Colombian Quintana, wearing the race leader’s red jersey, was the last man down the start ramp but could not maintain the pace of the Tour de France victor and finished 11th in the stage, losing two minutes and 16 seconds to Froome.
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Chris Froome still faces a near-impossible task in his bid to catch leader Nairo Quintana after finishing alongside the Colombian in stage 17 of the Tour of Spain, which was won by Swiss rider Mathias Frank. “We’ve certainly got a way of racing, an approach, and we’re going to stick to that now and focus on the time trial”.
Quintana, a two-time runner-up at the Tour de France, is seeking his first Spanish Vuelta title. “We have an advantage in our favor and now we need to defend it to Madrid”, Quintana said.
But Quintana matched the Briton’s best efforts to all but end his quest to become the first man to win both the Tour de France and the Vuelta in the same year since the great Bernard Hinault in 1978.
“But equally for the GC guys, it was one of the toughest climbs of the Vuelta and on those types of climbs there’s not so much tactics as race for survival”.
“I’m super-happy. It was my big goal when I came here; I really wanted to win a stage”, Frank told reporters. “I left it all out on the road”, he said.
“We’ll see [what happens] tomorrow and I’ll speak with my team-mates tonight. With Movistar Nairo has a strong team – it’s really going to be hard to beat him”.
Quintana said: “I’m very proud of having been able to beat him”.
Two stages of the three-week tour remain, but with today’s finale a mere procession around the streets of central Madrid, yesterday’s 193.2km ride from Benidorm to Alto de Aitana was key.
Three-time Vuelta victor Alberto Contador moved up to third overall by finishing eighth on the day to leapfrog Esteban Chaves.
Chaves is fourth overall 4min 54sec behind while Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac) is now in the top five at the expense of Simon Yates (Orica-Bike Exchange).
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Quintana finished alongside Froome in the same time to keep his 3min 37sec lead ahead of Friday s crucial 37km time trial from Xabia to Calp.
