leaves Egan Bernal behind, explodes race

Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) won stage 17 of the 2021 Vuelta a España, leaving Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) behind on the final climb of the day.

The 185.8-kilometer stage took the peloton over four, very challenging categorized climbs. Bernal launched an uphill attack at 60km to go that only Roglič could match, and the two put distance between themselves and the rest of the race.

With 7.5km to go, on the steep slopes of the final climb, the two-time defending Vuelta champion dropped the winner of the 2021 Giro d’Italia.

“When Bernal attacked I didn’t think about it, I just went away with him. Afterward, I said to myself that maybe we had gone a little far, because there was still a big climb at the end,” said Roglič. “And on this last climb, I didn’t decide anything, I just tried to climb as quickly as possible. At that moment, Egan couldn’t follow me anymore, so I went alone.”

“The gap is never enough, but we will see tomorrow if it is enough,” added the stage-winner.

Odd Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), who had been in the red jersey for eight days, struggled with the elevation gain and a minor crash, and dropped out of GC contention to 11th overall.

Roglič now leads the race by a margin of 2:22 over Enric Mas, and is 3:11 ahead of Miguel Ángel López (both Movistar Team).

How it happened

The break took nearly two hours to establish itself, and finally, with 90km to go it had a 1:30 gap on the peloton.

Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) launched a move that formed on the first of two ascents of the Cullada Llomena.

Going with Landa was his teammate Jan Tratnik, and also Oliver Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ), Mikel Nieve (BikeExchange), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Jay Vine (Alpecin-Fenix), Dylan Van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers), David de la Cruz, Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), Diego Camargo (EF Education-Nippo), Sergio Henao, Dmitri Claeys (Qhubeka NextHash), Angel Madrazo, Oscar Cabedo (Burgos-BH), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Soudal), Michael Storer (Team DSM), Jefferson Cepeda, Jonathan Lastra, and Julen Amezqueta (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA).

Le Gac tried to go solo, and by 75km he had nearly a minute advantage on the peloton. The chasing bunch in between several times fractured and came back together.

Led by Jumbo-Visma the peloton brought back all in the breakaway except for Le Gac who had only 45 seconds on the fast-chasing group.

Sprinter Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), always at the front on flat, sprinter-friendly stages, was dropped on the climb at 64km to go.

Bernal on the attack

At the start of the stage, Bernal was in seventh overall and 2:45 behind Roglič who was in third overall. The Colombian climber had to go on the attack to better his GC standings.

Ineos Grenadiers led by Tokyo Olympic mountain bike gold medallist Tom Pidcock went to the front to put pressure on Jumbo-Visma. With this tempo change, Bernal went to the front with his teammates and kept eyes on Roglič (Jumbo-Visma).

The two superstars’ teams brought Le Gac back with 62km to go. As this happened, Bernal launched an uphill move which only Roglič matched.

Miguel Ángel López (Movistar Team) was slow to react, and tried to chase but could not match the two grand tour winners’ long-range move.

Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), who was in second on the GC, struggled to hold wheels at the back of the second group on the road.

Miguel Ángel López (Movistar Team) gave up his pursuit and dropped back to the second group on the road, while Odd Eiking (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) also struggled, but still sat in with the chasing group.

🇪🇸 Etapa 17 | #LaVuelta21@rogla firmó una de sus mayores exhibiciones al imponerse en los Lagos de Covadonga tras seguir un ataque de Bernal a 60 km de meta. El esloveno se coloca al frente de la general a solo cuatro etapas del final

⬇️Disfruta del mejor resumen de la etapa⬇️ pic.twitter.com/NZMSqGypBE

— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 1, 2021

Roglič retakes race lead

Roglič regained the virtual overall race lead at 55km to go, while Bernal took the maximum KOM points, and small time bonus as the first to summit the penultimate climb.

Off the top, both men were very cautious on the descent on very wet roads. Movistar riders Mas and López struggled on the descent, sitting behind the Bahrain-Victorious-lead chase group.

On the descent, Bernal unclipped his right foot momentarily on a tricky hairpin corner, but recovered and chased right back onto Roglič’s wheel.

The two continued to build a lead to one minute, and Roglič had put two minutes into the red jersey by the bottom of the second trip of the Cullada Llomena.

Red jersey crashes

Eiking crashed on a tight corner on the descent at 48km to go along with Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech). Eiking was quickly back on his bike, while Vlasov remained on the ground, holding his shoulder.

This delay cost Eiking another half-minute in the race standings, and he continued to hemorrhage time. By 24km to go, he was four minutes adrift of Bernal and Roglič.

Bernal, in the white jersey of the best young rider, tapped a tempo with Rogic occasionally taking pulls, but letting the Colombian do the majority of the work.

Felix Großschartner (Bora-Hansgrohe) took a spill in the main field at 20km to go as the pace was ratcheted back up by the work done by Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious).

Onto the final climb, the two super-climbers on the front of the race had maintained a 90-second gap with just 12km remaining — nearly all uphill — on the stage.

Martin was popped off the back of the pursuing group, which was lead by Wout Poels (Bahrain-Victorious) at 10km to go on the steepest pitches of the final climb. Having done a massive amount of work, Caruso was shed from the second group on the road.

Bernal was struggling at 7.5km when he finally cracked. Roglič dropped him when the Ineos Grenadier gave up 30 seconds in just a kilometer.

Chasing for minor podium positions and overall standings, Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), López, and Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) were leaning on the front of the chase.

Charging to the finish

Enric Mas (Movistar Team), 30 seconds behind Bernal with 4km to go, attacked and tried to put the remaining GC contenders into trouble. Yates and Kuss brought him back, and in doing so, shaved 20 seconds from Bernal’s lead.

The 2019 Tour de France winner was caught with 2km remaining on the stage by Kuss’ group.

Roglič never eased, and traced some undulating and twisty roads in the final 2km, building a few more seconds of lead.

Soloing across the line, he shouted and punched the air as he had put massive amounts of time into his lead, as well as taking KOM points and bonus seconds.

Seeing an opportunity to deny other teams bonus seconds as well as land on the second step of the stage podium, Kuss gapped López and Yates in the final few meters.

“It went well today. I enjoyed it. Super-nice day for me and for the whole team,” commented Roglič. “Without the rain, it would have probably been even nicer.”

What’s to come

Stage 18 is a 162.6km route from Salas to Altu d’El Gamoniteiru, and looks to be another opportunity for shakeups in the general classification.

With a commanding lead in the GC, Roglič has only to defend his position going into the final four days of racing.

As the Tokyo Olympic time trial gold medalist is sure to put more time into his competition on the final stage, a time trial, Bernal, Mas, López, and others will have to be on the attack on stage 18. But the Slovenian star is never one to just sit, and let the race happen around him, so expect more explosive and exciting racing.