The 161 riders who finished stage 18 of La Vuelta 2017 also tackled stage 19 from Caso. Parque Natural de Redes. Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), Juanjo Lobato (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Laurens De Vreese (Astana) launched the first attack and were quickly joined by 16 riders, including the wearers of the Polka dot jersey, Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), and the Green jersey, Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors). The first climb of the day saw a counter-attack go after them with Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale). After 60km, 27 riders were leading the way.
The peloton let them go and the gap rose up to 17'40” after 120km. Astana, leader of the team classification, then decided to up the tempo while attacks were tearing the breakaway in pieces. 33km away from the finish line, Ivan Garcia Cortina went alone. He built a 1' lead on the way to the last climb of the day but Romain Bardet joined him at the summit, with 15km to go.
First Nicolas Roche and Rui Costa, then Jarlinson Pantano, Floris De Tier, Bob Jungels, Dani Navarro and Thomas De Gendt caught them on the rundown to Gijon, where De Gendt dominated the sprint. The downhill also allowed the bunch to get back to Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) with 2.5km to go after another attack from the Spanish climber. Chris Froome (Team Sky) retains the red jersey on the eve of the climb up the mighty Alto de l'Angliru.
