The 19th stage of the 2016 Vuelta a España was also mostly flat but the final is not that easy for the sprinters. Even though it will most likely be a mass sprint the last 2 kilometers are slightly uphill so it is unclear who will be the sprinters that will have a bigger chance. The first names that come to mind are Simone Ponzi and Michael Matthews, although some other more hilly riders could also get in the mix. In terms of the GC this should be a non-event.
The break of the day was a bit larger than what the teams of the sprinters would have liked but other teams might get in the mix to chase. The group of 9 riders included riders like Tom Slagter (Cannondale), Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil), Nick Nuyens (BMC), Stefan Schumacher (HTC) and Bryan Coquard (FDJ). At the 92 kilometers to go mark they had built a gap of 5' 20'' over the main bunch. At that time, it was LottoNL and Astana mainly setting the pace but they were not really chasing.
The second intermediate sprint was placed in Villacastin and even though there was only 1 point on offer Kenny van Hummel sprinted and beat Marcel Kittel and Mark Cavendish. The gap to the break had dropped considerably and was only 2' 30'' with 56 kilometers to go. This meant that the options of the riders at the front were slim to make it to the finish line. The wind was blowing at some parts of the stage but it was not expected to play a role in the final kilometers of the stage.
Sergey Lagutin dropped from the early break before they were caught. With 8 kilometers to go their gap was only 20 seconds but with a peloton that was chasing at full speed they had no hopes. They stuck together but even without attacks the pace would not be enough. The lead of the bunch was done by LottoNL and Astana and riders like Samuel Dumoulin, Davide Formolo and Andrea Guardini. The final part of the stage was quite unusual as the peloton had to go through the town of Segovia to finish at the small village of La Lastrilla.
The sprint trains started to take shape with 3 kilometers to go, once the early break had been caught. LottoNL had the lead with Alessandro Petacchi ready to lead Kenny van Hummel. Jelle Vanendert was keen to fight for the stage today and he was following the Dutch. Astana would have Grega Bole to lead Marcel Kittel and Mark Renshaw was right behind. On the other side of the road Tinkoff would have Gianni Meersman ahead of Tyler Farrar and Jose Joaquin Rojas, the Spaniard one of the favorites in an uphill sprint. Simone Ponzi and Mark Cavendish were also close to the front.
Grega Bole was doing a perfect lead out for Marcel Kittel and with a bit more than 1 kilometer to go the German was in a perfect position. It would be interesting to see whether he would not suffer due to the uphill. Meanwhile, Alessandro Petacchi could not lead Kenny van Hummel and the Dutch was suddenly unprotected. It was not the best finish for him and that would make things more difficult. Jose Joaquin Rojas and Simone Ponzi were well positioned and were in principle among the best uphill sprinters so they might have a chance.
Marcel Kittel did not look hurt by the uphill and the last kilometer was almost flat again. He was clearly ahead everyone else with 600 meters to go. Tyler Farrar was the first chaser ahead of Jose Joaquin Rojas. Also close to the front was Joost van Leijen, who could be a fast finisher in this difficult final sprint. Among the others, Simone Ponzi and Michael Matthews were a bit too far from the front to be a threat for the stage. They should have been better positioned to be a factor.
Marcel Kittel wins in La Lastrilla! This was a real show of power from the German, who took the win in a very unlikely stage for him, given that he is not the best sprinting uphill. This is the second win for Kittel in the Vuelta and his 3rd of the season. This will go down well with his teammates, who had been fed up of working without reward for many days. Mark Renshaw finished very strongly but had to settle for the 2nd place ahead of Tyler Farrar. The top 5 was completed by Jose Joaquin Rojas and Mark Cavendish.
Today was not the day for Kenny van Hummel, the dominator of the sprints in this Vuelta. He could not manage to hold on at the hardest part of the uphill as his sprint train crumbled and could only finish 7th. The sprinters will have an easier chance on Sunday in Madrid but tomorrow there will be a last chance for the GC riders to gain or lose positions in the overall classification. The Vuelta is closing to the end.
