Ripley wrote:
That was an unusually short report. Disappointing performance by the Germans in their home race.
Yes. As I am adding more and more race days every season I decided not to report every single race. I still do most of them but I don't want the seasons to take more than 1 year in real life...
The season is drawing to an end and the last stage race of the season will be the Vuelta a España. The Spanish Grand Tour will start on Saturday with a very short team time trial between Puerto Banus and Marbella and finish 3 weeks later in the streets of Madrid. The organizers have brought a new route this year, which will feature many hill-top or mountain-top finishes and only one long time trial. It is a completely different idea to the one we saw in the Tour de France this season. Two stages are marked in the agendas of the favorites in the route, both mountain stages with very close to 5,000 meters of cumulative climbing. The first one will take place in Andorra and will finish at Cortals d'Encamp, the second one will take place at the start of the third week and will take place in Asturias, finishing at the Ermita del Alba.
In terms of the participation in the race, most of the top stage racers will be at the starting line. Jerome Coppel comes as the shining winner of the Tour de France but has already played down his chances as he stated he is in not the same kind of shape he was back in July. Jean-Christophe Peraud will not be among those starting but the other man on the podium, Robert Gesink, will also be targeting the win in the Vuelta. The sprinters are not as strong as those found in the Tour but the Vuelta has plenty of stages where other riders may shine instead of the usual riders that we are used to seeing at the front.
Favorites:
- David Lopez (Euskaltel - Euskadi): David Lopez is the defending champion of the Vuelta and there is no reason to think he cannot repeat this year. He races at home, has been outstanding during most of the year and the route is very well suited to his style of racing. Not by chance has he already won the general classification on the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, Tour de Suisse and Tour de Pologne so far this year, which are very good credentials towards his challenge for the overall win. Additionally, the fact that there are not so tough stages with uphill finishes hard enough to generate differences among the favorites should favor him.
- Frank Schleck (Etixx - Quickstep): Frank Schleck was the perennial candidate for a podium place in a Grand Tour until he got the 3rd position in the Vuelta a España last year. It was quite surprising that a rider that has been among the top stage racers for many years was yet to achieve it, especially considering that he had won the Tour de Suisse twice and was also a winner of the Criterium du Dauphine. Last year's podium means that his sights should be now set on trying to get his first win and his performances in the mountains should be among the best in the Vuelta.
- Michele Scarponi (Astana Pro team): Michele Scarponi might be a bit of a surprising name in the list of favorites towards the final win in the Vuelta but the Italian has been consistently improving during the last few seasons. Nevertheless, his best performance in a Grand Tour has been a 5th final position in the Giro d'Italia last year. The strongest points in his favor have to be his win in the mountain stage of the Tirreno - Adriatico, which led him to a finish in the 8th position, and the fact that he also finished in the top 10 in the Tour de Suisse.
- Cadel Evans (Lotto - Soudal): Cadel Evans failed to get a good result in this past Tour de France, only being able to finish 9th, which has brought him to the Vuelta a España to try to redeem himself. However, it is yet to be seen whether Lotto will play his card or Jelle Vanendert will be the rider they ride for. The team might well play the 2 cards until the GC is clearer towards the 2nd week of the race and then choose which rider will go for the podium. Evans is a solid rider but failed to deliver when it mattered this season, where he has a win in the time trial of the Tour de Suisse and a podium in the Tirreno - Adriatico as best results.
Other riders with a shot at the podium are Jelle Vanendert (Lotto - Soudal), Robert Gesink (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Levi Leipheimer (Trek - Segafredo), Juanjo Cobo (HTC - Highroad), Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling) and Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery Channel).
The best sprinters at the start of the race will be Kenny van Hummel and Simone Ponzi (LottoNL - Jumbo), Marcel Kittel (Astana Pro Team), Mark Renshaw (BMC Racing Team) and Elia Viviani and Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi).
The start of the Vuelta a España takes place in a very touristy area. The team time trial joins Puerto Banus and Marbella in a route that will only be 7.4 kilometers long. The riders will be seeing the Mediterranean through the whole time trial, which they will leave on their right. Interestingly, the route is mostly over the sand next to the beach rather than the tarmac to which the riders are normally accustomed. Nevertheless, the rout is so short that this is barely more than a second presentation of the teams. Any time gaps in the GC will be not too relevant.
Cannondale was the first of the favorites to start the time trial. They did not bring any rider that can mount a challenge for the podium in the GC with Jurgen van den Broeck (Cannondale) being their best chance. However, they have quite a few decent riders against the clock, like Fabian Cancellara (Cannondale) and Lieuwe Westra (Cannondale). However, things were not as good as expected for the American team and they could only take the 3rd provisional position in the finish line, 3 seconds behind Vacansoleil, who had set the early pace.
Etixx started right behind Cannondale, quite early in the day as they were not too lucky with the draw. They have one of the top favorites for the Vuelta in Frank Schleck (Etixx) and the current winner of the Tour de France: Jerome Coppel (Etixx). There were some doubts as to who would be the man for the GC but it looks pretty clear that Schleck will be the man who goes for it with Coppel having the freedom to try to win stages. Their starting time trial was very solid and they got the best time so far at the finish line, putting 4 seconds between their time and the one clocked by Vacansoleil.
