Daniel Teklehaimanot got close to the first ever grand tour stage victory for MTN-Qhubeka when he joined the break that nearly stayed away in stage 17 of the Vuelta a Espana. The Eritrean was pleased with his performance on a hard day that saw him average more than 300 watts.

John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) won the sprint on the 17th stage of the Vuelta a Espana. The German sprinter beat Michael Matthews (Orica-Grenedge) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) after a technical run in to the line, that included a cobbled section of road which ended with just 3km to go. GC contender Sergio Pardilla was the highest placed rider for MTN-Qhubeka in 33rd position.

Being the stage after the 2nd rest day, many thought there was a chance that the break could make it to the finish today. That was nearly the case as Degenkolb only came round the last of the escapees with less than a kilometer to go. This escape group was made up of 5 riders, Bob Jungles (Trek Factory Racing), Rohan Dennis (BMC), Luis Mas Bonet (Caja Rural), Elia Favilli (Lampre-Merida) and  Daniel Teklehaimanot from the African team.

With Degenkolb desperately wanting the points on offer at the finish today, Giant Shimano kept the break on a short leash throughout the stage. The strength of Teklehaimanot and the rest of his breakaway companions had still allowed them to muscle out a 4 minute advantage during the course of the stage. At one point it looked pretty promising for the break but in the final 20km’s Omega Pharma Quickstep and Team Sky decided to assist Giant-Shimano which resulted in Teklehaimanot and co. being caught.

"It was another good hard day in the break," Teklehaimanot said. "The peloton did not want us to get away but we worked quite well together and got a lead. I averaged over 300 watts for the whole stage so that shows how hard we had to ride in the break today. I am happy with my performance of today even though we couldn't make it to the finish.

“I didn’t cramp. I felt good after the rest day yesterday when I had sore legs. We rode well together. Unfortunately for me, there were attacks at the end.

"It was planned to have a MTN rider in the front group today. I believed we could make it with three minutes lead 60km before the end. I’d like to try and do it again in the mountains before the end but I’m very tired and it’ll be difficult.”