The penultimate stage in the Vuelta a España is the last that the GC riders will have to fight in the mountains. The route is a continuous up and down the mountains North of Madrid. The riders will have to tackle one 2nd category climb, three 1st category and the final HC climb to the Bola del Mundo, which is the climb to Navacerrada with an additional 3 kilometers with extreme gradients. Tomorrow's stage in Madrid will only serve as a goodbye party so the GC will be settled today.
The first difficulty of the day was the Alto de Navafria, a 1st category climb 136 kilometers from the finish line. A group of 14 had been formed at the front of the race and no team in the bunch could care about bringing them back. It included Tanel Kangert (HTC), Samuel Sanchez (Movistar), Domenico Pozzovivo (Trek), Tiago Machado (Tinkoff), Julien Simon (FDJ), Tom Slagter (Cannondale) and Franco Pellizotti (BMC). They had built a gap of 4' 20'' and Julien Simon was the only rider interested in the KoM point and took maximum.
The second climb of the day, the Puerto de Canencia, was 99 kilometers from the finish line but the gap of the break had sky-rocketed to 10' 15''. None of the riders ahead were dangerous in the GC and Euskaltel was more worried about keeping the team together than chasing. The Spaniard team was leading the bunch with riders like Gorka Izagirre, Greg van Avermaet and Zdenek Stybar. They are not the best to do chasing on a mountain stage. Samuel Sanchez moved to the 3rd provisional place in the mountains' classification, so he could have a shot at it.
The Puerto de la Morcuera was the toughest of the climbs apart from the finishing Bola del Mundo. Julien Simon was still the only rider that was interested in the KoM points but it was Samuel Sanchez who had a shot of taking it at the end of the day. Meanwhile, Zdenek Stybar was still setting the pace at the bunch and the gap increased to 12 minutes with 82 kilometers to go. It was a bit disappointing that none of the other teams was willing to make things difficult for the leader and they were resigned to leaving the GC win to David Lopez.
Greg van Avermaet was leading the bunch at the top of the Puerto de Cotos but it had been Dani Moreno setting the pace during most of the climb, which meant that Euskaltel had increased the pace quite a bit. Nevertheless, the gap to the break was 14 minutes with 53 kilometers remaining so the stage win was practically guaranteed for them. Samuel Sanchez added to his tally of KoM points and got within 4 points of David Lopez with only 1 categorized climb to go in the race.
The battle between the riders in the break started at the bottom of the climb to Navacerrada. The first attempt was led by Julian Arredondo and followed by Peter Velits and Domenico Pozzovivo. The Italian had already won at the top of the Cuitu Negru and was one of the best climbers in the break. With 12 kilometers to go they had a gap of 15 seconds but Tiago Machado and Tanel Kangert had reacted and were actively chasing. The peloton was still in the false flat leading to the final climb.
Jelle Vanendert decided to give it a go from the bottom of the climb and test whether David Lopez was still in shape in the latter part of the Vuelta. He opened a gap with two BMC riders, Emanuele Sella and Peter Stetina, alongside Juanjo Cobo and Robert Gesink. Joaquim Rodriguez was leading the peloton for Euskaltel as David Lopez was keeping it calm as they trailed 30 seconds behind. They had a lot of time on their hands not to be too worried about Vanendert so far.
Jelle Vanendert's group did not go anywhere and many other attackers were reeled in by the peloton. Juanjo Cobo attacked just before the 10 kilometers to go banner and was being followed by Robert Gesink, Emanuele Sella and Mathias Frank. Many of the attackers were persistent even though they had already been caught before. None of them was dangerous in the GC so they were not chased by Joaquim Rodriguez, who was still leading the bunch of 55 riders. Meanwhile, Domenico Pozzovivo was leading the race alone with the rest of the break around 20 seconds behind. They had plenty of time to fight for the stage among them.