Tinkoff have had a really poor season so far and the relegation to the Pro Continental category is looming for them. Nevertheless, they brought a good roster to the Vuelta with interesting riders like Pieter Weening (Tinkoff), a former winner of the Giro, and Simon Spilak (Tinkoff). They are going to have to do something special for the team to avoid relegation. His time today was solid but not spectacular as they were 5th at the finish line, 8 seconds slower than the time set by Etixx. They will not be far in the GC but realistically, their best chances to shine in the Vuelta will be trying to win stages.
HTC were also in the mix for a good result in the starting time trial. They most notably had brought David Millar (HTC) to help in this first day and the British should be in top form after winning the Eneco Tour. In terms of the GC, it is yet to see whether it will be Juanjo Cobo (HTC) or Andrew Talansky (HTC) that will be their rider for the GC. However, things did not start well for them as they could only take the provisional 7th position, 12 seconds worse than the time posted by Etixx. Nevertheless, the gap is not big and today's time trial was difficult to prepare.
The Trek team was probably the top favorite to take the win in today's opening stage. However, they failed spectacularly and could only get the 11th place so far, 13 seconds behind. It was incredible how a team with riders like Tejay van Garderen (Trek), Michael Rogers (Trek) or Levi Leipheimer (Trek) could do such a poor performance. They clearly did not find a rhythm in the sand that they were riding on next to the beach and they lost almost 2 seconds per kilometer against the best. Nevertheless, they are lucky that the time trial was this short and the time gaps are really small.
The Tour de France was very disappointing for Team Sky and Marco Pinotti (Sky) in particular, as he had to abandon the race due to a crash early on. However, this has allowed the Italian to come to the Vuelta with less race days than some of his rivals. He should also be the key rider in today's time trial and their performance was not bad at all. They grabbed the 3rd best time as they crossed the finish line, only 4 seconds behind Etixx, which means that Pinotti will be in the mix from early on in the race. He will not have much support in the mountain stages but Sky is not expected to control the race.
Lotto has come to the Vuelta with two leaders in the team: Cadel Evans (Lotto) and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto). They also have Tony Martin (Lotto) in the team, who has been the most successful rider against the clock this season. Given those credentials, no one was surprised when they took the provisional lead at the finish line. They were only marginally better than Etixx and there was less than a second between them but it was enough. Lotto has already won 17 times this season and by the looks of it, the tally may grow to 18 by the end of the day.
The last team that had a shot at the final win was Astana. The Kazakhs already surprised almost everyone a couple of years ago when they won the Team Time Trial World Championship but they no longer have a key rider like Tony Martin with them as they did at the time and other like Yoann Offredo (IAM) and Anthony Roux (IAM) also left the team. Nevertheless, they had a good performance to finish in the 4th place overall, only 4 seconds behind Lotto - Soudal. Michele Scarponi (Astana) will be more than satisfied to start very close to the lead.
In the end the stage win went to Lotto - Soudal, but they only beat Etixx - Quickstep by a few tenths of a second. The first leader of the race is Tony Martin, who already was leader for a few days in the Tour de France and has had a great season so far. It is almost unbelievable how much progress the German has made in the last couple of years. Among the favorites for the overall win, the worst news were for Robert Gesink (Ag2r) as the team lost 17 seconds at the finish line. It is not much but he will already have to fight against the current for the start.
The second stage in the Vuelta will not be one for the sprinters, they will have to wait at least until tomorrow in Malaga. The riders will have to face the first hill-top finish in the race, with the climb to the Alto de la Mesa. It is a 4.7 kilometers long climb averaging 6.7% but with a much harder section towards the middle of the climb. The rest of the stage does not have major climbs but the terrain is quite difficult and the accumulated climbing goes to almost 2,400 meters. The favorites will probably have to battle for the first time at the last climb of the day.
There was almost no battle to get the break of the day going and only 3 riders joined the adventure: Pierrick Fedrigo (Dimension Data), Moreno Moser (Sky) and Stefano Garzelli (Movistar). They quickly built a gap that grew to 6 minutes with 90 kilometers to go. They were already at the final loop around the finish line and had gone past Alora, where the intermediate sprint will be in the next passage. In principle, it should be the favorites fighting for the stage win today because Lotto and Euskaltel were already leading the chasing group.
Maxim Iglinskiy (Sky) and Tom Slagter (Cannondale) jumped to get the KoM points at the only categorized climb before the finish line, the Alto de Ardales. It was a rather easy climb for the peloton, although with 47 kilometers to go the pace was starting to increase and the gap to the break had been reduced to 3' 25''. Euskaltel was leading the bunch for most of the last kilometers with riders like Dani Moreno (Euskaltel) and Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel). Meanwhile, Moreno Moser had grabbed the points in the break but their hopes of making it to the finish line were decreasing.
