Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe), winner of the second week in Alicante and Oviedo on the Spanish backside, was looking for his third stage win when he entered an epic, day-long breakaway on stage 17 to Guadalajara on Wednesday.

The Irishman, however, fell for Diesling-Quick Step's brilliant maneuver, with all but one team member in the breakaway and Philippe Gilbert in great form.

"It was Diseuninck against us," Bennett told Cycling News outside the team bus 30 minutes later as they passed the last kilometer of one of the toughest "transition" stages in recent Grand Tour history.

After Zaydenek Stybar took over solo with 2.2km to go, Ineos shut things down but not before finishing the job, and with about 600m to go, Bennett had a similar development to his second win in Oviedo.

It could have worked, but instead, after a particularly tough stage, Gilbert crossed his path and ended up beating Bennett for his second win.

"In the final they set up a one-two and everyone was looking at me.

"I had to attack and attack hard so no one could hold on to my wheels to make a gap or hold on.

"But Gilbert is a former world champion and one of the best riders in the world. Especially in a final like that."

"When I got the gap and I looked back and saw it was him, I was like, 'Oh, give me a break except for this guy,'" he recalled with a chuckle.

"Then he caught me with 300 to go and came over the top and I watched him drive off."

Bennett echoed the sentiments of many in the Vuelta a España peloton, saying that the 220-km stage, which averaged over 50 km/h, was like nothing he had ever experienced.

"I've been in echelon in the wind before in stage races like Qatar, but never on a stage that long. I got into the lead group right away, but I thought, "There's no way this is going to last all day."

"I was in the lead group for the whole day.

"A couple of hours later I was still there, but I blew up a lot in that race. It was a super hard day."