sutty68 wrote:
Cannot believe that Kittel held on to his lead after a stage like that
Yeah, it is quite amazing but I guess we'll have to live with this AI...
jt1109 wrote:
Just caught up with this story after being a reader many pages ago and still love the concept, can't imagine how Dupont and Weening are still going strong though those guys were brilliant at the start of the story but it is nice to see them still up there.
It has only been 3-4 years since they were the strongest riders in the field, so it is not that surprising that they are still hanging around...
If yesterday was a mini Liege today we have a mini Tour de Flanders. The last stage of the Eneco Tour goes from Tienen to the Muur der Geraardsbergen, a finish in one of the most mythical places of cycling. The Muur will be climbed to the top twice before tackling the Bosberg both times. Even if today could be hard Marcel Kittel should have it easier than yesterday, when he got much closer to winning the overall classification of the Eneco Tour.
The riders had to withstand a lot of rain in the first part of the stage but the weather was clearing by the time when they reached the first intermediate sprint in the Bosberg (85 kilometers to go). A group of 7 was ahead, including David Millar (Vacansoleil), Lars Bak (Cannondale), Steven Kruijswijk (Belkin) and Stefan van Dijk (HTC). The main bunch is losing 5' 30'' led by Quickstep, who could be working either for Cameron Meyer in the GC or Johan Vansummeren for the stage.
The second intermediate sprint was placed in the short hill of the Tenbosse. The gap of the break was still 4' 30'' with 47 kilometers remaining. Andre Greipel easily won the sprint ahead of Tyler Farrar and Tony Gallopin. Euskaltel was now setting the pace at the front of the main bunch but the stage has been quite easy on the riders so far. It looks like no one is willing to take Marcel Kittel away from the leader's jersey.
The break had increased the gap at the second climb of the Muur (25 kilometers to go) to 5' 20''. It looked like the stage would be for one of the men in the break at this point. The pace was rather quiet in the peloton until Ben Swift attacked shortly before the climb to the Muur. However, even if the British is willing to have a battle he is not very able in the cobbles or the hills.
Tom Boonen did a much more serious attack in the Bosberg with 20 kilometers to go and even though he could not open a gap himself he triggered a break in the main bunch that left Lloyd Mondory and Yauheni Hutarovich behind. Even though there are not many cobbles in the route they are taking a toll in those riders that are less used to riding on them.
The first important attack among the riders in the break happened when it was already clear that they would be fighting for the stage. With 8 kilometers remaining Lars Bak had opened a tiny gap of 12 seconds over the rest of the group but they were struggling to close it. He is the best cobbler in the break, so if he reaches the last cobbled hill ahead it could well be decisive. Ben Swift tried to attack again in the main bunch but was once again unsuccessful.
Discovery Channel set a higher pace in the last kilometers of the stage to bring Marcel Kittel perfectly positioned to the last cobbled hill of the race. It is already very difficult that someone steals the overall win from the German given that the bonus seconds will be going to the break. This was a quite clever move by the American team with a very tight GC.
Lars Bak was finally caught by the rest of the riders in the break and with two kilometers remaining the final battle started. The first rider to start the attacks was David Millar but Stefan van Dijk swiftly followed the British. Maxim Iglinskiy and Steven Kruijswijk were right behind. It is very difficult to predict who is going to be the strongest in the cobbled slightly uphill finish in Geraardsbergen.
Stefan van Dijk overtakes David Millar already within the last kilometer and looks good for the stage win. However, Steven Kruijswijk is looking increasingly dangerous as he comes from behind ahead of Iglinskiy. Lars Bak and Ramunas Navardauskas were the most tired riders in the group and have already lost contact with the rest. Meanwhile, Tom Boonen has tried again a late attack similar to the one that gave him the win in Vorst.
Stefan van Dijk wins in Geraardsbergen! A much needed win for HTC as the team had only relied in the stage wins of Jose Joaquin Rojas so far this season. The Dutch had been completely anonymous so far this season but this win was more than what he expected to achieve this season. The second place in the stage was for David Millar ahead of Steven Kruijswijk and Maxim Iglinskiy.
Marcel Kittel was so strong in this race that he even managed to win the sprint of the main bunch and state clearly that he is a deserving winner of the Eneco Tour. The German will be surrounded in the podium by Rui Costa and Cameron Meyer. The Portuguese would have probably won the race if there had been no bonus seconds awarded. Another rider worth mentioning is the Italian Francesco Gavazzi; he finished in the top 10 in his rookie year.
