John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) won the sprint on the 17th stage of the Vuelta a Espana. The German sprinter beat Michael Matthews (Orica-Grenedge) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) after a technical run in to the line, that included a cobbled section of road which ended with just 3km to go. Our GC contender Sergio Pardilla was our highest placed rider in 33rd position.
Being the stage after the 2nd rest day, many thought there was a chance that the break could make it to the finish today. That was nearly the case as Degenkolb only came round the last of the escapees with less than a kilometer to go. This escape group was made up of 5 riders, Bob Jungles (Trek Factory Racing), Rohan Dennis (BMC), Luis Mas Bonet (Caja Rural), Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merida) and our very own Daniel Teklehaimanot.
With Degenkolb desperately wanting the points on offer at the finish today, Giant Shimano kept the break on a short leash throughout the stage. The strength of Teklehaimanot and the rest of his breakaway companions had still allowed them to muscle out a 4 minute advantage during the course of the stage. At one point it looked pretty promising for the break but in the final 20km’s Omega Pharma Quickstep and Team Sky decided to assist Giant-Shimano which resulted in Teklehaimanot and co. being caught.
Rider – Daniel Teklehaimanot
It was another good hard day in the break. The peloton did not want us to get away but we worked quite well together and got a lead. I averaged over 300 watts for the whole stage so that shows how hard we had to ride in the break today. I am happy with my performance of today even though we couldn’t make it to the finish.
