Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) won stage 17 of the Vuelta a España on the fire-scorched and wind-exposed slopes of the Alto de El Morredero climb after Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) opted to ride a defensive race and control key rival João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
The 21-year-old Pellizzari took his first professional victory and extended his lead in the best young rider’s white jersey on the USA’s Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech).
Vingegaard now leads Almeida by 50 seconds before Thursday’s vital 27.2km time trial around Valladolid. Pidcock kept third place and is now 2:28 down on Vingegaard.
“To be honest, the five or six of us were equal today,” Vingegaard said, explaining his race tactics and trying to find the positive parts of his day.
“I didn’t have the very best day, unfortunately for me. I survived and that’s the day you need to survive. When you’re not 100 percent, if you get through them without losing time, it’s a good day.”
Vingegaard lost time to his GC rivals in the Valladolid time trial in 2023 but was hoping for a better performance on Thursday.
“It was an awful TT for me. Hopefully I can make it right this time,” he said. “It’s a flat TT and we’ll see. Hopefully I can do well tomorrow and it’s a good day.”
How it unfolded
Stage 17 started under a cloud in several ways: Rain was falling in O Barco de Valdeorras, with strong winds at the finish atop Alto de El Morredero threatening the finish.
Before the start the riders also voted to neutralise and so stop the stage if there were disruptive protests. They refused to…
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