Our today's featured rider is one of the sprinters that is in the spotlight after winning the 2nd stage of the Vuelta a España, Kenny van Hummel. The Dutch has been making a slow but steady progress towards being one of the reference sprinters in the World. Van Hummel is now 28 years old, which is a bit younger than most of the other sprinters and that puts him in a good position for years to come. The story of Van Hummel starts in the Vacansoleil - DMC team back in 2011 but he was just a domestique in a team led by Peter Sagan and Bauke Mollema.
The crucial step in his career was the move to the Rabobank - Belkin - LottoNL structure at the start of 2012. He has developed the whole of his career in the team. It was not until 2014 that Van Hummel started to show hints of what was to come. He appeared in the top 10 of the Milano - Sanremo and took the final 5th position in the GP Ouest France in Plouay. Most crucially, he grabbed the stage win at Tournai in the Tour de France, his first win as a professional.
Those results convinced the team management that Van Hummel was worth investing in and he jumped to a more relevant role from 2015. He quickly repaid that faith by taking stage wins both in the Tour de France and in the Giro d'Italia. He also started his love affair with the Paris - Nice, where he has got 3 stage wins and the 2 points' jerseys for 2015 and 2016. All these results have catapulted his reputation and he looks set to improve on the 30th place in the World Tour rankings he got last year.
2016 has been a rather sweet and sour year for Van Hummel so far. He won 4 times so far including a win in the Vuelta which takes him in the group of riders that have won in the 3 Grand Tours. However, the season has been really poor so far for LottoNL. He has been the only rider that is holding the team together with some help from Bernhard Eisel, who won the Tour de Pologne. However, Rob Ruijgh has been way below expectations and looks set to abandon the team at the end of the season. 2017 will probably will be a transition season for the team.
The riders will have to face again a fairly easy stage after one uphill finish. This time the riders will head South from Huesca to the racing circuit of Motorland Aragon, very close to the town of Alcañiz. The sprinters will again have a chance of getting a win after they were surprised by Joost van Leijen in Logroño. The stage is maybe the flattest in this 2016 Vuelta. The only problem for the favorites would be the crashes but considering the gaps that have been opened in the GC that should not be that much of an issue.
The break was rather small this time. Only 3 riders were at the front of the race in the first intermediate sprint of the day: Nick Nuyens (BMC), Jeremy Roy (Ag2r) and Wilco Kelderman (Giant). They had built a gap of 3' 30'' on the main bunch, which was controlled by Tinkoff, Astana and LottoNL. The sprint was placed in Pallaruelo de Monegros, 97 kilometers from the finish line. In the sprint of the bunch Kenny van Hummel was quickest ahead of Tyler Farrar and Mark Cavendish.
The only interesting points of the stage were the intermediate sprints. The second one was placed in Caspe, 36 kilometers from the finish line. The break still had a gap of 2' 45'' but they were completely controlled by the main bunch. In the peloton Marcel Kittel was quickest this time ahead of Kenny van Hummel and Mark Cavendish. These riders should take care of not burning themselves too much in the sprints as the finish line was not that far away and they should be more worried about the fight for the stage.
The peloton crossed the town of Alcañiz with 9 kilometers to go. Nick Nuyens and Wilco Kelderman were trying to make the break survive a bit longer but their gap was only around 15 seconds, clearly not enough for it. LottoNL and Astana were the teams that showed a bigger commitment towards a mass sprint at Motorland Aragon. We'll see whether the faith that Astana continually puts in Marcel Kittel is repaid with a stage win as the German has only been able to win once this year.
The break was eventually caught back with 7 kilometers to go and the team started to set up their sprint trains. There were plenty of them today as many riders thought they had a chance. LottoNL was leading the way with Alessandro Petacchi ready to lead Kenny van Hummel. The points' jersey holder was followed by Fran Ventoso. Astana had Grega Bole ahead of Marcel Kittel, while Jose Joaquin Rojas was right behind the German. Tinkoff had also built a train with Gianni Meersman working for Tyler Farrar. Mark Renshaw was just behind. Among the other sprinters close to the front were Simon Ponzi, Mark Cavendish and Denis Galimzyanov.
