PREVIEW | Vuelta a Espana 2024 stage 17 - Final opportunity for the sprints after Wout van Aert's withdrawal

Wout van Aert crashed out of the Vuelta a España, however the race goes on. There is a new green jersey now in Kaden Groves who is the man to beat for stage 17. We preview a day that is the final opportunity for the sprinters; but is a very difficult day nonetheless.

On paper this is the final opportunity for the sprinters but in traditional Vuelta style, they will have to climb a lot to be able to contest for victory. A very short stage with an uphill start, it favours the breakaway's chances. In the first half of the day there are two difficult categorized climbs to tackle before the final flat run-up to Santander.

Right at the start 1.4 kilometers at 8.3% which make it hard to control... Only 140 kilometers on the stage which means the pace should be high all throughout and controlling a breakaway won't be easy. Because after that tough start there are two ascents that are legitimately difficult by all standards. 5.5 kilometers at 8.5% summiting with 85 kilometers to go. Then another 7.1 kilometers at 6.6% that end with 71 kilometers to go.

From there on it does soften up. The rest of the stage is mostly flat. It is actually not very technical, not very rolling, just an overall calm finale where it is possible to put in an organized chase after what could potentially be a chaotic first half of the day. The finale is not technical at all.

Quite possibly some more rain and the wind will also blow; the closer to the coast the stronger. We will have a tailwind and crosswind in the first climbs of the day. Overall in favour early in the day but against the riders later on. There will be quite some direction changes however and the final sprint will be in a headwind.

Sprint - Two teams will want it: Alpecin and DSM. Without Wout van Aert in the race there is one less team to try and control this day, but these two will still want it. They will need a lot of organization however. Firstly not allow a good group to go up the road early on... Then not overreact on the climbs, and then push hard and consistently in the flat roads to try and bring it back.

Kaden Groves and Pavel Bittner both have chances of winning in a sprint. Israel - Premier Tech may potentially also help if they don't get riders in front because Corbin Strong. Arne Marit and Pau Miquel are also options for a fast finale.

Breakaway? - It can certainly be. It's the final day for the sprinters and a few riders certainly waited long for this day. But the start is not easy, the weather is not good... And then the two climbs can't be controlled if there are attacks - the stage may explode. A few riders like Attila Valter, Mauri Vansevenant, Jhonatan Narváez, Mauro Schmid, Harold Tejada, Pablo Castrillo and Brandon McNulty may specifically look towards those climbs to attack and form a group in there.

Besides those, the start of the stage may also see riders like Edoardo Affini, Kasper Asgreen, Mathias Vacek, Marco Frigo, Victor Campenaerts and Stefan Küng attack and theser are specially dangerous if they have a gap towards the end of the stage. Even some of these are outsiders if a bunch sprint is to take place, taking into consideration how most the sprinter field is.

*** Kaden Groves
** Pavel Bittner, Corbin Strong
* Edoardo Affini, Jhonatan Narváez, Kasper Asgreen, Mathias Vacek, Marco Frigo, Victor Campenaerts, Stefan Küng, Mauro Schmid

Pick: Mathias Vacek