Bauke Mollema saved what has until now been a lacklustre Vuelta a Espana for Belkin when he launched a great finisseur attack inside the final kilometre of the 17th stage. A Saxo-Tinkoff attack in the crosswinds had significantly reduced the size of the peloton and as the sprinters had used up their domestiques, the Dutchman took a beautiful solo win. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) stayed attentive in the wind and defended his leader's jersey while Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r) and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) both lost 1.31.

Bauke Mollema had entered the Vuelta a Espana with great GC hopes but quickly realized that his legs were not up for the challenge at the end of what had been a long season. Instead, he set his sight on stage wins and started to get into the breaks.

Having already finished 3rd on stage 13, he finally took his first win grand tour stage win when he made a great finisseur attack on today's 17th stage of the race. He stayed attentive when Saxo-Tinkoff attacked in the crosswinds and made it into the first group.

A small 25-rider group made it over the final climb in the streets of Burgos and sprinters like Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky), Maximilano Richeze (Lampre), Tyler Farrar (Garmin), Grega Bole (Vacansoleil) and Luca Paolini (Katusha) had all made the selection. However, they had very few domestique resources and this made them vulnerable to attacks.

Their remaining teammates responded to numerous accelerations inside the final 10km but when they passed the flamme rouge, they had nothing left in the tank. Mollema saw his chance and attacked strongly into the headwind while the peloton came to a virtual standstill.

The Belkin rider quickly opened up a big gap and the sprinters had to open a long sprint to get across. They failed in their quest, allowing Mollema to save Belkin's Vuelta with a great win. Boasson Hagen beat Richeze and Farrar in the sprint for the minor places.

Vincenzo Nibali and most of the riders from the top 10 had all stayed attentive and made the selection but Domenico Pozzovivo, Thibaut Pinot and Tanel Kangert (Astana) were all caught out. They finished in a big 2nd group 1.31 too late and while they all remained in the top 10, they lost precious time. Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) was the big winner as he moved into 5th on GC while Pozzovivo dropped to 6th.

Today's losers will get a chance for revenge on tomorrow's 18th stage which finishes with the steep 5,9km climb up Peña Cabarga. With an average gradient of 9,2% and sections of 20%, the brutal ascent has the potential to produce another shake-up of the GC.

Starting at 15.00 CEST you can follow the stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

One for the sprinters

The 189km 17th stage to Burgos was expected to offer the sprinters their final chance before the big showdown in Madrid but in the windy Burgos region, everybody knew that attention was required.

At the start of the race, a 21-rider group briefly escaped but Astana deemed it too big and reeled it back in. At the 3km mark, Adam Hansen (Lotto) and Francisco Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural) escaped and they were allowed to build up a 7-minute gap while they rode into a fierce headwind.

The chase gets organized

At the 18km mark, Lampre started to chase, hoping that Maximilano Richeze will be able to finally improve on his many places of honour. Luca Dodi worked on the front for some time but the gap kept growing and reached 8.10 at the 50km mark.

That was when Orica-GreenEDGE got to work for their sprinter Michael Matthews and the two team started to bring the gap down. Dodi, Winner Anacona (Lampre), Matteo Bono (Lampre) and Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEDGE) combined forces to gradually reel in the escapees.

The gap comes down

When they hit the bottom of the day's first categorized climb, the gap had been brought down to 3.10 but to save their sprinters, Lampre and Orica-GreenEDGE decided to take it easy on the slopes, allowing the advantage to grow back up to 4.30.

Hansen and Aramendia took most of the points on the top but there was still one point on offer. Knowing that his rival Daniele Ratto (Cannondale) was the superior sprinter, mountains leader Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) sent teammate Nico Sijmens up the road while the two main competitors marked each other closely in what looked like a sprinters' match on the track.

Sijmens takes the point

Sijmens crossed the line to pick up the final point and so there was nothing left for Ratto and Edet. After the descent the duo was reabsorbed by the peloton which had once again upped the pace and Sijmens followed suit a little later.

At the bottom of the 2nd climb, the gap had come down to 3.10 but this time there was no slowing down on the ascent. Meier and Anacona were joined by Diego Ulissi (Lampre) and they brought the gap down to 2.10. Once again Edet sent Sijmens up the road but when the mountains leader himself tried a move, Ratto was nowhere to be seen and so he bridged across to his teammate, taking the final point to bolster his lead.

