Vuelta Photo Essay: Contador attacks; Froome defends; Lopez emerges

Matteo Trentin went on the attack over the final climb, looking for the stage win and furthering his lead in the points jersey competition. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Matteo Trentin opened the second week with a bang, taking the stage win for Quick-Step Floors — giving the team four stage wins so far in the 2017 Vuelta a España. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Nicolas Roche was the opportunist on stage 10, sneaking away on the 17km descent into the finish and taking back time along with a jump up the overall standings to third. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Stage 11 was the second day in a row of rain for the Vuelta, which is more accustomed to searing heat and dry conditions. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Rare rainy days at the Vuelta brought out some riders on the attack, such as Julian Alaphilippe. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

The Spanish fans were out in force on the mountain roads for their national race. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Miguel Angel Lopez made his move and went clear of Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali in search of the stage win. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Chris Froome has stamped his authority all over this Vuelta, from the start in Nimes all the way through two weeks of racing. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Former Vuelta champion Fabio Aru has had a challenging race thus far and is seemingly unable to find his top form, but he’s certainly still in the mix day after day. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Esteban Chavez has battled for the podium every day in this Vuelta a España. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Miguel Angel Lopez brought home stage win No. 2 for the Astana Pro Team at the Observatorio Astronomico de Calar Alto. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Chris Froome led home his top rivals Vincenzo Nibali and Wilco Kelderman atop the finish at Observatorio Astronomico de Calar Alto. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Davide Villella made his way up the final climb still hanging onto his lead in the king of the mountains competition. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Chris Froome has enjoyed his best Vuelta a España so far, essentially leading since stage 3 in Andorra. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

After the odd bit of rain over two days, the Vuelta resumed with more typical temperatures in the 90s and stunning coastline views. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Tomasz Marczynski left his breakaway companions behind to take his second stage win of this Vuelta a España. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

An epic effort that yielded an incredible second stage win for Tomasz Marczynski ultimately brought the rider to the floor in exhaustion. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

In his classic attacking style, Alberto Contador used the unassuming category 2 climb before the finish to leave the favorites behind and take back some much needed time. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

On a day that saw Alberto Contador on the attack looking for valuable seconds, Chris Froome had a day of mishaps and lost time due to two separate crashes in the last 50 km. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Chris Froome has thanked his teammates repeatedly throughout this Vuelta for their work and support. He was even more indebted to them after double crashes on stage 12 saw him lose time to the favorites but not his overall lead, in part to the sacrifice of his teammates. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

The media swarmed Alberto Contador after the finish, looking for the quote of the day and how the Spaniard was feeling after his aggressive finish of stage 12. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Chris Froome took the top step of the podium despite being bloodied and battered from crashes. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Two weeks in and Dani Navarro popped into the barber shop for a quick trim before the start of stage 13. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Italian Davide Villella has successfully defended his lead in the king of the mountains competition through two weeks of racing. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

The peloton traversed the rolling terrain of mountains and valleys on stage 13 toward the finish in Tomares. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Matteo Trentin brought home the bunch sprint to take stage win No. 3 for the Italian. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

In the Vuelta, the riders expect extreme heat on most of the stages and are as quick to drench themselves as they are to drink the water. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Rafal Majka attacked on his own, looking for redemption with a stage win at Sierra de la Pandera. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali tried their hand at putting Chris Froome and the others into difficulty on the final climb to Sierra de la Pandera. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

With 500 meters to go, Rafal Majka crested solo on his way to his first stage win of the 2017 Vuelta a España. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

After seeing his GC hopes vanish early in the race due to illness, Rafal Majka bounced back to seize a solo stage win on the hors category finish at Sierra de la Pandera. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Chris Froome showed his confidence and poise again by keeping all his important rivals in sight and not losing any time to those that mattered. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Wout Poels has been Chris Froome’s ace in the hole, guiding him through all the mountain stages and managing to maintain his top-10 overall. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

The cycling world had its eye on Chris Froome as he entered the last week of racing in search of the coveted Tour-Vuelta double. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Colombian fans are always out in force at La Vuelta for their climbing heroes. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

The favorites group neared two kilometers remaining under the control of Mikel Nieve from Team Sky. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Miguel Angel Lopez attacked in the final kilometers looking for a second stage win and also emerging as a podium contender in Madrid. Photo: Iri Greco / BrakeThrough Media | www.brakethroughmedia.com

Ilnur Zakarin put in a late attack to grab some time and jump into third overall as the second week came to a close on the top of Sierra Nevada. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Alberto Contador made a valiant attempt on the final ascent of the Sierra Nevada but it was all in vain as he was caught and ultimately dropped by the Froome group in the final kilometers of the climb. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com

Chris Froome reached the end of two weeks of racing in control of the Vuelta. Photo: Jim Fryer / BrakeThrough Media | brakethroughmedia.com