The second Grand Tour this year will be the Vuelta a España. The Spanish race will again have the top climbers as its route is very focused in the mountains. There are countless mountain top or hill top finishes in the 3 weeks of racing that start in Galicia. One of the most representative stages will probably be the finish in the French ski resort of Peyragudes, replicating the same stage that we saw in the Tour this year, including Bales, Peyresourde and Peyragudes.
However, the decisive stage is planned to be the penultimate. On the last Saturday of the race the finish will be placed at the top of the Angliru, the iconic mountain in Asturias. Contrary to what we saw in the Tour de France the time trials should be far from important in the overall result. The only stage that is an ITT is the 11th in Tarazona and it includes the climb to the Moncayo, so not exactly a stage for the specialists.
The complete podium from last year, Bauke Mollema, Mikel Nieve and Hubert Dupont, will be at the start although the strong man for Belkin will probably be Rob Ruijgh, the winner of the last Giro d'Italia. A Spaniard has never won the Vuelta in this story so far and the locals will probably be relying mostly in David Lopez apart from Mikel Nieve.
Favorites:
- Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil - DMC): Everyone seems to have grown used to Bauke Mollema being the biggest favorite lately whenever a Grand Tour starts. However, the Dutch failed to renew his win in the Tour de France this year and will also be defending his crown in Spain. His main rivals will probably be quite different in Spain, as there are nowhere near as many time trial kilometers as in the Tour.
- David Lopez (Euskaltel - Euskadi): A crash close to Peyragudes ruined the chances of David Lopez of a top 10 result in the Tour, so hopefully he will not remember it when the Vuelta reaches the French ski resort. As a Spaniard Lopez will have an extra motivation to do well and he has already won the Volta a Catalunya in Spain this year.
- Andy Schleck (Omega Pharma - Quickstep): Quickstep has not really had a good season in terms of stage races, as Johan Vansummeren and Cameron Meyer are the best riders for the team so far. However, Andy Schleck skipped the Tour de France to be better prepared for the Vuelta. His best result of the year was a 4th place in Liege so he should improve his performances.
- Frank Schleck (Radioshack - Leopard): Andy's brother will be the last of the top picks to win the Vuelta. The Radioshack rider has been rather disappointing in the mountains this season, especially compared to his performances in previous years. His contract finishes at the end of the season and that is usually a good incentive to perform.
Other important riders at the start line in Galicia will be Juan Jose Cobo (Sky Procycling), Mikel Nieve (Discovery Channel), Rob Ruijgh (Belkin Pro Cycling), Peter Stetina (BMC Racing), Denis Menchov (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto - Belisol).
The sprinters that should shine in Spain include Tyler Farrar (Team Saxo - Tinkoff), Ben Swift (Sky Procycling), Marcel Kittel (Discovery Channel), Jose Joaquin Rojas (HTC - Highroad), Yauheni Hutarovich (Lampre - Merida) and Kenny van Hummel (Belkin Pro Cycling).
As it has been happening in the recent years, the Vuelta a España starts with a team time trial. This year it will be quite longer than the one we witnessed last year as its 27 kilometers could well open significant gaps between the race favorites. The opening stage takes place in Galicia, in the Northwest of the country, a region that is quite hilly. However, the route today will run along the coast and does not present significant difficulties for the riders.
The first team to start today was Saxo - Tinkoff. With riders like Tiago Machado, Rui Costa and Michael Rogers in the team they should be close to the top places in the stage. They don't have a good rider for the GC but Tiago Machado will be dangerous in the many uphill finishes of the race. Their final time in the finish line was 36' 51''.
BMC was the second among the favorites to start and they were slightly disappointing. The American team set the best time in the intermediate point only to finish in the provisional 2nd place with the same time as Saxo Bank. A team including Van Garderen and Pinotti that had won the only team time trial of the season had been widely expected to be ahead of Saxo - Tinkoff.
Many of the favorites for the stage started quite early, as Quickstep was also in the road very early. Even without Cameron Meyer the Belgian team was outstanding and improved the best time so far by 10 seconds. This will give a big push to Andy Schleck and Denis Menchov in their bid to be in the top spots of the Vuelta but there were a few strong teams yet to complete the stage today.
Movistar had a very weird time trial; they set the best time when they crossed the intermediate point only to end up losing 18 seconds in the finish line compared to Quickstep. It was a slightly disappointing performance for the Spaniard team, as they were riding at home and were supposed to do well. Nevertheless, Cadel Evans is in a good position in the GC to start the race.
