Another mountain top finish offered the GC riders a new opportunity to distinguish themselves this Wednesday at the end of the seventeenth stage of the Tour of Spain. The breakaway first sprinted for the victory on the final climb towards the Monasterio de Tentudía (9 km at 5%), the unique difficulty on the course, before the favorites battled in the final kilometers. Louis Meintjes finished 49 seconds after the red jersey and stays eleventh in the general classification.
« To enable Louis Meintjes to climb in the top ten in this final week of the Vuelta, we have to reflect well about our strategical choices knowing that we don't have many riders in support of him left. For us, today seemed the most suitable stage to race aggressively with Louis, because the difficulty of the stages will go crescendo towards the final in Madrid. Jan Bakelants tried several times to join the early breakaway, which was only formed after 60 kilometer. The presence of Rigoberto Uran was a threat for the riders in the top ten of the general classification and we were hoping for a reaction of the peloton. We saw today again that that the battle for the top ten will be intense until the end. Louis is still in eleventh place. We will fight until the end, by evaluating the situation day by day and by using our forces as efficiently as possible to achieve our goal! »
