The peloton did not let go anyone but the above six: Buchmann, Vliegen, Je. Hansen, Küng, Gallego and a simply imperishable Alejandro Valverde.
While maintaining a steady-but-not-brutal pace, the pack was startled by a crash. Among those involved were Chávarri, Dan Martin and Coquard, but all would soon make it back approaching the first intermediate sprint.
After Tomio managed, Valverde kicked it up a notch. Only the former and KoM jersey Buchmann kept up on the first of two Monte Castrove climbs.
Tomio and Valverde eventually reached the top with a small gap on three chasers. A still big pack had slowed down, allowing the gap to grow to 5'.
In the pack Chávarri had to let go, probably feeling the afterpains of his earlier fall. Vandenborre counted on the support of Klever and Cortes.
Tomio and Valverde both saw their chance to take this 18th stage home, yet Meintjes decided otherwise. With only three left, Sam and Kelderman sat just one corner back. Apparently the leader was having a rough time.
Turned out that the red jersey had succesfully tried to pull wool over the others' eyes. Sam wanted to counter, but he could not get past Gallopin.
Meintjes held on for his first win in two years, once more it is a GT stage. Kelderman concluded today in second, extending his GC lead even more.
Vandenborre grabbed third limiting the time loss to around 25 seconds.
It's a shame to lose the chance to win a Grand Tour because of a crash, but at least Sam is still second and maybe, just maybe, if he has the day of his life in Ancares...
Aquarius97 wrote:
It's a shame to lose the chance to win a Grand Tour because of a crash, but at least Sam is still second and maybe, just maybe, if he has the day of his life in Ancares...
Definitely not the way one wants to see a real chance vanish indeed. But yes, who knows...
The bunch spent the first 4 laps chasing down an 8-man breakaway. Due to the frantic pace, it was reduced to Stef Hermans, Van Den Broeck and Dowe. Their gap was less than 2 minutes with over 150 kilometers to go.
After the pace had dropped, one rider of the initial breakaway came back in Matteo Occhialini. Over the next 50km, the gap got to max. 7 minutes.
Fast forward to the final lap for the next moment of action. Mikel Landa's earlier attacked had created a 15 riders strong leading group. Andrónico Mendigain and Diego Ochoa managed to secure a spot amongst them.
Danilo Ghilardi sneaked away at the last uphill sector. Petr Vakoc was the one who tried to get him back. Before the final km, the leader gained 5".
Around 20 kms in, Jonathan Klever would catch up with Küng, Lietaer, Rabottini, Buchmann, Vanmarcke, Busato. Tomio later became the last to join the eventual 8-man break on the final transitory stage of this Vuelta.
Buchmann bagged the maximum of 10 points atop the first climb, Alto do Monte da Groba. The eight had 4'30", but over 100 km left from the top.
On the steeper [url=]Alto Monte Faro[/url], Klever quickly came to know he did not belong with the strongest on his group. Buchmann and Rabottini steadily rode away but the bunch, which picked up the pace, only sat 1'30" down.
With 3 kms to the top, Sam took the initiative to do something about the comforting time gap of Kelderman. His move immediately caused unrest.
Buchmann took 10 more points on the top, but he hadn't managed to get rid of Rabottini. It did look good for the win with 3'10" for the last 18km.
Vandenborre caught up with Klever, who then towed along the former. Kudus was fighting to keep up while Kelderman rode half a hairpin down.
Both couldn't catch or follow Sam's group. A quartet, led by Sagan, even managed to reel in the two leaders. Alaphilippe, Fernández sat there too.
The quick Frenchman easily bended the sprint to his will, and won ahead of Fernández. Sam's third spot gave him a bonus on top of the time gap.
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Buchmann came first on the second climb, leaving no doubt about who is going to take home the mountain jersey. The gap halfway through: 6'10".
Climbing Alto de Folgueiras de Aiga, the penultimate difficulty, Power and Ravasi left the others behind. With 7', they went looking for a stage win.
More heartbreak for Team Sky at the foot of that same climb. After Peter Kennaugh had already lost contact with the peloton after a crash, GC 4th Poels suffered one too. He barely rejoined the pack as the road started to rise. All he could hope for were fellow contenders picking a modest pace.
So did they, up to the point where his own teammate Juan Pardo tried to turn his team's bad luck around. Jan Hirt, sitting in 11th overall, reacted.
Already over the summit, Power attacked Rasavi while nearing Puerto de Ancares. In the bunch, Gesink upped the pace for red jersey Kelderman.
As soon as he was done the overall leader attacked. Nobody but Meintjes reacted right away, Kelderman was reeled in on the first Ancares slopes.
Sam did have the legs to counter the next acceleration, yet he got stuck behind Fernández, Geoghan Hart, Alaphilippe. As the three didn't go out of the way, Wilco Kelderman easily kept gaining time; up to one minute.
It took three kilometers for the others to move aside. By then Kelderman had more than two minutes but Vandenborre still appeared determined.
The beast was loose, and Sam bridged to Merhawi Kudus in no time. An ultra strong Jonathan Klever supported him until the last 1500 meters.
Robert Power's second victory made him breach the top 10 in the overall.
A strong sprint limited the time lost to Kelderman to 15 seconds, but the GC fight is over. Tomorrow's time trial will decide about the green jersey.
Aquarius97 wrote:
What a shame that Sam was blocked when Kelderman made his move Still a GC podium is a great achievement for Sam
Ripley wrote:
Getting stuck behind other riders... don't we love it when that happens! Fantastic performance in any case.
Nothing can be done about that sadly, let's try to make it up a tiny bit by securing the points jersey on the final TT. Many thanks for the support throughout the race.
Vuelta a España (GT.UWT) 
Québec, 203.8 kms 
and good luck in Canada 