The HTC season has been not up to par and today they could not start to fix it. However, it was not a bad time trial for the American team, who set the provisional 4th time in the finish line only 16 seconds behind the leaders. Andrew Talansky will be their leader for the race and he has stated that he would at least like to go back home with the young best rider jersey.
Radioshack had in mind trying to lose as little time as possible in the opening stage in the Vuelta as they don't have a particularly strong team for the time trial. They managed to set a not too bad time, 9th provisionally, 29 seconds behind Quickstep. Frank Schleck will start with a bit of a disadvantage but nothing that cannot be recovered in the mountains.
Euskaltel was in an even weaker position than Radioshack today but the Spaniard team did great given the potential of the team and matched Radioshack's time at the finish line. They had already lost 18 seconds in the intermediate point but recovered in the second part of the time trial. David Lopez, who has surprisingly not raced since the Clasica de San Sebastian, will be more than happy with his teammates.
The last important team to start today was Vacansoleil, where Bauke Mollema is the soul of the squad. The Dutch team were not massive favorites to take the stage win but managed to finish in a more than decent 4th place 10 seconds behind Quickstep. That leaves Mollema a mere 10 seconds behind in the GC, the amount of bonus seconds you get for a stage win.
The winners of the day are therefore Omega Pharma - Quickstep, not really a surprise given the very strong team that they have brought to the Vuelta. The first leader of the race will be Denis Menchov. The Russian has had a very bad season so far and maybe wearing the leader's jersey for a few days can give him the confidence that he seems to be lacking.
Marcel Kittel has been the sensation of the last month of racing. The German sprinter unexpectedly won the Eneco Tour after gaining enough bonus seconds in the first few stages and maintaining his lead in the difficult stage in La Redoute. Kittel had already had a good Tour de France but he could not convert his good form into wins in the Grand Boucle. With his good Eneco Tour he is now gone up to the second place in terms of wins in the season, as he had also won a stage in Paris - Nice.
This season has been clearly his best so far but his breakthrough season was undoubtedly last year. He managed to get his first professional win in the Tour de Pologne and got podiums in the Vattenfall Cyclassics and the Tour Down Under. The German was quite lucky when he arrived in the Discovery Channel team, as they were the best team of the World Tour at that point and they did not have a sprinter. That meant that Kittel had several of the best riders in the World to help him in the sprints.
It will be interesting to see if Discovery Channel manages to retain Marcel Kittel for the future, as the German is in his last year of his contract and there are a few teams interesting in hiring him. It would be very interesting for any team to have who will probably be at the end of the season the best sprinter in the World if Ben Swift does not manage to make an impression in the Vuelta a España.
The 2014 Vuelta a España is plagued with mountain top or hill top finishes, so the riders will get the first taste of the flavor in stage 2. The route of the stage is fairly simple as the riders will go through the coastline of Galicia for the whole day, a flat route only broke by the Alto de San Cosme halfway through the stage and the final climb to the Monte da Groba.
The break of the day had a hard time settling ahead, as a few teams did not like the idea in the first kilometers of the race. That early efforts and the awful weather today could well give some riders a hard time later in the stage. The group of 5 riders was: Alexandre Vinokourov (Sky), Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Ag2r), Greg van Avermaet (Vacansoleil), Pavel Brutt (Katusha) and Tom Boonen (Saxo - Tinkoff). They had a gap of 5' 30'' at the top of the Alto de San Cosme, where Van Avermaet took the points.
The intermediate sprint of the day took place shortly after the climb to San Cosme, in the town of Salvaterra do Miño (84 kilometers to go). Tom Boonen took the points in the front group with more difficulties than expected while in the main bunch it was Simone Ponzi who won the sprint ahead of Tony Gallopin and Yauheni Hutarovich. There had been a few crashes due to the bad weather today, including one affecting Andrew Talansky but the American had no trouble rejoining the main bunch.
The flat part of the stage before the Monte da Groba was not really interesting but as soon as they were climbing the attacks started. In the break it was Pavel Brutt and Alexander Vinokourov who opened a small gap of 20 seconds on the rest of the group with 8 kilometers remaining. However, the main bunch was only 45 seconds behind being led by Lotto, Belkin and BMC.
