Froome suffers bad day to give Nibali renewed hope

Just when it looked all over. On a difficult day at the Vuelta a Espana Chris Froome shipped 42 seconds to his nearest rival, Vincenzo Nibali, on the final climb of the 17th stage.

It allowed the Italian back into the race and set up the prospect of a grandstand finale on the fearsome Alto de l’angliru on Saturday. Froome, who is striving to become the first British winner of the Vuelta and the first rider of any nationality to win it straight after winning the Tour de France, laboured up to the summit of Alto de Los Machucos, a vicious 7.3km climb in Cantabria which was making its grand tour debut.

From 1min 58sec at the start of the day, his lead over Nibali now stands at 1:16. Still a very healthy margin but far less comfortable. More significantly, perhaps, Froome showed his rivals that he was vulnerable. The Angliru is reckoned by some to be the toughest climb in the world and Nibali will approach it with renewed optimism, having fallen back on Tuesday’s time trial to Logrono.

Yesterday Froome said he may well have paid for his efforts the previous day, when he put 57sec into Nibali. “We always knew today’s final was going to be a really tough climb and it certainly was,” he said.

Up ahead of Froome, it was a famous day for Irish team Aqua Blue Sport, who are making their grand tour debut.

Last week they were reeling from an arson attack which destroyed their team bus. Yesterday they were celebrating as unheralded Austrian rider Stefan Denifl managed to hold off Alberto Contador to win their first grand tour stage.