Stage 11 | Lorca / Observatorio Astronómico de Calar Alto | Vuelta a España 2017

Rain and cold once again dominated proceedings at the Vuelta a España as Miguel Angel Lopez, the young Colombian nicknamed ‘Superman’, won stage eleven at Observatorio Astronómico de Calar Alto. It ended with a brutal climb, in driving wind and rain, with Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali duking it out for second, a battle that Froome won to consolidate his overall lead.

It was a bad day for the Yates brothers, Adam and Simon, and their Orica-Scott leader, Esteban Chaves. Nibali now looks like Froome’s most dangerous rival. Ominously, his teammate, Franco Pellizotti, told The Cycling Podcast that “our Vuelta started today.”

Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Fran Reyes analyse the day’s events and we also hear from Max Sciandri, the sports director at Nicolas Roche’s BMC team. Roche also had a bad day, suffering in the cold and dropping from second to eleventh overall.

The Cycling Podcast is supported by Rapha and Science in Sport.