Rohan Dennis got agonizingly close to his first grand tour stage win when he was caught less than 1km from the finish in stage 17 of the Vuelta a Espana. The Australian was disappointed to have come so close and hopes to have more luck in the future.

Danilo Wyss finished eighth for the BMC Racing Team Wednesday at the Vuelta a España after teammate Rohan Dennis was part of the day's breakaway that was only caught in the last 500 meters. John Degenkolb (Team Giant-Shimano) took the bunch sprint finish to win his fourth stage, beating Michael Matthews (ORICA-GreenEDGE) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing).

Dennis and Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merida) were the last two survivors from a five-man escape that enjoyed freedom for 165 kilometers of the 190.7-km race.

"We all did our turns until about 30 kilometers to go," Dennis said. "Then Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing) attacked and from then on, it was just pain. I could tell at a kilometer to go that we probably were not going to make it. It was close – maybe next time."

BMC Racing Team's Samuel Sánchez finished 35th and in the same time as Degenkolb to remain eighth overall, 6:55 back of race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) with four days to go.

"Tomorrow will again be hard for the general classification, so we are optimistic," BMC Racing Team Sport Director Valerio Piva said.

Wyss said he and several teammates were doing what they could to help slow the chase of Dennis's group. But when it became clear the breakaway would be caught, his focus changed.

"I was really looking for Philippe Gilbert and trying to do a lead out for him," Wyss said. "But it was really crazy in the pack and I was not on the same side as him. So I had the opportunity to go really early. I saw Phil was just behind me and thought maybe it would be a good leadout. Otherwise, I would try to go to the finish. But it was just a little bit too early."