Jelle Vanendert was the first relevant name to attack in the main bunch. The Lotto rider did it at the same time that the break riders were being caught, with 4 kilometers remaining. However, Tejay van Garderen was working at the front of the bunch and quickly closed the gap to the Belgian. It seems clear that BMC's rider for the Vuelta is Peter Stetina and that he will be enjoying the work of the Tour's winner. However, even though the pace is high there are lots of riders still in the main group.
A stronger attack than Vanendert's followed. This time it was a group of three riders (Bauke Mollema, Denis Menchov and Simon Gerrans) that opened a gap and reached the last 2 kilometers with a gap of 15 seconds. However, they were not working well together and the Australian attacked again. On the main group it was Vanendert and Van Garderen doing the chasing.
Simon Gerrans tried to open a gap but Bauke Mollema followed him easily as they entered the last kilometer of the stage. Denis Menchov was not able to respond to that attack and was losing 10 seconds, while the main bunch was 25 seconds behind. The main group was already starting the final sprint for the win led by Tejay van Garderen, Hubert Dupont, Mikel Nieve and Jelle Vanendert).
Bauke Mollema wins in Monte da Groba! The Dutch had responded easily to Gerrans' attack and he then left him behind in the last kilometer. However, the riders from the main bunch were quick and no time differences were awarded. Two Spaniards followed Mollema across the line: Mikel Nieve and David Lopez. There were no time differences in the finish line but Mollema has shown that he is keen to defend his crown.
The top 5 of the stage was completed by Frank Schleck and Jelle Vanendert, while the leader, Denis Menchov, was 6th to retain the red jersey. Only two riders are tied with him in the GC now: his teammate Andy Schleck and Bauke Mollema. A big group held on with the favorites in the Monte da Groba but the last push for the win meant that only 32 riders were awarded the same time at the end, with the following group losing around 1 minute.
Mollema also won an uphill finish in the Tour, but in the end he got beaten fair and square by Tejay so no need to panic for now about another dominant win for him.
The UCI has taken advantage of the interest in cycling these days due to the start of the Vuelta a España to announce a new structure of teams from 2015. The 18 teams from the World Tour will be joined by 3 Professional Continental teams next year. The three structures that have won the bidding process to become members are:
FDJ.fr Team Giant - Shimano Orica - GreenEDGE
A few new riders will be also featuring next year as rookies, including:
Jan Bakelants
Rafal Majka
Romain Bardet
Arthur Vichot
Sep Vanmarcke
Zdenek Stybar
The third stage presents an opportunity for the uphill finishers. This is the second uphill finish in three days in Spain so far, get used to it because it is going to be the flavor of the race. Today's stage runs again through the coastline of Galicia and is again very flat. The finish line will be placed at the top of the Mirador de Lobeira.
Quickstep was again reluctant to let a big group form in the front of the race and the break of the day had only 4 riders: Xavi Tondo (Lampre), Miguel Rubiano (Ag2r), Geraint Thomas (HTC) and Ben Hermans (Discovery). They had built a gap of 5 minutes so far. The Spaniard won the intermediate sprint in Pontevedra (113 kilometers to go), while in the main bunch the sprint was won by Simone Ponzi ahead of Jose Joaquin Rojas.
The stage was rather uneventful and only the second intermediate sprint of the day in Vilagarcia de Arousa was interesting. With 30 kilometers remaining Jose Joaquin Rojas won again the sprint in the bunch, this time ahead of Michael Matthews and Tony Gallopin. At the same time it started to rain, the riders have no luck so far in the race with the weather. The gap to the break had decreased to 3 minutes at that point fue to the work of Discovery Channel and Quickstep.
Xavi Tondo and Geraint Thomas had attacked from the break while crossing the bridge of the Arousa island taking advantage of the wind and were 30 seconds ahead of their two companions with 8 kilometers remaining. There had also been movements in the main bunch and a group of three riders was 20 seconds ahead of the bunch: Rui Costa, Davide Rebellin and Janez Brajkovic.
The riders were keen to put a good show even if it was only in the last kilometers of the stage and, as the break was reeled back in by a charging peloton, Simon Gerrans attacked. They were in the first slopes of the climb to the Mirador de Lobeira (3 km to go). The Australian was not alone in his attack and soon riders like Jelle Vanendert, Joost van Leijen and Bjorn Leukemans. Lotto has had quite an attacking style in the uphill finishes so far in this Vuelta.
The bunch was reluctant to let them go but Leukemans, Gerrans and Van Leijen managed to open a gap of 20 seconds with 2 kilometers remaining. Meanwhile, Janez Brajkovic, Joaquim Rodriguez and Davide Rebellin also attacked to try to follow the leaders of the stage. Denis Menchov is currently unimpressed by the attacks and is sitting comfortably among his teammates among the 20 leading riders of the main bunch.
