Vuelta a España stage 17: Primoz Roglič leads Jumbo-Visma 1-2-3 atop Alto de l'Angliru

Sepp Kuss clings onto red jersey despite being dropped by his two teammates

Updated 15:46, Wednesday 13th September 2023. Published 15:16, Wednesday 13th September 2023

George Poole

Junior Writer

Jumbo-Visma ride away from the competition once again

Primož Roglič won stage 17 of the Vuelta a España as he and Jonas Vingegaard stormed away from the red jersey of their Jumbo-Visma teammate Sepp Kuss in the final kilometres of the Alto de l'Angliru.

Kuss trailed home in third place but limited the damage to retain the overall lead by a slim eight seconds, on a day that will intensify the question marks over Jumbo-Visma's tactics.

It was Bahrain Victorious who forced the issue on the brutal ascent of the Angliru, with Wout Poels working for Mikel Landa and dropping all but the Jumbo-Visma three, but when Roglič accelerated, only his teammates could follow.

They climbed together for a short while but Kuss then lost contact with 2km to go, speaking into his radio and seemingly giving the green light for his teammates to up their tempo and leave him in their wake. Roglič forced the issue and remained in front of Vingegaard for the final 2km, leading through the final dip to the line and performing a slightly subdued victory salute as he took his 12th career stage win at the Vuelta.

Primoz Roglic hits the line

Kuss was dropped but never cracked, refusing to give up on his lead of the race and fighting tremendously alongside Landa to limit their losses. Nipping ahead of the Spaniard and coming over the line 19 seconds down, Kuss saved his lead of the race by a mere eight seconds to Vingegaard.

Landa was able to move into the top five on GC, but Jumbo-Visma now look assured to finish the race in 1-2-3 on the podium, with fourth-placed Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) now four minutes down.

"On the last climb, on the point I went it's just so hard and so steep that I just did my own tempo, then the climb tells who is first, second, and third," Roglič said.

"I just did my own tempo. I spoke with him [Kuss]. It's a weird feeling. It's just that on such a steep climb everyone goes as fast as possible and then we see.

"I said to him 'keep fighting, keep believing', and he will make it."

Here's what stage 17 means for the general classification

The debate rumbles on as to whether or not Jumbo-Visma have treated Sepp Kuss fairly over the past few stages

With his race lead under siege from his two Jumbo-Visma teammates, it appeared for a time that Sepp Kuss' 29th birthday was going to be marred by the loss of the red jersey. But admirably, the American refused to give in after having given the nod to Vingegaard and Roglič to ride away from him. Working hard alongside a resurgent Landa, the pair only yielded 19 seconds to the first two riders across the line.

As a result, Kuss actually saved his lead of the race by the narrow margin of eight seconds, with Roglič having closed his gap in third to 1:08 behind the American. Whatever the order of the podium, a Jumbo-Visma 1-2-3 in Madrid now looks all but assured, with Ayuso sitting in fourth, a whopping 2:52 behind third-placed Roglič.

Bahrain Victorious were rewarded for their efforts with Landa slingshotting into fifth place on GC and just 16 seconds behind Ayuso. Enric Mas (Movistar) struggled on the Angliru and dropped from fifth to sixth, whilst Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe) rode fantastically well to place seventh on the day and move up two places to seventh overall.

As for one of the day's provocateurs, Soler, the UAE Team Emirates man now drops outside of the top 10 and sees his teammate Almeida move up to ninth, ahead of Bora-Hansgrohe's Aleksandr Vlasiv. To round out a commendable day for Bahrain Victorious, Santiago Buitrago rounds out the top of the standings in 10th.

An intense battle for the breakaway sees Remco Evenepoel on the attack

At just under 125km from Ribadesella/Ribeseya to the Alto de L'Angliru, stage 17 was always going to be a short, but furiously fast day - well, as fast as a stage finishing on possibly Europe’s toughest climb ever could be. Just as on stage 16, the battle to enter the day’s definitive breakaway seemed to rumble on and on before live pictures emerged from the road.

To the surprise of nobody, King of the Mountains jersey holder Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) was amongst the first riders to attack at the start of stage 17, no doubt with his eyes on the Alto de la Colladiella and Alto del Cordal as he seeks to extend his lead in polka dots. Joining the Belgian on the attack were teammate Casper Pedersen, Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Dstny) and Kim Heiduk (Ineos Grenadiers), but this was to be just the first of many formations that arose in the opening kilometres.

Time and time again, Evenepoel went on the move with different assortments of riders, but the peloton did not appear happy with the proceedings and ensured that no breakaway had yet amalgamated after 20km of racing. In fact, the first true breakaway came by accident rather than design, with the peloton falling victim to a crash and allowing five opportunistic riders to slide off the front, whilst the likes of UAE Team Emirates, Ineos Grenadiers and Burgos-BH tallied their wounded behind.