Attack in the crosswinds

The duo fell back to the peloton while Dodi and Bono got back to the front. Once again Meier, Dodi, Bono and Anacona kept a fierce pace and the gap kept falling.

With 28km to go, Saxo-Tinkoff decided to attack in the crosswinds. Matteo Tosatto drove the pace and the peloton quickly split to pieces. Radioshack had stayed attentive and put Fabian Cancellara and Robert Kiserlovski on the front, the duo trying to keep Chris Horner safe near the front. The move quickly spelled the end for the early breakaway.

Saxo-Tinkoff try to maximize their gains

Katusha briefly hit the front with Dmitriy Kozontchuk but when they stopped their effort, the pace briefly dropped. Having been informed that Pozzovivo and Pinot had been dropped, Saxo-Tinkoff put Tosatto, Nicki Sørensen, Michael Mørkøv, Rafal Majka and Oliver Zaugg on the front and they combined forces to gradually increase their lead over the groups of dropped riders.

Behind two major groups had formed with Pinot and Pozzovivo being in the 3rd one which also contained sprinters Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE), Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Reinhardt Janse Van Rensburg (Argos-Shimano). Their three teams combined forces with FDJ and Ag2r in their quest to get back but the gap kept growing as Saxo-Tinkoff kept the pace high with occasional contributions from Imanol Erviti (Movistar) and Alessandro Vanotti (Lampre).

Astana take control

Vanotti led the peloton onto the final climb with 8km to go and he set a hard pace. However, Ulissi saw an opportunity to attack and the Lampre rider quickly opened up a 10-second gap. Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) was now driving the main group while riders kept dropping off. Disaster struck for Belkin when their sprinter Robert Wagner had a mechanical and fell out of contention.

On the descent, Cancellara took over and safely negotiated the many tricky corners. Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel) attacked an bridged across to Ulissi but when they hit the flat roads but they were reeled in by Johan Vansummeren (Garmin).

An aggressive finale

Vanotti launched an attack  while Vansummeren tried to keep everything under control for his sprinter Farrar. He got assistance from Manuele Mori who had ambitions for his sprinter Richeze. The Italian brought back Vanotti and also brought an end to an ill-fated attempt from Andriy Grivko (Astana).

When Mori had used up his last bit of energy, the pace dropped and so Majka hit the front to maximize Roche's time gains. Grivko tried another attack but Michele Scarponi who had just brought Richeze into position, closed it down.

Mollema makes his move

When the Lampre leader finished his job, the pace once again dropped as they passed the flamme rouge. Mollema saw his opportunity and last a perfectly timed attack into the headwind. The chase never got organized and so the Belkin rider took a beautiful solo win.

The 2nd and 3rd group had merged and Anthony Roux (FDJ) led the big bunch across the line with a time loss of 1.31 on what was a costly day for Pinot and Pozzovivo.

Result:

1. Bauke Mollema 4.44.28

2. Edvald Boasson Hagen

3. Maximilano Richeze

4. Tyler Farrar

5. Fabian Cancellara

6. Grega Bole

7. Luca Paolini

8. Paul Voss

9. Jose Herrada

10. Nicolas Roche

General classification:

1. Vincenzo Nibali 68.50.29

2. Chris Horner +0.28

3. Alejandro Valverde +1.14

4. Joaquim Rodriguez +2.29

5. Nicolas Roche +3.43

6. Domenico Pozzovivo +5.09

7. Thibaut Pinot +6.08

8. Leopold König +6.17

9. Samuel Sanchez +7.33

10. Tanel Kangert +10.52

Points classification:

1. Alejandro Valverde 119

2. Nicolas Roche 111

3. Daniel Moreno 98

4. Chris Horner 84

5. Joaquim Rodriguez 84

Mountains classification:

1. Nicolas Edet 37

2. Daniele Ratto 30

3. Chris Horner 22

4. Andre Cardoso 20

5. Nicolas Roche 19

Combination classification:

1. Chris Horner 9

2. Vincenzo Nibali 12

3. Nicolas Roche 12

4. Alejandro Valverde 18

5. Daniel Moreno 27

Teams classification:

1. Euskaltel 205.59.40

2. Astana +1.07

3. Movistar +1.26

4. Saxo-Tinkoff +8.36

5. Katusha +20.38