Froome loses time in brutal Spanish Vuelta climb
LOS MACHUCOS, Spain — Chris Froome lost some of his Spanish Vuelta lead in a brutal climb that challenged riders in a 17th stage won by Stefan Denifl of Austria on Wednesday.
Canadian Michael Woods finished seventh in the stage and rose three spots to seventh in the overall standings.
Froome, coming off a comfortable time-trial victory on Tuesday, was struggling as he rode up the steep Los Machucos hill at the end of the 180.5-kilometre stage.
The Tour de France winner finished 14th and lost 42 seconds of his overall lead, which now stands at one minute 16 seconds over Vincenzo Nibali of Italy. Wilco Kelderman of the Netherlands is third, more than two minutes behind Froome.