Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) took an impressive win atop the summit finish of Calar Alto, beating Chris Froome to second place on stage 11 of the Vuelta a Espana.
Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) and Lopez threatened to pull clear with two kilometres remaining, but Froome found a late burst of energy and bridged the gap to finish the stage in second place and increase his hold on the red jersey.
Froome made up time in the grueling stage from Lorca to Calar Alto in Andalusia – which featured 3,490 meters of climbing and finished 2,120 meters above sea level – with a late dash from the back to the front of the chasing pack behind Lopez.
The Team Sky rider beat Wilco Kelderman and Vincenzo Nibali to finish 14 seconds behind Lopez and take a six second bonus in his bid to become the first rider since 1978 to win a double of La Vuelta and the Tour de France.
Nibali overtook Esteban Chaves as Froome’s nearest challenger and moved into second place overall, with the Colombian dropping from 36 seconds behind Froome before the stage to 2:33 adrift in third.
Gran victoria de @SupermanlopezN en Calar Alto ofrecido por @CarrefourES #CarrefourConLaVuelta #LV2017 pic.twitter.com/ikV9IVhJku
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) August 30, 2017
Vuelta a Espana 2017 – stage 11 results (Lorca – Observatorio Astronómico de Calar Alto):
| 1 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | 5:05:09 |
| 2 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | +14” |
| 3 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | ,, |
| 4 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 5 | Romain Bardet (AG2R) | +31” |
| 6 | Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 7 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 8 | Mikel Nieve (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 9 | Darwin Atapuma (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’02” |
| 10 | David De La Cruz (Quick-Step Floors) | +01’14” |
| 11 | Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) | +01’17” |
| 12 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 13 | Richard Carapaz (Movistar) | +01’22” |
| 14 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | +01’32” |
| 15 | Fabio Aru (Astana) | ,, |
| 16 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 17 | Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) | +02’05” |
| 18 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 19 | Sergio Pardilla (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) | ,, |
| 20 | Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
General classification after stage 11:
| 1 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | 45:18:01 |
| 2 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) | +01’19” |
| 3 | Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott) | +02’33” |
| 4 | David De La Cruz (Quick-Step Floors) | +02’36” |
| 5 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +02’37” |
| 6 | Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) | +02’38” |
| 7 | Fabio Aru (Astana) | +02’57” |
| 8 | Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) | +03’01” |
| 9 | Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) | +03’55” |
| 10 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +04’11” |
| 11 | Nicolas Roche (BMC) | +04’45” |
| 12 | Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) | ,, |
| 13 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | +04’54” |
| 14 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +05’01” |
| 15 | Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNl-Jumbo) | +06’10” |
| 16 | Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates) | +06’39” |
| 17 | Mikel Nieve (Team Sky) | +07’47” |
| 18 | Igor Anton (Dimension Data) | +09’50” |
| 19 | Sergio Pardilla (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) | +10’24” |
| 20 | Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) | +11’00” |