As we mentioned, the intermediate sprint was in Alora, with 21 kilometers to go. It was an uphill sprint for the points as well and Moreno Moser clearly won the sprint in the break. However, their gap had quickly come down and it was only 1 minute as Michael Matthews (Cannondale) was faster than Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL) to get the remaining points. There had been a couple of attempts to attack so far coming from Xavi Tondo (Lampre) and Vasil Kiryienka (IAM) but the peloton had no problem in neutralising them even though the road is quite tough to chase.
Philippe Gilbert (Vacansoleil) probably thought that he would have little chances if he waited to the final climb and attacked with 10 kilometers to go. He soon got to the early break and left them behind taking advantage of the difficult road approaching the Caminito del Rey. He soon built a gap of 25 seconds over the main bunch but Lotto was still putting pressure at the front of the group. The weather had taken a turn for the worse and the riders were suffering heavy rain in the last kilometers of the stage. Luckily for them, they had no descents remaining.
Eros Capecchi (BMC) also attacked before the final climb and joined Philippe Gilbert. As they got onto the climb, Vasil Kiryienka was also about to bridge the gap. They had 20 seconds over the main bunch with a bit less than 4 kilometers remaining. It did not look like a big enough gap to hold as the favorites for the GC would have to show their hand quite soon. Peter Stetina (BMC) was one of the riders that was very close to the front in these first slopes of the Alto de la Mesa. On the other hand, the Euskaltel riders started the climb a bit far from the front, even though they had been working for many kilometers in the stage.
Chris Froome (Lampre) tried to jump from the main group with Robert Gesink (Ag2r) on his wheel at the 2 kilometers mark but they could not open a gap. The same had happened to Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) only a few hundred meters before. The pace in the group of the favorites was very inconsistent and that was giving an edge to those at the front. Philippe Gilbert was doing great and his pace could not be followed by Eros Capecchi and Vasil Kiryienka, who were already losing 15 seconds, while the group of the favorites was 45 seconds behind. With the hardest part of the climb over, Gilbert was in a very good position.
Eros Capecchi was still chasing Philippe Gilbert with 700 meters to go but the gap was not getting any smaller and remained at 15 seconds. Vasil Kiryienka had been dropped and was 30 second behind Gilbert. Meanwhile, there had finally been a successful attack in the main group and Jelle Vanendert, Robert Gesink and Simone Ponzi (LottoNL) were a few seconds ahead. It did not look like there would be huge gaps between the favorites but the day was not going according to plan for David Lopez (Euskaltel). The Spaniard should be quite strong in this kind of uphill finishes but was not even close to the front of the group.
Philippe Gilbert wins in Caminito del Rey! The Belgian knew that he had to play it differently to have a chance at the stage but given the pace he showed in the climb one wonders whether he would have been able to win even from the main group. This is his 3rd win of the season but not the most important, that place is reserved for the Amstel Gold Race. Not only did he get the win but he will also be the new leader of the race. The second position went to Eros Capecchi, 18 seconds behind. Vasil Kiryienka was 3rd ahead of Simone Ponzi, both 36 seconds behind the winner.
Meanwhile, Jelle Vanendert was the best among the favorites for the final win but he could only gain 3 seconds over the rest of the group. A total of 36 riders made it over the line 47 seconds behind Gilbert. However, it did not look like a good day for some of the favorites for the overall, like David Lopez, Frank Schleck (Etixx) or Cadel Evans (Lotto). If today is a signal of things to come Vanendert would well be the card that Lotto has to play for the GC. We will have to wait a couple of days to find out a bit more as the sprinters should have a clear opportunity tomorrow.
The sprinters had to wait 3 stages to have a first opportunity to battle for the stage win and it will not be as straight-forward as they would have liked. The stage between Mijas and Malaga has a total of more than 2,000 meters of cumulative climbing but most of it is done in the first half of the stage. The Puerto del Leon, which starts in the outskirts of Malaga will be a good test for them and there may be teams that try to drop the weakest sprinters in the mountains. Nevertheless, once that climb is over the route is fairly simple with only a few small climbs with around 10 kilometers to go that should not pose a problem.
The break of the day formed in the first climb and by the time they got to the top of the Puerto del Leon they had already built a gap of 6 minutes at the front. It was a group of 5 including Maxim Iglinskiy (Sky), Yannick Martinez (Ag2r), Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Lampre), Matteo Trentin (Astana) and Peter Kennaugh (Tinkoff). However, the climb was not the biggest difficulty that the riders were facing as there was a very strong wind coming from the sea in Malaga. Meanwhile, Euskaltel was setting a high pace in the bunch to try to get rid of some of the sprinters but their efforts were hampered by the strong wind in the climb.
The descent of the Puerto del Leon was difficult due to the couple of small uphill sections it contained and the riders then had to fight against the wind in the run towards the intermediate sprint in Torre del Mar. Marcel Kittel (Astana) was quickest ahead of Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL) and Yauheni Hutarovich (IAM) in the sprint of the bunch. They were already caught a couple of riders from the early break in the sprint with 37 kilometers to go. It had been a very difficult day for them but in principle the wind was going to be more or less favorable in the last kilometers. Meanwhile, the bunch had been broken in two pieces due to the pace and riders like Chris Froome (Lampre), Cadel Evans (Lotto), Michele Scarponi (Astana) and Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) were in the back group.
