Chris Froome (Team Sky) came roaring back into Vuelta a España contention with a storming time trial victory on stage 19, putting 2:16 into race leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar) to leave the race poised for a dramatic finale on tomorrow’s penultimate stage summit finish.
Quintana retained his overall lead but his 3:37 advantage over Froome was slashed to 1:21 as the Tour de France champion clocked 46:33 over the gently rolling 37km course in Calpe.
Froome’s time was some 43 seconds quicker than second-placed Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), the former Spanish time trial champion having posted what looked like it might be the stage-winning time earlier in the day. Giant-Alpecin’s Tobias Ludvigsson was third on the stage with a well-paced ‘negative split’ ride.
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Quintana puffed out his cheeks as he crossed the line, having been under pressure since the opening kilometres. He may still be the favourite to wrap up the title tomorrow, but it will be a tough day with his old rival now too close for comfort. For Froome, his dream of winning the Vuelta after three top four finishes comes back into focus. In fact, if he hadn’t lost 2:40 in the Quintana/Contador stage 15 ambush, he’d be in the red jersey and the driving seat right now.
“I’m really happy with result, especially at this point in the season,” he said. “There’s still one more day of tough racing – let’s see. Quintana has more than one minute of an advantage, but we’re going to keep fighting all the way.
“We’ll see tomorrow. I will speak with my teammates tonight, but I think Quintana has a really good team around him, and it’s going to be difficult to beat him.”
How it unfolded
The GC battle ignites
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