Thankfully, it appeared as though no riders were seriously injured and the peloton was soon back up to speed, but not before Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal Quick-Step), Larry Warbasse (AG2R Citroën), Chris Hamilton and Romain Combaud (both dsm-firmenich) and Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ) had managed to escape up the road.

With just over 30km raced, it seemed as though the peloton were content with this formation, but it wasn’t to be long before those who had missed out decided to mount a counter-attack. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek) and Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) all tried and failed to bridge the gap, with a dedicated chasing group eventually consisting of Evenepoel and five others.

Remco Evenepoel and Mattia Cattaneo rode the rest of the breakaway off their wheels

Evenepoel, Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroën), Kévin Ledanois (Arkéa Samsic), Paul Ourselin and Jorge Arcas (both TotalEnergies), and Jarrad Drizners (Lotto Dstny) managed to jump across to the breakaway with 76km to ride. Of course, Evenepoel had the benefit of teammate Cattaneo being part of the front group, allowing the pair to set a hard pace in an attempt to shake off any hangers-on.

Over the course of the next 23km, Cattaneo shouldered the majority of this burden and managed to drop everybody from the breakaway except, crucially, his teammate Evenepoel.

Whilst this civil war had reduced the front group to just the Soudal Quick-Step pair, Jumbo-Visma had moved to the front of the peloton in numbers and allowed the gap to the breakaway to rise to above 2:30.

Marc Soler attempts to bridge across to the breakaway alone

Prior to the start of the Vuelta, Evenepoel had revealed to GCN that he had ridden a recon of the Angliru in preparation, but he was going to be hard-pressed to maintain strong legs ahead of the final climb given his participation in the two-man move.

Another man who might not be at his best by the time the peloton reached the Angliru was Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), who rather puzzlingly decided to attack on the first categorised climb of the day.

Sixth overall at the start of the stage, Soler took his leave from the peloton and soon swept past those who had been dropped by the pace of Cattaneo and Evenepoel. By the time Evenepoel took maximum KoM points over the Alto de la Colladiella, Soler had moved to within 1:10 of the leading duo and stood in fourth place on the virtual GC - but crucially, had fallen foul of Sean Kelly’s assessment in the GCN/Eurosport commentary booth.

“A no-win situation all around,” is how the former Vuelta a España winner judged Soler’s solo move.

UAE Team Emirates had spoken to GCN of their ambitions to attack the final week, but in truth, few had expected such a peculiar move by Soler midway through Wednesday’s stage. Entering the final 40km of the short stage, Soler’s gap to Evenepoel and Cattaneo stood at 58 seconds, as the race entered a period of rest bite before the second and penultimate climb of the day.

Sending Robert Gesink and Attila Valter to work at the front of the peloton, Jumbo-Visma clearly had big goals for the stage

Soler would soon have the solace of linking up with breakaway alumni Germani and Eduardo Sepúlveda (Lotto Dstny), but as the three chasers entered the final 30km, the gap to Evenepoel and Cattaneo had drifted out to more than 1:30 and their efforts appeared futile.

However, the leading pair had little reason to celebrate given the demanding pace of the Jumbo-Visma-led peloton. Robert Gesink and Attila Valter were tapping away at a strong rhythm on the front of the bunch, ensuring that the gap to the front remained under 2:30 and revealing to all that the Dutch superteam had ambitions to attack again for the third summit finish in succession.

For all that Gesink and Valter could do, Cattaneo had been trying his best to match their efforts throughout the first two hours of racing. After he and Evenepoel had shaken off the rest of the breakaway, the Italian had set to work on offering his teammate as big a gap as possible to the rest of the field before his gasket was blown.

Eventually, it was with 26.6km to go that Cattaneo waved the Belgian through and wished him well on his way, by which point Evenepoel had a 1:53 buffer to Soler's group and a 2:47 advantage over the peloton. It was inevitable that he would take the maximum points atop the Alto del Cordal, but all eyes now turned to what he could produce on the Angliru.

The peloton prepares for the Angliru as Bahrain Victorious come to the fore

Halfway up the day's penultimate climb, yellow was replaced by red at the front of the peloton, with Antonio Tiberi and his Bahrain Victorious teammates replacing Jumbo-Visma at the front of the peloton. They had Mikel Landa in seventh place at the start of the day and sensed an opportunity to take time on their rivals and compete for the stage win.

After all, they counted Wout Poels amongst their ranks, the eventual winner of the 2011 stage that finished atop the Angliru. The Dutchman had impressed on stage 16 and came into the Vuelta with the confidence of having taken a first Tour de France stage victory in the summer.

