Bad luck in the Basque country as UAE Team Emirates’ Fabio Aru crashes on stage 17

UAE Team Emirates’ leader Fabio Aru was dealt another hand of bad luck in Spain after crashing on a decent during Stage 17 of La Vuelta. His misfortune struck with only 10kms left of the race remaining, leaving little opportunity to recover from the fall. The crash caused the Italian rider to lose more time on his GC rivals, eventually crossing the finish line 14:14” behind the race winner Michael Woods (EF Education First Drapac p/b Cannondale) who completed the challenging course is 4:09:48”.

The stage was a fast and furious affair played out in an archetypical Basque landscape full of mountainous terrain. The peloton started in Getxo and wound its way round 157 kilometres of climbs before finishing with a brutal 11%, 3.9km ascent up Balcón de Bizkaia. The course suited Aru’s strengths and came at a time when the 2017 Italian National Champion was experiencing some good form following an early season that was beset by bad luck; Aru entered the Vuelta with high hopes of success, but was once again the victim of misfortune when he crashed in stage 2 and lost too much time to feasibly contest a podium finish in the Tour of Spain. Today’s set back saw Aru drop down to 18th position in the GC Classification, however he has been cleared by the team doctor to continue with the remaining four stages.

Commenting on the crash Aru said: “”I would like this be an end to my back in 2018. I took an impact to my lower back, which worries me, as well as the pain. We were descending at 70 km/h and it could have been a lot worse. I apologise for how I reacted after the crash but with adrenaline was running, I was aching and you lose the control sometimes. I hope to recover quickly. We’ll see tomorrow morning, it depends on how I get through the night“.

Tomorrow’s stage 18 is one for the fast finishers, as the peloton travels south east from Ejea de los Caballeros to Lleida on a route that has no ascents and is just 186.1kms long. The final run in features a few technical sections and a number of roundabouts before it takes a 90degrees right hand turn with 1km to go. This will be the signal for the lead out riders to put in their final efforts before the power men come to the front and contest an aggressive bunch sprint to the line.