Vuelta a Espana stage 17 | Giulio Pellizzari victorious at Alto de El Morredero as Vingegaard and Almeida locked in a stalemate once again

Stage 17 of the Vuelta a Espana has been won by Giulio Pellizzari, an unlikely victor on the brutal Alto de El Morredero. The GC fight for victory was a virtual stalemate once again as Jonas Vingegaard did not attack the race and saw the finale become very tactical.

The penultimate mountain stage of the race was quite short and with a mostly flat start, not ideal for the formation of a strong breakaway. Around a dozen riders did hit the front of the race but Team Visma | Lease a Bike, despite their reduced numbers, went on to chase all day long and keep the group at a comfortable distance.

Antonio Tiberi, Sergio Samitier, Madis Mihkels, Harold Tejada, Gijs Leemreize, Joel Nicolau, Brandon Rivera, Patrick Gamper, Léandre Lozouet, Luca van Boven, Timo Roosen and Jonas Gregaard made the difference but were then slowly reeled in towards the end of the day.

The gap was closed at the bottom of the final climb to the Alto de El Morredero, with the 12-kilometer climb set to make differences - with the final 9 being very steep, with long periods of gradients above 10%. Samitier was the last survivor of the front group, but was caught with 12 kilometers to go.

Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe drove the group in the first kilometers of the climb, but the pace was picked up by Visma as soon as the hardest section began. As Felix Gall was dropped, Jai Hindley launched an attack with 6 kilometers to go, opening up the GC fight. Vingegaard was isolated in front in the four-rider group and João Almeida took a few minutes to close the gap to the group of Hindley, Vingegaard, Pidcock and Riccitello.

But the race then became very tactical, with Vingegaard and Almeida refusing to attack, and the men who are battling for the podium and Top5 picking things up. Giulio Pellizzari, who joined alongside Almeida, attacked several times and with 3.5 kilometers to go he went solo off the front, with the American trying to react but always followed by the other contenders.

Pellizzari rode to victory, with Tom Pidcock then sprinting to second place, not only defending himself from Jai Hindley but puitting a few seconds on the Australian is what is the main battle for the podium. Hindley was third, with the duo beating both Jonas Vingegaard and João Almeida who both shed a couple seconds at the finish line.