Jelle Vanendert and Peter Stetina had opened a gap again with 6 kilometers to go but all the attacks had been reeled back in by the group of the leader so far. However, they are one of the pairs most dangerous that can be thought of in the mountains. Jerome Coppel had relieved the Euskaltel domestiques in setting the pace and the size of the group had decreased dramatically. Meanwhile, the break riders were already within 3 kilometers of the finish, already past the top of Navacerrada and heading to the Bola del Mundo. Domenico Pozzovivo had been caught back.
Franco Pellizotti proved to be strongest in the final super steep part of the climb. The Italian entered the last kilometer with a 45 seconds gap over a chasing group led by Domenico Pozzovivo, Wilco Kelderman, Tom Slagter and Mauro Santambrogio. Pellizotti had been basically disappeared during the whole Vuelta only to appear in the penultimate stage. Meanwhile, it was Frank Schleck that had opened a gap in the steeper part of the climb. He had 15 seconds over a group of 7 riders including the leader of the race.
Franco Pellizotti wins in the Bola del Mundo! The BMC rider was the strongest in the final part of the climb, the very steep addition to the climb to Navacerrada that takes the riders to the top of the ski resort. This is the first win of the season for Pellizotti, who had had quite a difficult year so far with no results at all. He crossed the finish line 23 seconds ahead of Wilco Kelderman, who was second in the sprint of the chasers ahead of Tiago Machado, Domenico Pozzovivo and Tom Slagter. On paper, riders like Machado, Pozzovivo and Tanel Kangert should have been better climbers but it was too late in the Vuelta and Pellizotti played his cards right.
The favorites finished more than 4 minutes behind. David Lopez ratified that he was clearly the best rider up the mountains in this Vuelta by taking 29 seconds at the finish line over Jelle Vanendert and Frank Schleck, who will finish in the podium tomorrow in Madrid. Another group finished 1' 03'' behind the Spaniard including Laurens Ten Dam, Peter Stetina, Jerome Coppel, Levi Leipheimer and Robert Kiserlovski. The Croatian gained time on many others but fell short of a top 10 finish by 32 seconds.
The KoM classification ended tied between David Lopez and Samuel Sanchez but the tie breakers mean that the Spaniard will take the win tomorrow in Madrid. The race is basically over with only the final day party in Madrid where the sprinters will have another chance of taking a stage win. David Lopez will surely win the race with Jelle Vanendert and Frank Schleck joining him in the podium. On the other hand, there were big disappointments, especially Bauke Mollema and Denis Menchov, both far away from the top 10 since early in the race.
Most of the riders will be grateful that the race is finally over and only the final parade in Madrid is pending. Today's stage is quite short at only 92 kilometers as the riders will go down from the mountains in Cercedilla to the capital of Spain, where the race will finish. It will be a 92 kilometers stage with a final circuit in Madrid that should pose no difficulties and where the sprinters should fight for the last stage win of the race.
The first intermediate sprint of the day was so early on that no break had been formed yet. It was placed in Los Negrales, only 18 kilometers into today's stage. Kenny van Hummel was quickest ahead of Marcel Kittel and Tyler Farrar even though he had already mathematically won the green jersey. A first break attempt had already been brought back but the break of the day should still be formed in the next few kilometers.
A group of 9 riders finally formed the break today, way bigger than what the teams of the sprinters would have liked. It included Stefan Schumacher (HTC), Tom van Asbroeck (Vacansoleil), Lars Boom (Giant) and Jonathan Castroviejo (Ag2r). The had a gap at the intermediate sprint in Pozuelo of 2 minutes over the peloton. Astana was taking the most active role in chasing as they wanted to increase Marcel Kittel's tally in the Vuelta.
It was quite hard for the main bunch to chase the break down and at the 9 kilometers mark the gap was still 25 seconds and it was coming down really slowly. There had been no attacks among the members of the break and that made it more difficult for the likes of Andrea Guardini, Alessandro de Marchi and Maxim Iglinskiy, who were leading the bunch. It was clear that these riders had done a lot of efforts in the Vuelta and were paying it now. There might even be a surprise today.