Maxim Iglinskiy and Maarten Tjallingii were trying to hold on at the front of the race but with 10 kilometers to go their gap had come down to only 15 seconds and they were virtually caught. The peloton was chasing, led by Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel), Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) and Davide Formolo (Astana) and the small hills on the entrance of Malaga seemed not to be a problem for them to chase. The fact that the road was very good favored the options of a mass sprint. The wind was still really strong as the sprinters were starting to come to the front, although some like Yauheni Hutarovich almost did not make it over the climb in the middle of the stage.
Peter Stetina (BMC) surprisingly attacked in the hills surrounding Malaga when the expected outcome was a fairly simple mass sprint. That attack triggered a reaction by other riders like Michele Scarponi (Astana), Mikel Nieve (Katusha) and Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil), who were 25 seconds behind with 5 kilometers to go. A few of the other favorites were also trying to join the move and that caused no team to drive the peloton, it meant that they quickly lost more than a minute, which looked like a very big gap for 5 kilometers mostly uphill and favorable for Stetina.
Bauke Mollema, Michele Scarponi and Mikel Nieve were still the closest chasers to Peter Stetina with 2 kilometers to go and the gap was even increasing to 35 seconds. Another group with David Lopez (Euskaltel), Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) among others was 1' 40'' behind. The main group was being led by LottoNL once they realised that no other team would start to chase but it looked too late already and the stage win was over for them. The worse news for Euskaltel came from the fact that Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) crashed in the quick descent towards the city centre. He did not look too injured.
Peter Stetina entered the final straight with the stage in the bag. He attacked where no one expected it and the tiredness in the rest of the riders played into his hands. His gap was still increasing against his chasers, getting closer to 1 minute, although the main bunch was starting to close them down. Robert Gesink (Ag2r), who was in an intermediate position joined Bauke Mollema, Mikel Nieve and Michele Scarponi but they would have to fight for the 2nd place. Meanwhile, David Lopez's group was about to be caught by the bigger bunch. It was a very difficult final kilometers but the fact that the stage was so hard meant there were no crashes so far.
Peter Stetina wins in Malaga! It was a well-deserved win by Peter Stetina, his 2nd of the season following his stage win in Porrentruy in the Tour de France. Stetina will not only get the stage but he will also be wearing the yellow jersey at the end of the day. Considering that he has already won Grand Tours twice, including the Vuelta in 2014, he is not a rider the rivals should be giving these kind of gifts. The chasing group made it over the finish line 44 seconds behind, led by Mikel Nieve and with Michele Scarponi, Bauke Mollema and Robert Gesink completing the top 5.
The group of the leader crossed the finish line 1' 30'' behind Stetina, a very big loss for some of the favorites. However, there were riders that lost even more time, like Cadel Evans, Chris Froome and Marco Pinotti (Sky), who finished 2' 31'' behind. That is a major hit to their chances of getting a podium at the end of the 3 weeks of racing. In the end, the stage was nothing like what we expected before it started but the chaos only started 8 kilometers from the finish line. The time differences were really big for such a short time, which leads to think that some riders were caught unaware.
The fourth stage will also take place in Andalusia, as most of the first part of the race takes part in southern Spain. Today's route is fairly simple and there are only a few small hills to tackle in the first half of the stage. However, the final 4 kilometers are not that easy and it is possible that the sprinters do not make it over the climb place at the -4 to -3 kilometers from the finish line. Vejer is a hilltop town and the route that the organizers chose to climb has very steep slopes. Differences among the favorites should be small, if any, but the fight for the stage might be interesting.
There were quite a few attempts to form the break of the day early on but in the end, only a group of 4 riders was allowed to break away. It was formed by Paul Martens (HTC), Pablo Lastras (Movistar), Jonathan Hivert (Sky) and Fabio Felline (Lampre). They were allowed to build quite a sizable gap, as with 118 kilometers to go it was 8' 15''. Nevertheless, the race always seemed more or less controlled by several teams in the peloton, who were setting an easy pace. The terrain in the first part of the stage was quite complicated but a gentle wind was helping the riders along the route towards the west.
The intermediate sprint was placed in Chiclana de la Frontera, 34 kilometers from the finish line. The peloton was already chasing hard and in the sprint the quickest rider was Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL) ahead of Marcel Kittel (Astana) and Yauheni Hutarovich (IAM). LottoNL and Astana were the two teams working the most at the front of the peloton and the gap to the early break had come down to 1' 30'', which effectively finished their hopes of getting a stage win. It had been a very quiet stage for most of the riders as the wind could have been the only factor that played a major role. We would probably have to wait for the final 4 kilometers to see a fight.