The riders enter the last kilometer and Joost van Leijen overtakes Bjorn Leukemans to go for the win. The Dutch looks rather strong and Leukemans has trouble following him. Simon Gerrans is losing track with the accelerations on the last kilometer, just like he did yesterday. Meanwhile, the men from the bunch are coming baack led by Janez Brajkovic.
Joost van Leijen wins in the Mirador de Lobeira! The Vacansoleil rider had no rivals in the last kilometer sprint to the line and opened a gap of 17 seconds over his chasers. This is the second straight win for Vacansoleil, the Dutch team has started the Vuelta in style. In the fight for the second place of the stage Frank Schleck narrowly beat David Lopez and Bjorn Leukemans over the finish line.
Joost van Leijen had lost some time yesterday and, therefore, the GC is mostly unchanged on the day. The only remarkable incident of the stage was the retirement of Michael van Staeyen from the race. The Lotto rider crashed out and had to go straight to hospital.
If you were not tired of uphill finishes there is yet another one on the fourth stage of the Vuelta. This will be the last day of racing in the Galicia region and the stage will be a bit more hilly than the previous days. The highlight of the day will be the climb to the Mirador de Ezaro, which although barely more than 1 kilometer long has crazy slopes and will surely break the bunch into pieces.
Quickstep was again very committed to not let a big group go today and they managed to achieve it as the break of the day had only 5 riders. They were Marco Marcato (Lampre), Alberto Contador (Movistar), Rein Taaramae (Katusha), Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Ag2r) and Grega Bole (Astana). They reached the intermediate sprint in Santiago de Compostela (105 km to go) 5 minutes ahead of the bunch. The Italian won the sprint but the fight for points in the bunch was more interesting, with Jose Joaquin Rojas beating Kenny van Hummel and Sacha Modolo.
The middle part of the stage was not very interesting, but Peter Stetina crashed a few kilometers before the climb to Ezaro. The American, winner of the Paris - Nice, had no big trouble coming back to the bunch. In Ezaro, the only categorized climb before the finish, Oscar Freire led the bunch for Belkin. With 30 kilometers to go the peloton was starting to break in the tough climb. Meanwhile, Jonathan Tiernan-Locke took the KoM points at the top.
It looks like no teams were interested in a big battle today and even though the peloton broke into pieces in Ezaro they soon rejoined as no favorites had lost track. With 10 kilometers remaining and attack by Taaramae in the break meant that himself and Contador had 1 minute over the rest of the break. However, the bunch was close behind. Simon Gerrans had also tried a similar attack and was racing 20 seconds ahead of the bunch.
Gerrans was quickly reeled back in by the main bunch as there were a lot of teams that though they have a chance in today's finish. However, Andy Schleck attacked as soon as the Australian was reeled back in and managed to open a gap. With 3 kilometers remaining the leading duo had only 20 seconds on Schleck and around 40 on the main bunch. Quickstep was trying to put the pressure on teams like Lotto, who had looked interested on a finish were Vanendert or Leukemans might have a chance.
Andy was on fire today and swept past Contador and Taaramae as soon as he caught them. As the riders turn right to face the last uphill kilometer of the day the Luxembourgish holds a 30 seconds lead on the main bunch. It could well be enough for him to take the stage. Igor Anton, George Hincapie and Tejay van Garderen are leading the bunch as they are about to enter the last km as well.
The main bunch is in full sprint mode already within the last kilometer but Andy Schleck retains a gap that will most likely be enough. It was very important to take the crossing towards the right where the uphill started, as it will be very difficult to progress in the climb. Igor Anton leads Mikel Nieve, George Hincapie and Tejay van Garderen with less than 400 meter to go.
Andy Schleck wins in Finisterra! This is a big change in the attitude of the Quickstep rider, as he had not won since 2009. His skills had given him the chance to grab good positions in stages and GCs but the lack of wins surely was affecting his confidence. This win brings him not only the stage but also the leader's jersey of the race, as he finished with a gap of 11 seconds on the group.
On the fight for the second place on the stage it was Mikel Nieve who finished ahead. Third was a surprising Luis Leon Sanchez, while Tejay van Garderen and Igor Anton completed the top 5. This leaves Andy Schleck with a gap of 21 seconds ahead of 3 stages that should be nice and quiet for the GC riders.