Tom van Asbroeck was the lonely rider ahead with 3 kilometers to go but he was about to be reeled back in as the sprinter trains were starting to take shape. Tinkoff was leading the way in the bunch with Gianni Meersman ahead of Tyler Farrar, while Theo Bos had taken the American's wheel. In LottoNL it would be Alessandro Petacchi to work for Kenny van Hummel and Tony Gallopin had taken the most precious wheel in the sprint. On the other hand, Astana's train was a big mess and Marcel Kittel had lost track with his teammates and was a bit isolated.
Alessandro Petacchi was doing a perfect lead-out for Kenny van Hummel and delivering the Dutch in prime position to the last kilometer. However, Tinkoff was also doing a good job and Gianni Meersman was almost on par with them. Marcel Kittel was still way too far back and would have to do a good effort if he wants to fight for the stage. Among the rest of the sprinters that might be in with a shot were Tony Gallopin, Theo Bos, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Michael Matthews.
Alessandro Petacchi was still leading Kenny van Hummel with 600 meters to go. This might be a mistake by the Dutch in a slightly downhill sprint as the other sprinters were starting to get past. Fran Ventoso was already ahead with Joost van Leijen closing in. Tyler Farrar was doing the same mistake as Gianni Meersman was 5th on the road at that point. Among the other riders getting close and in a position to fight for the stage we could find Jose Joaquin Rojas, Tony Gallopin and Marcel Kittel.
Jose Joaquin Rojas wins in Madrid! That was a very close finish to the stage as Rojas grabs his first win of the season by narrowly beating Fran Ventoso. Rojas came really fast from behind and confirmed the feeling that he was finishing the Vuelta on a high. It was great disappointment for Ventoso, who thought for a second that he could take the win. The third place went to a fast finishing Jurgen Roelandts, while Joost van Leijen and Kenny van Hummel completed the top 5.
As expected, there were no changes in any of the other classifications today. David Lopez won the race, taking his first Grand Tour, and will be joined in the final podium by Jelle Vanendert and Frank Schleck. Lopez also took the mountains' classification tied with Samuel Sanchez. Lopez's season has been nothing short of outstanding and basically guarantees that he will win the World Tour rankings at the end of the year.
The Vuelta is finished and the World of cycling moves to the other side of the pond to enjoy a weekend of racing in Canada before heading to Qatar for the World Championships. The Grand Prix de Quebec is raced on the Friday and takes place around the Citadelle de Quebec and close to the Saint Lawrence river. The circuit is hilly but not so hard that a big group will not make it to the final uphill section to the Citadelle. Therefore, the result is a bit unpredictable with both a late attack of a small group or an uphill sprint to the line as possible outcomes.
The defending champion of the race is Simone Ponzi and he will be at the start line this season as well. The previous winners had been Joost van Leijen and Janez Brajkovic. Meanwhile, Sylvain Chavanel has been 2nd twice but given his shape in the current season he would be a very unlikely winner. The race has not been dominated by any kind of rider but at least the pure sprinters should be discarded for the win unless a break manages to make it to the very end.
Favorites:
- Simone Ponzi (Team Katusha): Ponzi was last year's winner of the Quebec race after passing Sylvain Chavanel, who was ahead of the bunch, in the last few meters of the stage. The Italian has a very good set of skills for this race as it is difficult for the hills riders to break from the bunch but the final sprint is a bit uphill, making it almost impossible for the pure sprinters. Katusha will probably want to control the race for the Italian.
- Philippe Gilbert (Trek Factory Racing): Gilbert would be a more solid bet for the stage if the circuit was a bit harder or longer. The Belgian has had good results in hilly classics, like the podium in Liege this season but his only win came in the Giro d'Italia. He has stated that he is not completely satisfied with the way things are going in the season and is expecting to get something out of the Canadian classics.