The riders in the break were trying to make it as far as possible but with 10 kilometers to go they were about to be caught by the bunch. The main bunch was being led at the time by Javier Moreno (Astana), Juan Antonio Flecha (Euskaltel) and Jens Debusschere (LottoNL). It will be interesting to see who the riders to fight for the stage are as there are teams like LottoNL that have sprinters with very different characteristics, like Kenny van Hummel and Simone Ponzi (LottoNL). There will also be quite a fight to get a good positioning ahead of the tight right-hand turn that they will have to take with 4 kilometers to go.
Euskaltel entered the climb perfectly positioned and they had Dani Moreno (Euskaltel) leading the group ahead of Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel) and Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel). It looked clear that Kristoff was their choice for today ahead of Elia Viviani (Euskaltel). Among the sprinters that were also good over the hills we could see Simone Ponzi and Mark Renshaw (BMC) close to the front. The Australian was helped by Alessandro Ballan (BMC). Meanwhile, the news reached the peloton that Andrew Talansky (HTC) crashed a few kilometers before the climb and had to abandon the race.
A surprising Kenny van Hummel got to the front of the race and Simone Ponzi was working for him with 2 kilometers to go. They were already on par with the Euskaltel men but Van Hummel had Mark Renshaw right behind his wheel, another strong rider. In Euskaltel it would be Greg van Avermaet leading out Alexander Kristoff and Michael Matthews (Cannondale) had also had a good climb and was on his wheel. It looked like the sprinters that can handle the hills would be fighting for the stage. We could also see others like Marcel Kittel, Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre) and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar).
Simone Ponzi was really strong at the top of the climb and he was leading Kenny van Hummel on the short descent past the last kilometer kite. However, he was also dragging Mark Renshaw behind and that could be a problem for Van Hummel in the final rush. Meanwhile, Greg van Avermaet and Alexander Kristoff had lost a few meters and Luca Paolini (Astana) was helping Marcel Kittel gain positions. Michael Matthews was also close to the front but was a bit too far to be a factor for the stage win. The head of the group was quite stretched and there were not many riders still with a shot at the win.
Kenny van Hummel wins in Vejer de la Frontera! It was a very tight finish against Mark Renshaw but the Dutch has delivered his 5th win of the season in a stage that was really difficult in the last 4 kilometers. Van Hummel had already won the Hamburg Cyclassics only 1 week ago and this proves that he has prepared the Vuelta really well. The second place went to Mark Renshaw, who has had many stages where he was close to winning lately. Michael Matthews finished right behind and he looked very strong in the final meters as he is one of the best sprinters when the stages are difficult. The top 5 was completed by Simone Ponzi and Alexander Kristoff.
In the end there were no gaps among the favorites for the final podium but at some point the peloton was really stretched and it looked like there could have been gaps. It was a stage that the favorites will have used as almost a rest day expect for the last kilometers and tomorrow should be a similar type of day. On the other hand, we lost Andrew Talansky, who could have been one of the riders to follow in the mountains and who is also a very good time trialist. HTC's leader was in principle Juanjo Cobo (HTC) but they will surely miss a rider like Talansky.
The fifth stage is the first that is completely flat and for the sprinters to battle at the end of the day. The riders will start in Rota, next to the Atlantic Ocean, and make their way north towards Sevilla before turning back towards the finish line. The heat could be one of the major issues that the riders will be facing as this part of Spain get really hot towards the end of August. If it gets to a mass sprint, the riders will have to take into account that the last 700 meters are slightly uphill and that there will be sprinters better suited to today's final.
The break of the day was quite small, but it was only caused by the control that some teams like LottoNL, Euskaltel and Astana made a the beginning of the stage. The group of 3 that was ahead was formed by Tony Martin (Lotto), Heinrich Haussler (Ag2r) and Enrico Gasparotto (Etixx). It was quite a strong group even though it was only formed by 3 riders. With 100 kilometers to go they had a gap of 5 minutes but the stage appeared to be completely controlled by the bunch. The stage was really flat and there was not much wind so for many riders this was a ride in the sun so far.
The intermediate sprint was placed quite close to the finish line, in Sevilla. The riders only had 17 kilometers to go and the break was so close that Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL) actually crossed the line just ahead of Tony Martin, who had given up on the break. Marcel Kittel (Astana) and Elia Viviani (Euskaltel) came right behind in the fight for the points. Catching a break this early might create the opportunity for other more rested riders to attack and it might be a bad idea on some occasions for the teams interested in a mass sprint.
Enrico Gasparotto and Heinrich Haussler did not give up in going ahead with the break and they opened a little bit the gap after the sprint. However, with 8 kilometers to go they only had 30 seconds over the bunch and it was clearly not enough. The peloton was well organised and it was Alessandro de Marchi (LottoNL), Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) and Dries Devenyns (Euskaltel) leading the chase at that point. Meanwhile, the main sprinters did not abandon the front positions of the bunch since the intermediate sprint. It was important to be well positioned for the couple of turns ahead of the last couple of kilometers.
