Halfway through the Vuelta we reach the only individual time trial of the tour. It is a rather long 47 kilometers, so the specialists should do well. However, considering that the whole route is very biased towards the climbers, only those that do good climbing have a chance to win the Vuelta.
Tom Boonen was the first among the favorites for the stage win to hit the road. The Belgian also had to help HTC maintain the lead in the team classification. He improved Petacchi’s time in all three sectors to end up 1st 52 seconds faster than the Italian.
Samuel Sanchez was the main favorite for the win and he met the expectations when he improved Boonen’s time by 35 seconds at the finish. The Spaniard already had two time trial wins this season and expected to add another one.
Oscar Freire was expected to do well, considering the good Vuelta he is having, but he was setting bad times all around the road. When he crossed the line he was a provisional 22nd, 1’ 46’’ slower than Sanchez.
Rigoberto Urán was the main threat remaining to Sanchez’s best time. The Sky rider was strong and took advantage of the decreasing wind that hampered a lot of riders in the morning. In the end it wasn’t enough, as he crossed the line 2nd, 14 seconds slower than the Spaniard.
Jelle Vanendert, the fourth overall and green jersey, crossed the second intermediate only 24 seconds behind Sanchez. And now the wind was helping him on the way back to Salamanca. He was faster than Sanchez in that last sector, but slower overall: 3rd +19 seconds.
Peraud was working hard to maintain his third position overall. As he crossed the second intermediate point he only had 6 seconds on Vanendert. He suffered on the way back to the finish to end 5th, 39 seconds behind and keeping the third spot by 2 seconds.
Hubert Dupont would surely be aiming to reduce the difference to Weening in the GC. He was matching Peraud’s times, a rider he expected to beat in the time trial. He was 6th in the finish line, 43 seconds slower than Sanchez.
The leader was expecting a hard time on the time trial, but it wasn’t too bad for him. He was marginally faster than Dupont in both intermediate points and in the end he took the 6th place in the stage from him.
The time trial was not very relevant for the GC all in all. Most of the favorites were evenly matched, while the worse time among the top ten was for Denis Menchov. The Russian lost 2’ 08’’ with Samuel Sanchez.
The second part of the race starts after a rest day and a transfer to Galicia. The eleventh stage is another mountain top finish, and the hardest so far. Besides, the route towards Cabeza de Manzaneda is plagued with small climbs and hills, so the riders won’t be very fresh in the slopes of the last climb.
The break of the day took shape very early on the stage. By the time the group of 6 riders reached the second climb of the day (Alto da Gonza), they already held an advantage of 7 minutes over the peloton. The most notable names in the break were Edvald Boasson Hagen, Alessandro Ballan and Taylor Phinney.
The peloton started chasing late in the stage and by the time the riders went through the second sprint their deficit was 5’ 50’’. That when the interesting part of the stage arrived, as this was the start of the climb to La Ermida.
Jean-Christophe Peraud had tough luck on the climb to La Ermida, as he suffered a puncture and was losing 2 minutes on the top. Three teammates waited for him, including Andy Schleck, to bring him back in the main group in the first slopes of Manzaneda.
The break soon split on the tough slopes of the start of the climb. Ballan, Froome and Phinney seemed to be the strongest while the peloton is 4’ 20’’ behind. They have a chance if Weening doesn’t have the same legs as in previous days.
Alessandro Ballan was feeling better than in Sierra Nevada, when he couldn’t even be the best of the break. He left Froome and Phinney and headed for victory. With 10 km remaining, he had 40 seconds on the duo and he was keeping the difference with the peloton in 4’ 20’’.
The leader is the first attacker again in the peloton. Dupont is successful in following him this time and that is something new in this year’s Vuelta, as no one had been able to follow the Dutch.
Dupont is the man setting the pace with 4 km to go. He has Weening and Tondo on his wheel, while Hincapie, Peraud and Vanendert are 45 seconds behind. Meanwhile Ballan is on his own close to start celebrating.
Ballan crosses the last kilometer banner with slightly less than 2 minutes on his hands. That’s going to be the first win of the season for the Italian.
Alessandro Ballan wins in La Manzaneda! The Italian completes a very long break with a very fast climb up the last climb to record one of the few stage wins of Liquigas this season.
