Sander Armee (Lotto-Soudal) wins stage 18 Vuelta a Espana.

Sander Armee (Team Lotto-Soudal) solo's to stage victory in Alto de Santo Toribio de Liébana, Vuelta a Espana.

 Chris Froome (Team Sky) stays in red leaders jersey after surging clear and distance his closer rival Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida).  

As is so often the case in the third week of a Grand Tour, there were two races for the price of one on stage 18 of the Vuelta, as a 20-man break forged clear after a little over an hour of racing and fought it out for stage victory, while Froome, Nibali et al traded blows in the battle for GC honours further down the road.

Newest overrall top ten General classification result

 1, Christopher Froome (Great Britain) Team Sky 72:03:50,
2, Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:37,
3, Wilco Kelderman (Netherland) Team Sunweb 0:02:17,
 4, Ilnur Zakarin (Russia) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:29,
5, Alberto Contador Velasco (Spain) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:34,
6, Miguel Angel Lopez (Colombia) Astana Pro Team 0:05:16,
7, Michael Woods (Cannada) Cannondale-Drapac 0:06:33,
8, Fabio Aru (Italy) Astana Pro Team 0:06:33,
9 Wout Poels (Netherland) Team Sky 0:06:47,
10, Steven Kruijswijk (Netherland) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:10:26.

Stefan Denifl (Aqua Bleu Sport) solos to stage 17 victory, Vuelta a Espana.

Stefan Denifl (Team Aqua Blue Sport) destroys stage 17 to win atop Los Machucos Wall, Vuelta a Espana.
 He's win give the team there first world tour victory. day to take an historic stage win for the Irish Professional Continental team on their Grand Tour debut.

 Chris Froome (Team Sky) was forced onto the defensive on the steep slopes of the Alto de los Machucos on stage 17 of the Vuelta a España as he struggled to handle the double-digit gradient of the narrow cow track and was dropped by all his overall rivals.

 The riders enjoyed the warm conditions at the start in Villadiego, perhaps knowing that the clouds were low and roads wet on the climb to the finish on Los Machucos.

 General overrall top ten classification from stage 17

1, Christopher Froome (Great Britain) Team Sky 67:44:03,
2, Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:16,
3, Wilco Kelderman (Netherland) Team Sunweb 0:02:13,
4, Ilnur Zakarin (Russia) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:25,
5, Alberto Contador Velasco (Spain) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:34,
 6, Miguel Angel Lopez (Colombia) Astana Pro Team 0:04:39,
 7, Michael Woods (Cannada) Cannondale-Drapac 0:06:33,
 8, Wout Poels (Netherland) Team Sky 0:06:40,
 9, Fabio Aru (Italy) Astana Pro Team 0:06:45,
10, David de la Cruz (Spain) Quick-Step Floors 0:10:10.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) wins stage 16 in ITT in Logrono, Vuelta a Espana.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) destroys Vuelta a Espana stage 16 individual Time Trial field in Logrono, Spain.

 Chris Froome extends his overrall lead after putting more time on his rivals and keeps red leaders jersey.

Alberto Contador (Trek Segafredo) came home fifth on the stage and moved up to fifth on GC.

 Romain Bardet (AG2R la Mondiale) crashed and was forced to change into road bike.

 There was an air of inevitability as the sun beat down on the Vuelta, and the remaining riders warmed up for the first test after Monday’s rest day. Chris Froome took up his position on Team Sky’s new juggernaut, tapping away on the rollers as one-by-one riders siphoned off from the start-ramp.

 Overrall General classification from stage 16

 1, Christopher Froome (Great Britain) Team Sky 62:53:25,
2, Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:58,
3, Wilco Kelderman (Netherland) Team Sunweb 0:02:40,
4, Ilnur Zakarin (Russia) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:07,
5, Alberto Contador Velasco (Spain) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:58,
6, Miguel Angel Lopez (Colombia) Astana Pro Team 0:05:25,
7, Fabio Aru (Italy) Astana Pro Team 0:06:27,
8, Wout Poels (Netherland) Team Sky 0:06:33,
9, Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Colombia) Orica-Scott 0:06:40,
10, Michael Woods (Cannada) Cannondale-Drapac 0:07:06


 

Miguel Angel Lopez (Team Astana) rides to stage 15 victory atop Sierra Nevada, Espana.

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) wins monstrous stage 15 atop Sierra Nevada, Alto Hoya de la Mora Vuelta a Espana.

 Chris Froome (Team Sky) finish safely from stage 15 and takes white jersey, Green jersey and retains overrall race leaders red jersey. Tomorrow's is rest day.

  Stage 15 was short but most definitely not sweet, with many metres of climbing and a fearsome mountaintop finish. In addition, the temperatures were high enough that the time limit for finishing was extended.

 Top Ten General classification stage 15

 1, Christopher Froome (Great Britain) Team Sky 62:06:25,
2, Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:01,
3, Ilnur Zakarin (Russia) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:08,
4, Wilco Kelderman (Netherland) Team Sunweb 0:02:11,
5, Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Colombia) Orica-Scott 0:02:39,
 6, Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team 0:02:51,
7, Fabio Aru (Italy) Astana Pro Team 0:03:24,
 8, Michael Woods (Cannada) Cannondale-Drapac 0:03:26,
9, Alberto Contador Velasco (Spain) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:59, 10, Wout Poels (Netherland) Team Sky 0:05:22

Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) rides to stage 14 victory, Espana.

Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) wins stage 14 atop La Pandera, Vuelta a Espana.
 Chris Froome (Team Sky) scale through stage 14 to race red leaders jersey. Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac) stays in the mountains jersey.

 It was another hot day as the peloton set off one man short after Axel Domont (AG2R-La Mondiale) abandoned overnight.

 Top Ten General classification Result

  1, Christopher Froome (Great Britain) Team Sky 58:30:47,
2, Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) Bahrain-Merida 00:00:55,
3, Wilco Kelderman (Netherland) Sunweb 00:02:17,
4, Ilnur Zakarin (Russia) Katusha-Alpecin 00:02:25,
5, Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Colombia) Orica-Scott 00:02:39,
 6, Fabio Aru (Italy) Astana Pro Team 00:03:09,
 7, David De La Cruz (Spain) Quick-Step Floors 00:03:11,
 8, Alberto Contador (Spain) Trek-Segafredo 00:03:19,
9, Michael Woods (Cannada) Cannondale-Drapac 00:03:23,
 10, Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (Colombia) Astana Pro Team 00:03:48

Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floor's) wins stage 13 in Tomares, Vuelta a Espana.

Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floor's) powers to his third stage in Tomares, Vuelta a Espana. Chris Froome (Team Sky) keeps red leaders jersey after fighting through pains in stage 13.

 Whereas the theme at this Vuelta has been one of long, drawn-out battles for the breakaway to form, this time a group went clear in the opening kilometers with a minimum of fuss.

 Top ten General classification result

 1, Christopher Froome (Great Britain) Team Sky 53:48:06,
2, Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:59,
 3, Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Orica-Scott 0:02:13,  
4, Wilco Kelderman (Netherland) Team Sunweb 0:02:17,  
5, David de la Cruz (Spain) Quick-Step Floors 0:02:23,
  6, Ilnur Zakarin (Russia) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:25,
 7, Fabio Aru (Italy) Astana Pro Team 0:02:37,
 8, Michael Woods (Cannada) Cannondale-Drapac 0:02:41,
 9,Alberto Contador Velasco (Spain) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:13,
 10, Miguel Angel Lopez (Colombia) Astana Pro Team 0:03:58