Gianni Meersman was the best of the lead out men and carried Tyler Farrar to the best position ahead of the last kilometer. That was the point where Kenny van Hummel started the final sprint. It felt too long a sprint for the Dutch to grab the stage win. Fran Ventoso and Simone Ponzi were trying to follow his move. Astana's train was not working that well today and were quickly losing positions in the build up for the sprint. Mark Renshaw and Ponzi might be the outsiders for the win.
Kenny van Hummel took the lead of the sprint inside the last kilometer but he had already been a long time pushing. Fran Ventoso and Simone Ponzi were already moving towards the middle of the road to try to overtake the LottoNL rider. Behind them, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Mark Cavendish were making progress but probably too slowly to make an impact. Meanwhile, Tyler Farrar had completely disappeared from the picture after hiding too long behind Gianni Meersman and Marcel Kittel was too far back.
Kenny van Hummel wins in Alcañiz! The Dutch is in deadly form in this Vuelta a España and no one seems to be able to stop him when he has a clear sprint to the line. He started his sprint from way far back but neither Fran Ventoso nor Simone Ponzi managed to get around him. They had to settle for the second and third positions. This is the 5th win of the season for Van Hummel. The top 5 in the stage was completed by Jose Joaquin Rojas and Mark Cavendish.
There were two clear disappointments: Tyler Farrar and Marcel Kittel. Farrar only managed a 7th position while the German could not even get in the top 10. He will have the excuse of the poor lead out today but his form has been quite lacklustre this season so far. The GC favorites had all a quite day but tomorrow the race will finish at the Collada de la Gallina, in Andorra. It will be the hardest uphill finish in the race so far.
The GC favorites will have to be ready again for another battle in the mountains. The stage will finish at the top of the Collada de la Gallina, in Andorra. However, even though the stage could have been very interesting the only climbs today will be the Puerto de la Comella and the final climb to La Gallina. Before that the stage is really easy with a route that slowly climbs towards Andorra but without any real climb. At least the length of the stage is a bit longer at 174 kilometers.
Lotto was again controlling the stage in the early kilometers of the day with Tony Martin. The German is doing a great job in the Vuelta so far but they could burn him quite quickly with so much work. In the end a group of 6 riders got to the front of the race, including Tanel Kangert (HTC), Daniel Martin (Ag2r), Jakob Fuglsang (Vacansoleil), Pablo Lastras (Movistar) and Warren Barguil (IAM). Their gap with 107 kilometers to go had grown to 3' 45'' but Lotto was setting a pace constantly in the pack.
The second intermediate sprint of the day was placed in Oliana, 82 kilometers to the finish line. Marcel Kittel managed to beat Simone Ponzi and Michael Matthews in the sprint for the remaining points. Lotto was still the only team keeping the tempo up in the bunch but the gap had grown to 5' 45''. After the rush of the start of the stage it had been a very quiet day for the favorites. With no terrain to wear them down most of them will have no trouble in the final climb and the gaps would not be that big.
The climb to La Comella was only 4 kilometers long, not enough to be a real problem for most of the riders. With 3 kilometers to the top and 22 to the finish line the break had 3' 40'' on the group of the leader. Some riders already tried to break from the bunch, like John Gadret, Jurgen van den Broeck and Pieter Weening. However, Lotto had put Rafal Majka to control the pace and they had not been successful. They were not too dangerous in the GC but it was clear that Lotto was also aiming for the stage win today.
Mikel Nieve was the only rider that managed to open a gap ahead of the group of the leader at the climb to La Comella. The Spaniard has always been in an attacking mode in the last days. He had a small gap of 20 seconds on the favorites. Meanwhile, Jurgen van den Broeck, Juanjo Cobo and Cadel Evans were also trying to make something happen in the last kilometer of the climb. Jelle Vanendert himself had to respond to an attack by the Australian early in the climb to calm the others. For now, most of the favorites seemed to be looking at each other.
