Full force wind and long straight roads made the 17th stage of Vuelta (189 km from Clahorra to Burgos) unpredictable.
The course was suitable for the sprinters, but Mollema was skillful in anticipating the sprint thanks to an attack on the final straight.
He managed to defend the advantage and he could obtain the victory, while the fast wheels fought, for few meters, for the second place, that was obtained by Boasson Hagen on Richeze.
Before Mollema’s action, Ulissi too had tried an attack. The Tuscan cyclist escaped from the group on the last hill of the course, at 8 km to go, but the bunch reacted and could caught him at 5 km to the arrival.
During the race, the wind created chaos and some echelon was performed: as result, a limited group of 31 cyclists pedaled in the front of the race to the arrival, with four LAMPRE-MERIDA’s riders in it (Richeze, Mori, Scarponi and Ulissi).
In the overall classification, Scarponi is 14th at 12’08” to Nibali.
“Team performed a very good stage, we always controlled the situation and we were always ready to react in every moment, even in the more difficult – sport director Matxin explained – We had four riders in the front group after the echelons and we made a very interesting attempt to win thanks to Ulissi. He had no space, so Richeze tried to get to the victort, but unluckily Mollema anticipated everyone. We have been collecting good performances since the start of Vuelta, but we miss the victory.”
Ron Callahan is the chief cook and bottlewasher at Bike World News, doing everything from website design to bike reviews.