Vuelta Stage 17

2,3,10,14,15,17,19,20 and for the 8th (!) time this Vuelta, I miss out on a full house by one measly (Anthony Roux) rider. Unless...

47. MEERSMAN, Gianni + 1' 31''

One winner today

1 Team Morales jacobo 168

Sounds like a cracker, looking forward to the highlight show.

Not so good for my fantasy team though - just Richeze in top ten plus Horner, Nibs and Valverde.

2,3,5,14,15,17. not the best, but ok. i half thought about putting a few quid e/w on mollema, but never considered him for fantasy team, so no regrets

Hmmmm , 2,10 so far for me

1 Bauke MOLLEMA NED BEL 27 4:44:28
2 Edvald BOASSON HAGEN NOR SKY 26 +0
3 Maximiliano Ariel RICHEZE ARG LAM 30 +0
4 Tyler FARRAR USA GRS 29 +0
5 Fabian CANCELLARA SUI RLT 32 +0
6 Grega BOLE SLO VCD 28 +0
7 Luca PAOLINI ITA KAT 36 +0
8 Paul VOSS GER TNE 27 +0
9 José HERRADA LOPEZ ESP MOV 28 +0
10 Nicolas ROCHE IRL TST 29 +0
11 Vladimir GUSEV RUS KAT 31 +0
12 David TANNER AUS BEL 29 +0
13 Pablo URTASUN PEREZ ESP EUS 33 +0
14 Vincenzo NIBALI ITA AST 29 +0
15 Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE ESP MOV 33 +0
16 Egoi MARTINEZ DE ESTEBAN ESP EUS 35 +0
17 Christopher HORNER USA RLT 42 +0
18 Paolo TIRALONGO ITA AST 36 +0
19 Leopold KONIG CZE TNE 26 +0
20 Samuel SANCHEZ GONZALEZ ESP EUS 35 +0

Mollema wins! wow what a great race that was.

FFS. Mollema goes inside the flamme rouge and takes it! unreal

Richenze and Farrar are there for the sprint

Ullisi caught Tangert attacks

Ulissi tries to go on the climb gets 5 secs

ulissi goes

now we see who has a go on that last bump....

cancellara? paolini? anyone else?

Apparently neither Pozzovivo nor Pinot in the first group. Roche is in there though.

Pozzovivo and pinot caught out 48 secs back with matthews too

anyone watching it on telly? any GC favourites been caught out in echelons? only saw a post about the top 3 are in first group, seems FDJ have been caught out though

and just as I say that, Fabien has gone up front and put the hurt on, echelons.

I dont get points for that, Fabien! listen up!

I went for a 4 pronged attack today, 3 sprinters and fabien for the cheeky punch and solo TT over the bump at 6k. Apparently he has said he will pull out of vuelta tonite, so no need to save legs to help horner... I hope he has a go!

valverde
nibali
horner
txurruka
edet

EBH
matthews
richeze
cancellara

Windy day today. Could we see a Valverde-in-the-Tour-style GC contender losing time today by not jumping onto the right ecehelon?

Aramendia in the break just as I drop him - I really should learn to ignore my itchy trigger-finger...

Good shout on Petit. I've gone Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg Vennegor of Hesselink. About time he did summat good, I reckon.

Im just gonna come out with it.

4 GC guys, and 5 others, you could class them all as sprinters, but id say 3 of them could be classed more as classics guys at the same time, and 1 of them has been known to go in a break

Nibali
Valverde
Horner
Roche
Richeze
Petit
EBH
Meersman
Roux

Three GC guys
Two sprinters (but not Farrar )
Two puncheurs
Two breakaway monkeys

A highlight of the Vuelta has been the tiredness shown by a lot of the sprinter's teams - they are chasing down the break and then losing control at the finish and allowing someone to jump away. Made a lot of the flatter stages very entertaining! And makes for some interesting opportunities for risk-taking in the fantasy game!

I've made 4 transfers - 2 sprinters and 2 strong, versatile, attacking all-rounders...

Ive gone sprinters but they are pretty strong men

Don't think there was a nailed on sprint even when there was the full roster. Not enough power or experience in the race. And all the more enjoyable because of it. I like a sprint train battle but do enjoy to watch races for longer than the last few K!