The descent towards the start of La Gallina was really quick in the group of the favorites. They reeled back in Mikel Nieve just before the start of the climb. As the early break took the right turn to start the climb, with 7 kilometers to go, they only had 30 seconds on the main group. However, that group was very slim. Only 34 riders managed to keep up with the pace. Among those left behind was Denis Menchov, who was trailing in another group 2' 20'' behind. The Russian was very promising at some point but he has been quite disappointing in the last few years.
David Lopez was very committed to recovering the leader's jersey and attacked from the bottom of the climb to La Gallina. The Spaniard was first under the 5 kilometers mark as he had just gone past the riders in the early break. However, he had only managed to open a 10 seconds gap over the chasing group, where Frank Schleck and Jelle Vanendert reacted immediately. Levi Leipheimer, Robert Gesink, Peter Stetina and a few others followed as well. Laurens Ten Dam again seemed slow to react and he looks far from the form he had in the Giro d'Italia back in May.
Frank Schleck tried to close the gap to David Lopez after the attack of the Euskaltel rider but he had to give up as the Spaniard sustained the gap. It was then the turn of Jelle Vanendert, who was losing 15 seconds to Lopez with 3 kilometers to go. The Belgian never seemed to panic as he was chasing. Frank Schleck was losing 25 seconds, while a group of 21 riders followed right behind including most of the rest of the favorites. Among those already left behind the most notorious riders were Jean-Christophe Peraud, Rob Ruijgh and Marco Pinotti.
Jelle Vanendert caught up to David Lopez within the last 2 kilometers and looked set to fight for the stage win with the Spaniard. The two have been battling the whole season at the top of the World Tour rankings and they might do the same in the Vuelta. Frank Schleck was trying to limit his losses but he was already 30 seconds behind. Meanwhile, Laurens Ten Dam was improving his performance as the climb went on and put a pace in the group of the chasers that only Jerome Coppel and Levi Leipheimer could follow. They were 50 seconds behind the leaders though.
Jelle Vanendert wins in the Collada de la Gallina! The leader made a statement today by not allowing David Lopez to gain any time on him and even had the legs to beat him in the sprint and take his second stage in the Vuelta. The two of them put 36 seconds on Frank Schleck, who looked quite less threatening than in previous days. However, the only question mark on Vanendert and Lopez is that even though both have been in the mix in the past fighting for Grand Tours they have always eventually dropped.
Their biggest threat might well be Laurens Ten Dam as Peter Stetina disappointed again today. The Dutch is 3 minutes behind in the GC but should take back a good chunk of that gap in the time trial in Galicia. Jerome Coppel also did well in today's stage but it is hard to see the French being a threat for one of the podium places as the race progresses. In the end, the gaps that have opened in the first week of racing are much bigger than what was anticipated before the race.
The last stage before the first rest day is difficult to predict. The route is favorable for the riders in general as it starts in Andorra and goes downhill for most of the day towards Barcelona. The Collada de Clara is the only difficulty halfway through the stage. However, the riders will have to tackle the climb to Montjuic with only 6 kilometers to go. The final kilometers is also slightly uphill so a mass sprint cannot be taken for granted.
There was not a lot of battle in the morning and the break of the day only had 3 riders: Lars Peter Nordhaug (Ag2r), Lars Boom (Giant) and Niki Terpstra (Orica). The Collada de Clara was 121 kilometers from the finish line in Barcelona and they had built a gap of 6' 45'' on the peloton. Back in the pack Lotto did not have to work today and they let other teams like Astana and LottoNL to do the pace setting. They seemed very confident of a mass sprint finish but the option of an attacker in the climb to Montjuic could not be discarded.