- Tony Gallopin (BMC Racing Team): Tony Gallopin has won twice this year but the perception is that a rider that is considered a leader in BMC should have contributed a lot more in a season. The French underwent a bad time in last couple of years until he won in Plouay last season. In 2016 he has been a bit more consistent but he is still lacking results. BMC should join Katusha in controlling the race as an uphill sprint would be feasible to win for Gallopin.
- Joost van Leijen (Team Giant - Alpecin): Van Leijen is among the best hills riders at the start if not the best. The Giant rider won the Amstel Gold Race earlier in the season and proved to be in top shape in the Vuelta, where he also got a stage win. However, he will need to make the race harder and Giant does not look like a team that can do the job for him. Therefore, he might have to attack himself in the last couple of laps if he means to get something out of the race.
Other riders with a chance are Greg van Avermaet and Rinaldo Nocentini (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Davide Rebellin (Astana Pro Team), Andrew Talansky (HTC - Highroad), Rui Costa (Ag2r - La Mondiale) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing).
There will be 16 laps to the 12.6 kilometers long circuit by the river Saint Lawrence in Quebec in a race that is classified flat but that is definitely not for the sprinters. There is only one climb in the circuit but very close to the finish line for the sprinters to have a chance of taking the win. It is more likely that a puncheur or even a late attack is successful at the Citadelle of Quebec. The weather will be quite nice for the riders but that will make the race a tad easier.
The break of the day was quite good and that made the first part of the race quite fast compared to what was expected. The group of 7 included riders like Andy Schleck (Vacansoleil - DMC), Jurgen van den Broeck (Cannondale), Juanjo Cobo (HTC), Luis Leon Sanchez (Discovery) and Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Lampre). With 108 kilometers to go they had opened a gap of 5' 20'' on the bunch but the gap was never allowed to grow too big. Trek and Katusha were the teams that were controlling the pace in the bunch so far.
Trek was chasing with Philippe Gilbert and Simon Gerrans at the front with 4 laps to go, which is rather surprising as they would be racing for Giacomo Nizzolo apparently. The gap had come down to 2' 50'' but the race seemed much too hard for a rather pure sprinter like Nizzolo. Other riders chasing were Rinaldo Nocentini (Euskaltel) and Ben Hermans (Katusha). All of them are good over the hills and the climbs were done at a rather fast pace. Nevertheless, they would have to work hard to chase them back as the group ahead was quite fast.
The first important attack in the latter part of the race came from Andrew Talansky. He attacked at the top of the hill with 3 laps to go. The HTC rider had Juanjo Cobo at the break and if he made it there the two could be really dangerous. He attacked more than 30 kilometers from the finish line and at the 30 km mark was trailing the break by 1' 05'', while the peloton was 1' 50'' behind. Nick Nuyens tried to go with him but could not manage to follow. Domenico Pozzovivo and Rein Taaramae were chasing hard at the bunch but not cutting back Talansky's gap.
The break was pushing hard at the front of the race but the gap was dropping fast. Andrew Talansky was only 25 seconds behind with 19 kilometers to go, while the bunch was 1' 05'' behind. BMC took the lead with riders like Tony Gallopin and Alessandro Ballan chasing. It was strange as Gallopin should be the rider looking for the win. It was unclear who the team leader was but it might be Dries Devenyns. IAM also started chasing. Too many team were working behind so the fate of the break was unclear.
Most of the break was chased down at the penultimate climb to the Citadelle de Quebec. Only Jonathan Tiernan-Locke survived at the front and the void in power at the chasing group meant that he could open the gap to 45 seconds. BMC had put Alessandro Ballan and Nick Nuyens in a chasing group of 4 riders but they did not like it and were the ones chasing them down. The peloton had been reduced quite a bit in the last climb and Giant riders were bringing Joost van Leijen to the front of the group.
