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Frank wins Vuelta stage 17 as Froome and Quintana duel it out

Xinhua, September 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

The 29-year-old Swiss rider Matias Frank claimed victory on a scorching hot day which made life even tougher for the riders in the 17th stage of the Vuelta de Espana (Tour of Spain) cycle race.

Coming after Tuesday's rest day, Wednesday's 177 kilometer stage came with a sting in the tail on a day with temperatures again over 35 degrees centigrade.

The final climb up the Alto Mas de la Costa took the riders up a 4 kilometer climb, which saw them ascend almost 500 meters with some stretches of the road having a gradient of over 20 percent and to make it even tougher the final stages were over a bumpy concrete road rather than asphalt.

The stage victory was fought out by the members of a 26-man breakaway which opened p a six minute lead of the peloton and Matias Frank (IAM Cycling) was the strongest in what developed into a slog with the riders climbing at barely above walking pace.

Frank was able to hold off the challenge of Robert Gesink (Lotto) and Leopold Konig (Sky) up a torturous last kilometer.

Konig finished second and Gesink third, but the main battle was down the road as Chris Froome looked to chip some time from overall leader Nairo Quintana's 3.37 advantage.

Froome again found himself without any support from his Sky team-mates on the final climb, while Quintana's task was made much easier by the presence of several companions from his Movistar outfit.

Quintana and Emanuel Chaves were first to break clear with Alberto Contador to open a gap on Froome, but the British rider produced a huge effort to finally cross the line with the other three riders to ensure Quintana didn't further extend his lead ahead of stage 18 on Thursday. Endit