The first intermediate sprint of the day was placed in Manresa, 68 kilometers from the finish line. The stage had been so far very quiet and the favorites for the GC were enjoying a sunny day close to the Mediteranean. Kenny van Hummel was the fastest in the sprint ahead of Tyler Farrar and Marcel Kittel. The peloton had increased the pace considerably and the gap had come down to 3' 30''. Nevertheless, the break was not considered to be any threat and they would let them survive for many more kilometers.
Niki Terpstra attacked from the break but was reeled back in by his two fellow riders from the break. With 12 kilometers to go, at the entrance to Barcelona, they had a gap of 40 seconds over the bunch. Tinkoff had started to collaborate with LottoNL and Astana and the pace was quite high in the closing stages of the day. The peloton was quite stretched and many riders were fighting for position at the front because there were only 6 kilometers to go before the climb to Montjuic, where gaps might appear.
The climb to Montjuic was not as interesting as expected as no rider attacked in the climb. The break was caught and it was Rob Ruijgh leading the way for LottoNL followed by Tiago Machado. Danilo di Luca and David Lopez also appeared at the front of the pack for Euskaltel but they were happy to stay in the main bunch in the climb. The pace was not too high so not too many riders would lose contact. It will be interesting to see who among the sprinters managed to handle the hill.
There were a couple of attacks during the descent from riders like Emanuele Sella, Frank Schleck and Mikel Nieve. However, Yoann Offredo was the rider that kept the lead of the group for Astana and managed to bring them all back in the peloton. The French was leading the way for Marcel Kittel with a bit more than 1 kilometer to go. Tyler Farrar and Kenny van Hummel had also been able to go through the climb and got the wheel of the German. However, there were many sprinters missing and Jelle Vanendert looked ready to fight it in the sprint.
Marcel Kittel looked way better than these days and led the sprint at the final turn, with 600 meters to go. Even in a sprint that was a bit uphill he was looking strong. He was dragging behind Tyler Farrar and Kenny van Hummel but he had not started the sprint from too far out and it did not seem such a big problem. Meanwhile, Jelle Vanendert was trying to get in the mix but was a big behind to be a threat. Others like Tony Gallopin and David Lopez were also trying to fight. The bonus seconds could be a good bounty for the riders in the GC.
Kenny van Hummel wins in Barcelona! Van Hummel did it again. He was third in line with 500 meters to go but aided by the uphill finish managed to recover and get past Tyler Farrar and Marcel Kittel. He got past the latter right before the finish line. This is the third win for Kenny van Hummel in the Vuelta, which is turning LottoNL's season upside down. Kittel looked much better today but had to settle for 2nd ahead of Tyler Farrar.
Jelle Vanendert was 4th at the finish line but missed out on the bonus seconds while Peter Stetina was 5th. Stetina should start getting in the mix and in the second weekend of the race he should be one of the key riders in the Vuelta. The riders will now enjoy a rest day with a long transfer to Galicia. The GC riders will have their sights set already in the time trial on Wednesday. The riders that are ahead in the GC are all expected to lose time so the GC could change considerably.
The rest day is over and the Vuelta a España kicks off again with a stage in Galicia. The stage is quite flat but in that part of Spain there is always more to it that what it seems initially. There are quite a few small hills here and there with high gradients. Nevertheless, anything other than a mass sprint would be a big surprise. The stage is not too long either at 166 kilometers and it should be a quiet day for the favorites before the time trial.
The only categorized climb of the day was the Alto de San Antonio, a 3rd category climb which top was 133 kilometers from the finish line. A group of 3 riders was ahead: Guillaume van Keirsbulck (Sky), Romain Feillu (FDJ) and Tom van Asbroeck (Vacansoleil). They had a gap of 2' 30'' at the top but the break looked anything but consolidated. The teams of the sprinters were controlling the pace but many riders had tried to bridge the gap to the front already.
The first intermediate sprint of the day was placed in Vigo, with 100 kilometers to go. By that time the break had consolidated at the front although the gap was still around 3' 30'' as many teams were willing to take turns at the front including Lotto, Tinkoff, Astana and LottoNL. There was no fight for the points in the break but Tyler Farrar beat Kenny van Hummel and Jose Joaquin Rojas in the main bunch. With only 3 riders ahead there were plenty of points on offer for the bunch.