Johan Vansummeren, Cameron Meyer and Alessandro Ballan jumped from the main group and were chasing Jonathan Tiernan-Locke with 5 kilometers to go. They were 20 seconds behind but again BMC did not think having Ballan ahead was a good option for them and were chasing. If they kept this behaviour they would end up gifting the win to any random rider that takes advantage. Tiernan-Locke has done a very good effort but it looked unlikely that he would survive the final climb.
Everyone ahead had been chased down at the start of the climb and Tony Gallopin took the chance to attack with 2 kilometers to go. He quickly opened a tiny gap of 5 seconds over a group led by Cameron Meyer. The group was greatly reduced and the range of riders that could take the win was very narrow. Anthony Roux and Bernhard Eisel were right behind Meyer while other riders like Simone Ponzi, Dries Devenyns and Greg van Avermaet were well positioned.
Tony Gallopin's attack proved to be too hard for every other rider in the front group and with 700 meters to go he had opened a gap of 25 seconds and had the race in the pocket. It turned out that BMC was probably doing the right thing. Meanwhile, Cameron Meyer was leading the sprint of the chasing group ahead of riders like Anthony Roux, Greg van Avermaet, Simone Ponzi and Johan Vansummeren. Their fight would be for the 2nd place in the podium with Ponzi and Van Avermaet as favorites within those riders.
Tony Gallopin wins in Quebec! It was a terrific performance by the French, who attacked at the bottom of the final climb never to be seen again by the group. It has a resemblance to the win he got 1 year ago in Plouay and is a result that improves quite a bit his season so far. BMC was by far the strongest team in the last part of the race and this is a deserved win. The fight for the 2nd place was won by Simone Ponzi, who repeats in the podium after winning last year.
The podium will be completed by Anthony Roux, which was quite surprising. The French was not among the favorites and his performance in the final hill was quite surprising. The top 5 was completed by Greg van Avermaet and Cameron Meyer. Trek's strategy for the race was one of the difficult puzzles to solve. Instead of riding for Philippe Gilbert they decided to go for Giacomo Nizzolo, who finished 7th but behind his teammate Cameron Meyer. Hopefully they will learn from it for the race in Montreal.
Our featured rider of the day is the winner of the GP Cycliste de Quebec, Tony Gallopin. It is a nice coincidence that it was the turn of the French rider to be the character in this section just a day after taking the win in the first of the Canadian races. The 28 years old rider from the Ile-de-France has been amogn the top riders in the World Tour since he joined Quickstep back in 2011. In his rookie season he proved that he was not in cycling to be a domestique and managed to get a stage win in the Dauphine and the 3rd overall position in the Eneco Tour.
His results did not give him the status of a leader in the Belgian team, given that they were one of the powerhouses of the World Tour. Dries Devenyns and Pieter Weening were at the time a couple of outstanding riders. Nevertheless, being a free rider was enough for Gallopin to grab wins at the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia in the years that he stayed in Quickstep, while also being twice in the podium of the Tour Down Under. His best season in terms of results purely was 2012, when he finished in the 12th position in the World Tour.
Gallopin's career was then diverted to BMC Racing, another of the top teams. The American team brought Dries Devenyns as well from Quickstep but they were so strong that the French had to do domestique duties during that season. He quickly got results as he took stage wins at the Paris - Nice and Volta a Catalunya but the rest of his season was unremarkable as he was working for other riders most of the time. His 2015 followed the same pattern until he took the win in the GP Ouest France in Plouay. That was the first win in a classic for Gallopin and changed the perceptions in the team quite a bit.
That result promoted him to a leading role in 2016 and he has repaid the faith that the team put in him with 3 wins, including the latest GP Cycliste de Montreal. Whatever happens at the end of the season with Gallopin will be a mystery as he finishes his contract with the American outfit and there are no signs that he will be renewing his commitment with them. A rider that can grab several wins at the end of a season is always very valuable for any outfit and the contract the he will get will surely be a good one.
what is mpardo doing?? every cyclist has 33 years and stats under 65?
