158 riders tackled the last stage of La Vuelta 2017 from Arroyomolinos. The first part of the day was the opportunity for Chris Froome and Team Sky to celebrate the overall win. As a tribute to his career, Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) was travelling slightly ahead of the bunch as the race entered Madrid in his last day as a professional rider. The battle was on as soon as the bunch crossed the line for the first time, with 45km to go.
Team Sky were the first in action, trying to take away the points from the intermediate sprint to ensure Chris Froome would also wear the Green Jersey on the final podium, in addition to the Red (overall winner) and the White (combined). The British rider went for the sprint but he couldn't match Matteo Trentin's (Quick-Step Floors) speed.
Alessandro De Marchi (BMC), Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) and Nicholas Schultz (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) went on the move with 30km to go and opened a 15” gap with the bunch led by Quick-Step Floors, Aqua Blue Sport and LottoNL-Jumbo.
Schultz was caught with 8km to go and the last two attackers at the front were swallowed just ahead of the last lap. With a perfect lead-out from Quick-Step Floors, Matteo Trentin easily dominated the sprint. But with Chris Froome taking the 11th place, the Italian sprinter couldn't go past the British overall rider in the points classification.