The terrain was not that easy for the peloton to get organized and bring back the break. At the second intermediate sprint, in Estribela, the group of 3 still had 2 minutes on the peloton. However, the latter part of the stage did not have any relevant hills so their chances of making it were slim. The teams of the sprinters were still chasing but the feeling was that they could have upped the pace if they wanted to. Kenny van Hummel took the sprint ahead of Tyler Farrar and Fran Ventoso.
Astana and Tinkoff were the 2 teams that formed a sprint train after the break was as expected caught with around 10 kilometers to go. On the Kazakh team it would be Grega Bole leading Marcel Kittel out, while Kenny van Hummel was already positioning himself close to the German. Gianni Meersman would lead Tyler Farrar for Tinkoff. The first rider on the wheel of the American was Mark Renshaw. Among the other sprinters Fran Ventoso, Chris Sutton and Simone Ponzi were well positioned but other candidates like Mark Cavendish and Jose Joaquin Rojas were too far back.
Gianni Meersman did a great job for Tyler Farrar to deliver him to the last kilometer clearly ahead of the rest. Marcel Kittel was still behind Grega Bole but they had lost significant space to the Tinkoff riders. However, Kittel was the 2nd sprinter on the road as Kenny van Hummel, Fran Ventoso and Simone Ponzi were right behind. Mark Renshaw somehow lost Farrar's wheel and probably the chance to win the stage. The final sprint seemed very clean so far with Farrar well ahead.
Tyler Farrar was leading the way with 600 meters to go but he was clearly fading as some of the other sprinters were coming strong, especially Marcel Kittel and Jose Joaquin Rojas. The Spaniard might have been badly positioned before the final sprint but he made a lot of progress and was threatening for the stage win. However, it was all fairly matched and Kenny van Hummel and Chris Sutton still had options for the win. Nevertheless, Van Hummel did not seem to be as fresh today as he had been in previous days.
Marcel Kittel wins in Sanxenxo! The German finally did it and takes his 2nd win of the season after being disappointing in many stages this season. Jose Joaquin Rojas looked really strong but faded just enough in the last few meters for Kittel to grab the win in front of his nose. Rojas had to settle for the second place. It was surprising that Kittel won in one of the worst leadouts by his team. The third place went to Mark Renshaw, who was clearly strong today. The top 5 was completed by Simone Ponzi and Kenny van Hummel.
Today's disappointment was Tyler Farrar. The American was in a perfect position ahead of the last kilometer to bring home the stage win but was not his usual self in the last meters of the stage. He dropped to the 6th place in the end. It was also surprising to see David Lopez in the top 10 of the stage. The Spaniard should not risk that much, especially right before the time trial tomorrow. It will be a key stage in terms of the GC and he will need to be in top shape.
The only ITT in this year's Vuelta a España is tackled halfway through the race. At 40 kilometers it might be one of the key stages of the race but the fact that it has a mixed profile will decrease the gaps among the favorites. Cameron Meyer would be the clear favorite for a flat time trial but he is not among the pre stage favorites to take the win in Pontevedra. Even if the time trial is not very good for the specialists we might see the top 3 in the GC losing a fair chunk of the gap they have with the rest of the field.
Cameron Meyer is not the World Champion for nothing and he set the early pace. Marco Pinotti (Quickstep) was the first among the favorites for the stage to start, 19th in the GC before the stage. However, he could not beat the Australian and clocked a time that was 6 seconds slower. It might not have been a good idea to discard Meyer from the win as he obviously was in good shape. For Pinotti it was a rather good time trial but his hopes on the GC will come behind those of his teammate Frank Schleck.