There was quite a bit of chaos to form the sprint trains and with 3 kilometers to go they were not clear. LottoNL were leading the way but we did not know yet whether they would be riding for Kenny van Hummel or Simone Ponzi (LottoNL), as the finish is slightly uphill. Astana was a bit more organized with Luca Paolini (Astana) to lead Marcel Kittel through the last kilometers but Euskaltel had many riders close to the front but completely disorganised. Among other candidates for the win, we could see riders like Jure Kocjan (Katusha), Mauro Finetto (Katusha) and Yauheni Hutarovich (IAM) close to the front of the race.
Elia Viviani (Euskaltel) started his own sprint form very far out and was leading the group before the final kilometer kite. It was really that he would have the legs to maintain that sprint until the finish line and he was not helping any of his teammates. His tow was used by Simone Ponzi to drag Kenny van Hummel behind and the LottoNL - Jumbo riders were in a perfect position to go for the win. Meanwhile, the Astana riders were on their right but a bit behind them. Jure Kocjan was leading Mauro Finetto and Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel) was doing the same for Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel).
Simone Ponzi was still ahead of Kenny van Hummel as they started to climb with 700 meters to the finish line. It was a great lead-out by the Italian and they were already getting past Elia Viviani, who was fading as expected. Jure Kocjan was meant to be working for Mauro Finetto but instead was following Van Hummel's wheel, which might mean that the Katusha riders are sprinting on their own. On the right-hand side of the road, Marcel Kittel looked threatening and starting to emerge from Luca Paolini's wheel, while Alexander Kristoff was again too far behind and already out of the equation for the stage win.
Kenny van Hummel wins in Alcala de Guadaira! This is the second straight win for Van Hummel in this Vuelta a España and his 6th in the season, a very respectable number for the LottoNL - Jumbo rider. It was actually a very dominating performance by the team given that Simone Ponzi ended up taking the 2nd position in the stage after leading out Van Hummel until 200 meters from the finish line. Had they worked the other way around, the win would have probably gone to Ponzi. The third place in the stage went to Marcel Kittel, who struggled a bit with the uphill section, while the top 5 was completed by Alexander Kristoff and Mauro Finetto.
In what was a fairly simple stage for the GC riders, a few of them were caught unaware by a gap in the peloton and lost 50 seconds. Among those, we could find Robert Gesink (Ag2r) and Mikel Nieve (Katusha). Other than that, the stage was really quiet and there were no important crashes. The race will now move towards stages that are a bit more important, starting with tomorrow's stage finish at the Sierra de Cazorla. The route is a continuous up and down the hills, capped by a 2.8 kilometers long climb averaging 7.5% that will surely create differences among the favorites.
The sixth stage hides most of the difficulty that it has by the fact that there are only 2 categorized climbs. However, the stage has more than 2,700 meters of cumulative climbing and the differences that the last climb generates could be bigger than expected if the pace is high. The climb itself is very irregular, with a total of 2.8 kilometers averaging 7.5% gradient. Before that, they will have to face the Alto de Baeza, marked as 3rd category but 12 kilometers long. Nevertheless, the stage might not be useful to see the pecking order in the mountains.
There was quite a bit of a fight to form the break of the day but in the end the group was not too big, only 5 riders. They were Jurgen Roelandts (Sky), Simon Spilak (Tinkoff), Richie Porte (Movistar), Bryan Coquard (Dimension Data) and Stefan van Dijk (Vacansoleil). With 108 kilometers to go they had built a gap of 7' 30'' and they were already in the difficult part towards the middle of the stage with a few consecutive climbs. There were many teams interested in chasing the break and setting a pace so it looked unlikely that they made it to the finish line.
The first categorised climb of the day was the Alto de Baeza, 56 kilometers from the finish line. The KoM sprint was placed right in the town of the same name. There was no fight for the points but the pace had increased considerably in the bunch as Discovery had taken the lead. Even riders like Peter Velits (Discovery) could be seen taking turns in the 12 kilometers climb. This meant that the gap quickly came down and was 3' 40'' at the top of the climb. Nevertheless, Jurgen Roelandts was still the virtual leader of the general classification. The pace also meant that a few riders had started to drop from the group.
The intermediate sprint was again placed very close to the finish line, in Peal de Becerro, 14 kilometers from the finish line. By the time the riders got there, we had seen a couple of attacks. Mikel Nieve (Katusha) attacked from the main group only a couple of kilometers before and he was not immediately chased. At the front of the race, Richie Porte was leading with 20 seconds over the rest of the early break. Nieve was 1' 10'' behind, while the group of the leader was 1' 45'' behind Porte. Euskaltel had been pulling quite hard with Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel) but it was Oscar Freire (Discovery) leading the group at that point.
Richie Porte was still leading the race with 9 kilometers to go but the gaps behind him were getting smaller. Mikel Nieve joined the early break and they were 25 seconds behind the Australian, while the main bunch is only 45 seconds behind. Porte was trying to make the most of the stage but he looked unlikely to make it to the finish line. The peloton was led by Michael Rogers (Trek) and Bart de Clercq (Etixx), which proved that many teams thought that they had a shot at the win in the final climb to Cazorla. Meanwhile, Mauro Finetto (Katusha) had lost contact with the main group and his chances of retaining the white jersey.
