Vuelta a Espana: Rigoberto Urán wins stage 17 following dramatic uphill sprint in Tentudía

Colombia and EF Education-EasyPost have had reasons to smile today as Rigoberto Urán returned to the top step, winning stage 17 of the Vuelta a Espana after joining the day's breakaway.

The day started off with the negative news that Primoz Roglic had abandoned the race following the injuries sustained in yesterday's crash. Three other riders abandoned the race, leading the breakaway to have even more chances of succeeding. Most knew this, which led to a very fast and aggressive start, in which 13 riders took advantage of to go up the road: Lawson Craddock, Clément Champoussin, Bob Jungels, Gino Mäder, Rigoberto Urán, Quentin Pacher, Alessandro De Marchi, Kenny Elissonde, Marc Soler, Élie Gesbert, Simon Gugliemi and Fred Wright.

The peloton let the gap grow into 7 minutes, with the win certain in front as no team looked concern about the move - despite the presence of 11th place at the GC Urán. The attacks started inside the final 30 kilometers with Lawson Craddock repeatedly attempting to form a small group ahead, eventually the American jumped off alone and started the final climb with a slim advantage over the rest of the chasers.

Before the final steep four kilometers Urán, Gesbert and Champoussin attacked in the group. Whilst Gesbert cracked Pacher reconnected, but the gap to Craddock remained constant into the final 3 kilometers as Soler, Herrada and Elissonde bridged across aswell. Outside the final kilometer Urán and Herrada managed to reach Craddock, but the attacks kept on coming from several riders who had similar legs on the day.

Herrada made a move which seemed decisive inside the final kilometer, but Urán managed to bridge across near the end. It was a gruelling finale where all were on the limit, but the Colombian managed to take the win, beating Quentin Pacher and Jesús Herrada who completed the podium.

In the peloton Movistar Team set up a move from Enric Mas in the final ascent, which came in it's early kilometers, however with Remco Evenepoel promptly responding. João Almeida took advantage of the aggressive racing however to make a move right after, which has seen him win some seconds on the competition. Evenepoel led the rest of the GC group into the finish