Robert Gesink (Ag2r) started the day in the top 10 and the time trial apparently suited him well. However, it was not the best day of the Dutch and he lost 1' 05'' to Cameron Meyer, taking the 13th provisional place in the stage. Robert Gesink has been rather inconsistent throughout the year and only the podium in the Criterium du Dauphine saves his season. He could not even get in the top 10 of the Giro and he looks set to struggle to do it in the Vuelta.
Levi Leipheimer (HTC) was next on the road. The HTC team has brought a rather strong roster to the Vuelta and Leipheimer is leading it so far but Andrew Talansky and Juanjo Cobo were expected to have lost less time in the first part of the race. Leipheimer was quite strong today and stopped the clock 20 seconds slower than Meyer, taking the 4th provisional place in the process. This could potentially help him gain a few positions in the GC.
Tejay van Garderen (Trek) is one of the riders that could benefit most from this time trial. The American has a good combination of skills for the time trials, both flat and hilly. The winner of the 2014 Tour de France has never been able to achieve anything as big but has had a solid yet unspectacular season. His aims were set on at least a podium on the Vuelta but things have not turned out that well for him. He crossed the finish line 4th, 14 seconds behind Cameron Meyer. This will surely bring him closer to the front in the GC.
It is very important for the Movistar team to get something out of this Vuelta a España but Cadel Evans has not been able to deliver much so far, even though he has kept the 6th position in the GC. Today he finished again among the best but when he crossed the line he took the 6th provisional place, 23 seconds behind Cameron Meyer. He will stay ahead of Tejay van Garderen in the GC but only with a margin of 16 second over the Trek rider.
Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale) won the Giro d'Italia earlier this year and the Tour de France last year. However, this Vuelta does not seem like he will be at the top and today he had a dismal performance. The Dutch finished in the 29th position losing a massive 1' 35'' to Cameron Meyer. This will mean that he will lose 3 positions in the GC against Cadel Evans, Tejay van Garderen and Levi Leipheimer. Only an illness or a really bad day can explain his performance.
Jerome Coppel (IAM) was probably the only rider that could be threatening to Cameron Meyer with regards to the stage win. The French is one of the young riders that is making huge progression in the last couple of years but it was not enough to take the win from Meyer today. He finished in the provisional 5th position, which will consolidate him in the 4th place in the GC. The top 3 was too far ahead at the beginning of the stage for him to catch any of them.
Frank Schleck (Quickstep) was the 3rd before the stage but he has never been known as a good time trialist. The Luxembourgish would have to do an exercise of limiting the losses today. However, the day was much better than expected for him and crossed the finish line in the 11th position only 39 seconds behind Cameron Meyer. It has been a long time since Schleck had been involved in the fight for the win in a Grand Tour and in the end he never succeeded getting even a podium. This could be a perfect chance for him.
The next rider on the road was David Lopez (Euskaltel). The Spaniard hoped to gain back time on Jelle Vanendert or even to take the leader's jersey today. His performance was quite good as expected in a mixed time trial. He took the 11th position from Frank Schleck, 37 seconds behind. That was only 2 seconds faster than the Quickstep rider, much less than what he expected to put on him. The gap between the two of them would continue to be almost non-existent.
Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) was the leader before the stage and would still be wearing the jersey afterwards. The Belgian is not good against the clock at all but even losing 1' 11'' against Cameron Meyer and finishing in the 23rd position he managed to retain the leader's jersey with a margin of 8 seconds over David Lopez. This was probably the worst stage remaining for Vanendert, who will resume the battles against Lopez and Frank Schleck in the mountains.
Cameron Meyer was not considered a top favorite for the stage, given that the route was very hilly but he proved that there are few riders that can be at his level in a time trial. The World Championship will be very interesting as David Millar is a real threat to his dominance. The interesting stages will continue tomorrow with a finish at the top of the Mirador de Ezaro, a 2 kilometers long climb averaging 13.1% which will generate differences among the favorites again.
There is no time for respite in the Vuelta and the time trial is followed by a stage finishing at the top of the Mirador de Ezaro. The climb, which starts by the Atlantic Ocean is only 2 kilometers long but features a gradient above 13% so there will be differences among the top riders in the GC for sure. Otherwise the start is quite strange as there are no more difficulties on the stage so the positioning will be very important as there will be a very big bunch getting to a very narrow road.
