Roux holds off sprinters

Anthony Roux (Française des Jeux) defied expectations and the will of the peloton to take a thrilling victory on the Vuelta a España's 17th stage today in Talavera de la Reina. As a member of a day long, five-man breakaway Roux finished mere meters ahead of a stampeding peloton.

Roux's perfectly timed victory saw him bridge across to fellow breakaway Martijn Maaskant, before leaving the Garmin rider behind with 500m to ride. The 22-year-old Frenchman led sprinters William Bonnet (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) and André Greipel (Columbia-HTC) across the line.

"We [the breakaway] started attacking each other with 5 kilometres to go. I saw the opportunity to get across to Maaskant. I rested behind him for a moment and then, with 500m to go, I gave it everything I could. I am very happy," said Roux immediately after his win.

On another flat, hot stage through the centre of Spain there was no change to the general classification, despite a moment of drama for contenders Robert Gesink (Rabobank) and Eziquiel Mosquera (Xacobeo Galicia). The two were involved in a pile-up in the peloton with 75 kilometres remaining in the stage. Despite the scare, both riders were able to rejoin the peloton and keep a hold on their positions overall.

At the end of the day Alejandro Valverde maintained his 31 second advantage over Robert Gesink (Rabobank). Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) has his hands on third place, 1:10 back from his compatriot. After three days of transition the Vuelta will return to the hills and the opportunities for Valverde's rivals will resume.

For Anthony Roux however, there's unlikely to be a categorised climb on Friday's route that will wipe the grin from his face. Roux's victory today is by far and away the biggest of his career and, thanks to the brave exploits of their young charge, Française des Jeux can now cross 'Grand Tour victory' off their 2009 to-do list.

Long, flat and a little bit dangerous

Today the peloton was set to journey from the city of Ciudad Real to Talavera de la Reina. Again, a relatively flat course was on the menu with wide, smooth Spanish roads paving the way north into the heart of the country.

Vacansoleil's Jens Mouris was one of the first two riders to attack today, as he and Markel Irizar (Euskaltel-Euskadi) went up the road after three kilometres of the 193 that the peloton would face. Unfortunately for the Dutchman the subsequent group was the one that stuck. Mouris could take solace in the fact that his teammate, Lieuwe Westra, was attentive and joined the counter attack.

Westra would thus be joined for the day by Irizar, Francisco José Martínez (Andalucía-Cajasur), Anthony Roux (Française des Jeux) and Martijn Maaskant (Garmin-Slipstream). Their gap shifted up towards seven minutes after 25 kilometres.

The teams behind did exhibit a level of caution as they policed the gap to a minute for each of the five leaders by the 50 kilometre mark. This five minute advantage was where it would stay for much of the day.

As innocuous as the stage profile seemed, there was a dramatic reminder for the peloton of the danger as these transitional stages can present. With 75 kilometres-to-go a crash in the bunch saw riders from Cofidis, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Xacobeo-Galicia and Contentpolis-AMPO lying on the deck. Caught up in the accident were overall contenders: Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo Galicia) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank).

Both Gesink and Mosquera each made visits to the race doctor. Despite cuts and bruises both were able to quickly re-integrate with the majority, but they had been only too rudely reminded of the threat that a twitchy, fatigued peloton could present their chances of a high finish, on Sunday in Madrid.

The gap didn't drop as swiftly as it has on previous stages and the peloton took 23 kilometres to draw the leaders back to 3:40. Then, the gap began to grow again; with 30 kilometres remaining the five in front had 4:10.

The main group redoubled their efforts and 15 kilometres later they had cut the time check in half. As Spanish winds whipped across the race, the peloton began to echelon on the wide two lane roads that were leading them into the finish. There was another crash at the back of the peloton; two Xacobeo riders payed an impromptu visit to a local field, but the damage done was to pride more than anything else.

I see red, I see red, I see red

With 10 kilometres to go the leaders owned one kilometre of Spanish real estate.Unfortunately, their neighbours on the road were staging an aggressive invasion. Three kilometres later the gap was down to 43 seconds.

Maaskant (Garmin) was the first to break the continuity of the leading group five kilometres from home. With the gloves off, the impetus in the lead group began to falter as Liquigas organised themselves on the front of the peloton behind.

With a downhill run into the Talavera de la Reina, the breakaway had gravity in their favour. The pace with which the gap to the peloton dropped was stalled by a two kilometre downhill run, before the flat roads turned to the advantage of the peloton once more.

Consternation in the breakaway saw Maaskant again shoot away from the breakaway as the three kilometre-to-go banner fluttered overhead. With the gap to the peloton pegged at 17 seconds, Maaskant was joined 1.5 kilometres later by breakaway companion Anthony Roux (Française des Jeux).

Roux gathered his thoughts as he cruised for a moment on the Garmin rider's rear wheel. Not satisfied with the Frenchman's approach, Maaskant slowed the pace, forcing Roux to emerge. A feign from Roux on the left-hand side of the road was followed by Maaskant's final burst. Exhausted after 187 kilometres on the attack the Dutchman could only watch as Roux came around him and entered the final 500m with a rapidly shrinking advantage over a fast-closing peloton.

Roux transferred whatever energy was left in his body to the pedals as the mass of the peloton grew bigger by the metre. Finally, with 50 metres-to-go, it was clear that the Française des Jeux rider had done just enough. His left hand was raised wearily off the bars to signify his win, but only after he crossed the line.

A bike length back William Bonnet (BBox Bougyues Telecom) finished a similar margin ahead of points leader André Greipel (Columbia-HTC).