Marc Soler has history of bridging seemingly impossible gaps to the breakaway, but today's test did not fall his way

Soler, spirited but scuppered, was caught by the peloton shortly after cresting the summit of the penultimate climb. All attention now turned first to a tricky descent that had often spelled trouble in the Vuelta, but then quickly to the fearsome slopes of the Angliru. This was the moment many fans had been waiting for since the first announcement of this year's route.

The Alto de L'Angliru quickly claims its victims

Evenepoel ripped open an energy gel with his teeth, guzzled down its contents and prepared for discomfort: the Angliru awaited. He knew that the challenge that lay ahead of him was difficult in its own right, but the pace of Bahrain Victorious had made that challenge even harder by the foot of the climb.

The Belgian began the lower slopes with a 1:20 advantage over the peloton, but this had dipped to 40 seconds as Evenepoel rode into the final 6km. Bahrain Victorious were still forcing the pace behind and they had strung the bunch into single file as the likes of Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates) and Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma) were strewn out the back.

Fisher-Black's teammate João Almeida and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) were soon found out, and Evenepoel rather tellingly looked over his shoulder from time to time, perhaps anticipating what was to come.

There were plenty of pain faces to be found on the Angliru

As Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich) manoeuvred to the front of the peloton, Evenepoel was soon mopped up 5.5km from the summit and the Frenchman saw his chance to steal a march.

However, Bahrain Victorious and Santiago Buitrago were not to be swayed. They continued to stomp on the pedals at the front and not only did this see Bardet caught and Evenepoel dropped, but it also caused Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) to be shelled out of the back with 5.2km to ride.

Enric Mas (Movistar) was the next to struggle and all of a sudden, Landa looked the only contender to yet more Jumbo-Visma domination - who themselves still had Sepp Kuss, Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard at the front of the race.

As the leading Bahrain/Jumbo five-man group entered the final 3km, the gap to Ayuso behind stood at 36 seconds. Without a doubt, the day's winner was going to emerge from the group containing Landa, Poels, Kuss, Vingegaard, Roglič and Vingegaard. It was to be damage control for Mas and Ayuso behind.

At this point, Roglič sensed a slowing in the pace from Poels on the front and went on the offensive, forcing Landa to mount the chase. Kuss, to his credit, appeared to match the pace of Landa, as the cameras struggled to pick out the riders amongst the throng of crowd and the mountain mist.

Out of the clouds behind, Bora-Hansgrohe's Cian Uijtdebroeks emerged and was impressing once again to try and limit his losses, standing at 40 seconds inside the final 2.5km. But back at the front, Kuss decided enough was enough and he exemplified the pride of the red jersey in bridging across to Roglič himself.

With Landa distanced, Roglič led Vingegaard and Kuss into the final 2km as Jumbo-Visma once again had the race by the scruff its neck. As Roglič drove forward, however, Kuss struggled to keep pace and he immediately went onto the team radio, seemingly telling his teammates to leave him.

Without a look behind, Roglič and Vingegaard powered away from Kuss and the American's time in the red jersey appeared to be nearing its end. His teammates rode off into the mist and Kuss, floundering in a world of trouble, was caught and passed by Landa. Team priorities quickly shifted away from Kuss - if they had ever been with the American - and Roglič paced Vingegaard under the flamme rouge.

Bobbing and weaving, Kuss fought valiantly to stick to the wheel of Landa, who rode well to limit the gap to Roglič and Vingegaard to just 19 seconds as the leading pair crossed the line in first and second, respectively.

Kuss was the most aggressive in the closing few hundred metres, visibly straining to retain his lead of the race and in doing so, he ensured that Jumbo-Visma would take another 1-2-3 finish as he rounded out the day's podium in third.

After the first four riders, only Poels - at 44 seconds - and Almeida - at 58 seconds - finished within a minute of the eventual stage winner, Roglič.

If you head to our Vuelta a España landing page, you will find everything you need to know about the race, including our race preview, the route, start list and individual stage previews. Check it out for all that and more.

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Race Results

Pos	Rider	Team	Time
1	ROGLIC Primoz	Jumbo-Visma	3H 15' 56"
2	VINGEGAARD Jonas	Jumbo-Visma	"
3	KUSS Sepp	Jumbo-Visma	+ 19"
4	LANDA Mikel	Bahrain Victorious	"
5	POELS Wout	Bahrain Victorious	+ 44"
6	ALMEIDA Joao	UAE Team Emirates	+ 58"
7	UIJTDEBROEKS Cian	BORA-hansgrohe	+ 1' 20"
8	BUITRAGO Santiago	Bahrain Victorious	"
9	AYUSO Juan	UAE Team Emirates	+ 1' 42"
10	MAS Enric	Movistar Team	+ 1' 43"