Lotto did not care to control the pace today and just let almost the first attempt to form a break go away. The break was formed by 7 rather strong riders, including Davide Rebellin (Astana), Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil), Jurgen van den Broeck (Cannondale), Gregory Rast (Orica) and Samuel Sanchez (Movistar).The intermediate sprint in Padron was 140 kilometers from the finish line but they had already opened a gap of 4 minutes over the bunch. Fran Ventoso was quickest in the sprint of the peloton.
Simone Ponzi was the quickest in the main bunch ahead of Michael Matthews and Kenny van Hummel at the second intermediate sprint in Tal, 43 kilometers from the finish line. The gap had grown to 8' 30'' and it was clear that no team in the peloton was willing to chase. Discovery joined Lotto at the front for a while but the pace was never too high. Nevertheless, Jurgen van den Broeck was only 12 minutes behind in the GC before the stage so they would better bring the break back a bit if they don't want surprises.
There was not much to report in the stage before the start of the final climb to Ezaro. Moreno Moser attacked a few kilometers before the climb and started the 2 kilometers long ascent with a gap of 20 seconds on the rest of the break. Jurgen van den Broeck had been the rider making most of the effort to try to bring him back. Anyway, it did not look like a gap that could not be recovered by the others. Among the riders in the break the favorite for the win was probably Davide Rebellin. Meanwhile, the gap to the peloton had already grown to 10 minutes.
Moreno Moser was quickly reeled back in by the chasing group and with 600 meters to go it was Vasil Kiryienka leading Davide Rebellin. The two of them had opened a tiny gap over Jurgen van den Broeck and Lieuwe Westra, while Gregory Rast was struggling to stay in touch with them. The climb is really tough and will generate gaps even if the riders don't attack because it was very difficult to chase wheels in such a gradient. There are parts in excess of 20%.
Vasil Kiryienka wins at the Mirador de Ezaro! The Belarusian managed to hold off Davide Rebellin and got his first win of the season after a really long break. It had been a rather anonymous season for Kiryienka working as a domestique for the whole season. Davide Rebellin seemed able to get ahead of the Tinkoff rider but in the end the gradient was too much for him. Jurgen van den Broeck crossed the finish line 17 seconds behind, followed by Lieuwe Westra, while Gregory Rast was 5th.
The peloton had not even started to climb when Vasil Kiryienka crossed the finish line. When the climb started Kenny Dehaes and Oliver Zaugg tried to open a gap but Lotto made the pace harder for Jelle Vanendert, who jumped inside the last kilometer. Other important riders like David Lopez and Laurens Ten Dam had started the climb well positioned but there were many others that were having trouble making progress in the very steep climb.
Jelle Vanendert was the quickest up the hill in the main bunch and crossed the line 10' 47'' behind Vasil Kiryienka. The leader managed to open a gap of 21 seconds over his chasers, led by his teammate Robert Kiserlovski and Laurens Ten Dam across the line. It was a good bounty over a group where Frank Schleck also featured. However, a larger group lost 1' 05'' to Vanendert and a few of the top riders lost time, including Jerome Coppel, Cadel Evans and Tejay van Garderen. The climb did not suit them but they should have been way more alert at the bottom.
The huge gap between the break and the peloton meant that Jurgen van den Broeck climbed to the 4th position overall after getting almost 11 minutes back. He is now 2 minutes behind the leader, Jelle Vanendert. He is not a bad climber at all and all of a sudden Cannondale has 2 cards to play in the upcoming mountain stages. A podium would be too much but maybe a top 10 finish is on the cards for him. It was a positive on a stage that was really dull due to the strange profile of the route.
I really don't like these completely flat stages finishing in a garage ramp with silly percentages. It would be better placed 20 kilometers from the finish line.