Mikel Nieve had been caught with 5 kilometers to go but others had attacked. Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery) dragged Cadel Evans (Lotto) and Jerome Coppel (Etixx) with him and they caught Richie Porte just before the last short descent. They only had 15 seconds over the group of the leader but the stage was going to be decided by tiny margins. Nevertheless, some of the ramps in the last climb are enough to cut back much more than that gap. There were still more than 90 riders in the main group and we could see Juanjo Cobo (HTC) and Robert Gesink (Ag2r) very close to the front and ready to jump as soon as the attacks started.
Mathias Frank (IAM) attacked in the main bunch as soon as they reached the final climb but even though he left Robert Kiserlovski and Jerome Coppel behind, he was still 15 seconds behind Cadel Evans with 2 kilometers to go. The group of the leader was only 20 seconds behind Evans, so the margins were close to nothing. They had already gone through slopes above 10% and we could see Eros Capecchi (BMC) getting close to the front of the group. Peter Stetina (BMC) is finding a lot of help from the Italian. Among the favorites, the one that was a bit further back in the group was Frank Schleck (Etixx), who has not made a good impression so far in the Vuelta.
Cadel Evans was still ahead with 700 meters to go but they were in a very steep ramp and his gap had been cut down to 8 seconds. Jerome Coppel and Mathias Frank were his chasers. It was surprising how the French was caught by the group at the bottom of the climb but had the energies to attack again. The group was 16 seconds behind Evans and we could see Peter Stetina, Juanjo Cobo, Mikel Nieve and Eros Capecchi close to the front. Most of the favorites for the GC were still in the mix even though the climb was tough in the last kilometer. If there are any gaps among them, they will be small.
Cadel Evans wins in Sierra de Cazorla! The Australian attacked alongside other riders at the shrt climb before the last one, with 6 kilometers to go, and held on to the lead with a very good final climb. It is a shame that he had lost so much time in the previous stages as Evans could be a factor later in the race and the time trial should be perfect for him. The 2nd place in the stage went to Jerome Coppel, who crossed the line 6 seconds behind the winner. Coppel had also lost time in previous stages but the winner of the Tour is proving that he did not win the French race by chance.
The gaps were not too big as the leader led a group of favorites 11 seconds behind Evans, he was followed by David Lopez (Euskaltel) and Juanjo Cobo. This one included all of the top favorites for the final podium in Madrid. Among those that lost a bit more time we could see Chris Froome (Lampre), crossing the line 36 seconds behind the winner. The difficult stages do not finish today as the riders will have to face the first mountain stage of the Vuelta tomorrow. The stage is not overly difficult but finishes in the 21-kilometers-long climb to Capileira.
It is only the 7th stage when we will face the first mountain stage of the Vuelta a España. The route takes us south again towards the Mediterranean but we will not quite get there. Instead, the riders will have to face the climb to the Alto de Capileira, a road that would eventually lead to Sierra Nevada from the south. However, the race will finish where the tarmac gives way to the dirt roads as we know that the Vuelta is not too keen on difficult roads for the cyclists. The battle should happen only in the last climb, but with 21.4 kilometers averaging 5.1% they have plenty of time to open gaps.
There was a big battle to form the break of the day and it took the best part of 60 kilometers for a break to settle at the front. As soon as the peloton accepted it, they started to grow their gap. It was up to 5' 20'' at the top of the Puerto de los Blancares, with 104 kilometers to go. The group of 9 riders included important riders like Jurgen van den Broeck (Cannondale), Mauro Finetto (Katusha), Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre), Philippe Gilbert (Vacansoleil) and Tony Gallopin (IAM). Gilbert was the only one to jump to get the KoM points and he was the provisional leader of the classification by taking the maximum points.
The peloton had gone through Granada but they did not head straight away for the mountains. Euskaltel and Astana had started working at the front of the group and they had brought the gap down to 3' 35'' with 60 kilometers to go. They had strong riders like Dani Moreno (Euskaltel), Javier Moreno (Astana) and Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel), who were strong in this terrain that was plagued with short hills and ups and downs. The climb to Capileira is not overly difficult, especially in the first part, but it looks like the gap held by the break was too small for them to have hopes of making it to the finish line.
Tony Gallopin was first at the intermediate sprint in Lanjaron ahead of Luke Rowe (HTC) but there was not really a fight in the front group for the points. With 30 kilometers to go, they had a short descent before starting the climb to Capileira and the gap was still decreasing. It was only 2' 35'' when the peloton went through the sprint. The gap was clearly not enough but if one rider from those in the break could make it work it would be Jurgen van den Broeck. The Belgian is a more than decent climber, who is not normally among the top riders but that can be hard to catch if he starts with an advantage.
The climb to Capileira started with 21 kilometers to go and Jose Serpa (Ag2r) attacked straight away. He was hoping that the favorites would take it easy until the flat section towards the middle of the climb. However, Mikel Nieve (Katusha) attacked with 16 kilometers to the finish line and was surprisingly followed by Peter Stetina (BMC) and others like David Lopez (Euskaltel), Frank Schleck (Etixx) and Robert Gesink (Ag2r). However, not all of the favorites decided to follow that attack and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) among others stayed in the group. Meanwhile, Jurgen van den Broeck attacked from the early break and tried to go solo.