This will be the 4th day of the Vuelta in Galicia this season. For today's stage the predictions are not so clear. The stage is classified as flat but the route is not that easy to control for the main bunch and it will depend on how strong the break is when it comes to the last 30 kilometers of racing. Nevertheless, the odds are still on the peloton's side. The weather has also taken a turn towards the occasional rain so it might be a miserable day for the riders.
Forming the break of the day was a really quick affair today. A group of 5 riders attacked very early in the day and they soon opened a gap. They were Simon Gerrans (Trek), Bryan Coquard (FDJ), Martin Elmiger (Orica), Wilco Kelderman (Giant) and Stefan Schumacher (HTC). They had built a gap of 4 minutes over the main bunch at the top of the Alto de San Vicenzo, 144 kilometers from the finish line. The peloton was taking the start of the day easy and only Astana and LottoNL had a few riders at the front setting an easy pace.
The second intermediate sprint was placed in La Coruña, 60 kilometers from the finish line. Kenny van Hummel was quickest in the peloton ahead of Marcel Kittel and Tyler Farrar. The Dutch keeps making the gap at the top of the points' classification bigger and bigger and it now looks unlikely that anyone will take it from him. The gap to the front group had been reduced to 3' 30'' but the riders were heading for a rather tricky terrain with a couple of little hills that will make the chasing a bit more difficult.
The break kept working together with 8 kilometers to go, which was a surprise as they could have started attacking each other. However, their gap on the bunch was only 25 seconds and it looked unlikely that they could hold it to the finish. They were already in the streets of Ferrol, where they had to do a small loop. LottoNL, Astana and Tinkoff were taking turns at the front of the pack with stronger riders like Yoann Offredo in these last few kilometers so the mass sprint looked very likely at this point.
The break was caught as expected and with 3 kilometers to go the sprint trains were already taking shape. Tinkoff had Gianni Meersman to work from Tyler Farrar. They were leading the way. Astana was alongside with Grega Bole as the last man working for Marcel Kittel. Kenny van Hummel quickly took the wheel of the German. There were problems between the Astana riders and the Tinkoff rider in the fight for positioning. Among the rest of the sprinters the ones that were better positioned were Mark Cavendish, Jurgen Roelandts and Tony Gallopin.
There were two very difficult turns in the last couple of kilometers than ruined the positioning of some of the sprinters but the two sprint trains went through without difficulties. Gianni Meersman did a very good job again to deliver Tyler Farrar but the Astana train was also right behind. Among the riders that started the sprint from far out were Simone Ponzi and Michael Matthews, who were making progress close to the barriers on the right hand side of the road. Kenny van Hummel was keeping his head down and following Marcel Kittel's wheel.
Simone Ponzi charged and took the lead of the sprint with 600 meters to go while Gianni Meersman was still leading Tyler Farrar. Kenny van Hummel had jumped from the wheel of the American and was already on par with him. Michael Matthews was also close to those riders but already showing signs that he had started the final sprint from way too far out. Marcel Kittel and Tony Gallopin were behind but the German had a wall of riders ahead and could not find a way past.
Kenny van Hummel wins in Ferrol! It was the Van Hummel show once again in the sprint although today it was not that easy and Simone Ponzi even celebrated the win. The Italian had to settle for the second place. This is the 4th win for Van Hummel in the Vuelta, a real achievement that not too many sprinters can get. To put it into perspective, Jose Joaquin Rojas won 5 times in the 2014 Vuelta. As we said Simone Ponzi got the 2nd place and almost surprised everyone while Marcel Kittel was 3rd and might have lost the win as he was blocked for a while.
The top 5 was completed by Tony Gallopin and Joost van Leijen. Van Leijen was not supposed to be a good sprinter but got a win in Logroño and has been in the mix in a few other stages. For the GC riders it was a very easy day but the rest is over for them and there will be 4 consecutive mountain-top finishes mostly in really hard climbs. By the time these 4 stages are over we should have a clear idea of who will be taking the overall win in Madrid.