The chasers were still behind with 10 kilometers to go. The kite was in the middle of the flat section, which gave the riders a bit of relief from the climbing. The second part of the climb would be much tougher. Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) was working in the chasing group as Michele Scarponi (Astana) had also decided to play it cool. They were only 30 seconds behind the group of the leader and the favorites did not have any domestiques in that front group. Meanwhile, Jurgen van den Broeck had 25 seconds on the rest of the early break and 1' 05'' on the group of the leader, which had 16 riders. Even Peter Stetina was working to make that group progress.
The two main groups on the road came back together shortly after they started the second and tougher part of the climb, which rarely had slopes below 7%. After a few moments of BMC taking the lead of the group, the attacks started again and Marco Pinotti (Sky) was followed by Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery), Mikel Nieve and Juanjo Cobo (HTC). Jurgen van den Broeck was still 15 seconds ahead of the rest of the break and 50 seconds ahead the group of the leader but with 6 kilometers to go it was a struggle for him. The main bunch was still holding almost 50 riders so the gaps at the finish line should not be too big.
The attempt by Marco Pinotti did not go anywhere but a much harder attack by Juanjo Cobo with 4 kilometers to go allowed him to open a gap. He quickly went past all the early break riders and was leading the race with a bit more than 2 kilometers to go. A group of 6 chasers was formed behind, including David Lopez, Robert Gesink and Michele Scarponi. The Italian had to do a good effort to catch that group as he was again slow to react. This group was 25 seconds behind Cobo, while the leader was already losing 45 seconds. Jelle Vanendert was not giving a good feeling as he was hidden in the group and made no attempt to follow the attacks.
The group of chasers was pushing hard inside the last kilometer but Juanjo Cobo still held a gap of 11 seconds over them, which put him very close to the stage win. Robert Kiserlovski was pushing hard to close the gap with the Spaniard and riders like Robert Gesink and Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) were struggling to keep in touch. The group of the leader was also closing the gap to the front and Peter Stetina was losing 35 seconds. This is the type of stage that would have been an easy win for David Lopez last year but even though he is up there, he is not quite as strong so far in this race.
Juanjo Cobo wins in the Alto de Capileira! The Spaniard has done a great job to take the win in the first mountain stage of the Vuelta, although the gaps he has made will not make him advance much in the GC. However, it is worth noting that he has already won in Port-Aine in the Volta a Catalunya, Superdevoluy in the Dauphine and here in the Vuelta. Robert Kiserlovski crossed the finish line only 8 seconds behind Cobo, while the chasing group lost 15 seconds, led by Michele Scarponi ahead of David Lopez and Mikel Nieve completing the top 5.
Peter Stetina will maintain his leader's jersey as he only lost 27 seconds at the finish line in the end, crossing the line alongside Frank Schleck (Etixx). Michele Scarponi and Bauke Mollema are the only riders that are less than 1 minute behind the American. Nevertheless, it today's result is an indication of the way the Vuelta will evolve the favorites should be very careful with Robert Kiserlovski. The Croatian has not had a very good season so far but he did not get a podium in the Giro d'Italia last year for nothing. He could well repeat a performance like that.
Maxim Iglinskiy is the featured rider today in this section. The Kazakh is a rider that was not among the top riders until this season and it is one of the biggest surprises of the season. However, he had not given any hints of having this quality in the 5 previous seasons, which might be down to the domestique roles he held in the Astana and Tinkoff teams. His only results before getting to Sky in 2017 had been a couple of top 10s in the Rest of the World Championships so it was quite surprising that the British team gave him a leading role this season.
To put things in perspective, one needs to understand that the Sky team roster is quite weak after they lost Chris Froome at the end of 2016 and they had to spend quite a bit of money in replacing him with Marco Pinotti. The only other reasonable option to be a leader with the team this season would have been Peter Sagan but the Slovakian has been very inconsistent with his performances in the last few seasons. The fact that Iglinskiy is only 28 and has a few years ahead of him probably made a difference when choosing a leader.
Looking backwards, the choice could not have been better for the team as Iglinskiy had a very good spring. He is a rider that can go over the hills and the cobbles and he proved it by getting a 3rd place in the Gent - Wevelgem, followed by a 2nd overall in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, which included a stage win. One can argue that he was lucky in the Basque race as he was able to get a good advantage in the GC following his win from the early break in the 2nd stage of the race but he was very good in the subsequent stages.
Considering how good his season has been so far, the Sky team will now regret giving him only a 1-year contract. He was rumored to be making close to 400,000 euros per season but his wages will only go up next season as more important teams will most likely offer him a role. Sky will most likely be in the bid and it is likely that Iglinskiy will look their offer with better eyes. Nevertheless, it will be hard to say no if some of the stronger teams comes with a good contract.