Hubert Dupont arrives third and, although he seemed to leave Weening behind in the sprint, the judges don’t give any time difference between them. Xavi Tondo was also in the same time, while Vanendert and Hincapie ended up losing more than 1’ 30’’ and Peraud was two minutes behind the race leaders.
Jelle Vanendert has therefore jumped ahead Peraud for the third spot overall and Xavi Tondo has gotten himself in the fight for the podium, as he is less than one minute behind. The biggest jump of the day is that of Ballan, who is now placed 8th overall and will have a much tougher time finding a break.
The climbers take a breather before the very hard trio of stages that awaits the riders in the weekend: Ancares, Farrapona and Angliru. Today we have a rather flat stage with only two small climbs in the central part of the stage. After that the riders head to the coast around Pontevedra, where the wind could play a role.
A group of 6 riders with no one dangerous in the GC has 8’ 25’’ on the peloton climbing the second hill of the day, Ponte Caldeas. The most notable riders are Rui da Costa, Wout Poels and Cadel Evans.
The peloton decided to take the day off today, so with 15 kilometers to go it was losing 10 minutes to the break. Garmin only started to chase to protect the white jersey of Chris Froome. Cadel Evans and Rinaldo Nocentini were the first to attack off the leading group.
And the attack was good, the misunderstanding of the others in the break means that both of them reach the last kilometer with a margin of 25 seconds.
Cadel Evans wins in Pontevedra! He looked much stronger than Nocentini in the sprint. Laurens Ten Dam was able to win the sprint for the third place in the stage. This was a much needed win for a troubled Sky team. The British had only been able to win stages with Uran this season and many of their riders have been completely unseen.
Tyler Farrar won the bunch sprint, 6’ 42’’ behind the stage winner. The sprinters lost one of the few opportunities remaining, and this leaves the fight for the green jersey really difficult for Farrar.
This day was a welcome rest for many of the riders in the peloton, as the fatigue is accumulating in their legs. The three following days are the most decisive for the GC, as the weekend in Asturias will most likely leave the winner of the Vuelta settled.
The Sierra de Ancares will be the first stage of the trio that will most likely decide the result of the Vuelta. The hardest climb of the day is the Alto de Ancares, with 12 km at 7.8%, but it is 60 kilometers before the finish in Ponferrada. However, Ancares is not alone, as the Hors Categorie climb has a previous first category, Folgueiras d’Aigas.
A group of 7 riders was ahead at the top of Folgueiras d’Aigas, the third categorized climb of the day. Among them were John Gadret, Mikel Nieve and Thor Hushovd. Behind them, Oscar Freire and Lloyd Mondory had jumped in this climb and were 1’ 50’’ behind. The Spaniard is 15th overall, so the peloton won’t be letting him go too far. The pack crowned he mountain with 6 minutes lost on the first group.
Bauke Mollema is the first to attack on the climb to Ancares. However, he is not very successful. Meanwhile, Oscar Freire left Lloyd Mondory behind and got to the front group, that now has 5’ 35’’ on the pack.
Euskaltel was increasing the pace in the climb to Ancares and the peloton eventually broke. Ahead was a group with all the favorites except for Weening. Was this the first weakness from the leader?
Oscar Freire was in the fight for the mountains jersey again after going first through the mountain sprint in Ancares. The break had 3’ 45’’ on the favorites group now. After this, a favorable terrain awaited the riders, except the climbs to Lumeras and Ocero.
Marco Marcato seems to feel good and attacks on the start of the climb to Lumeras. By this time Weening is already losing 1’ 45’’ and doesn’t have much help from his teammates.
The front group goes through the mountain sprint and Oscar Freire takes enough points to wear the mountain jersey again. A smaller group has taken shape behind, with Tondo, Peraud, Marcato and Hincapie 1’ 55’’ behind.
Immediately after the climb to Lumeras comes the second intermediate sprint in Ocero. The break has only 40 seconds on George Hincapie, who decided to leave his group; 1’ 05’’ on Tondo, Marcato and Peraud; and 1’ 45’’ on the group of Dupont and Vanendert. The leader decided to attack from the peloton, as his teammates weren’t of much help. Weening crossed the sprint 2’ 35’’ after Freire.
Weening didn’t look to be burnt out and quickly got to the group of Vanendert, Dupont and David Lopez. They had 20 kilometers to chase the other favorites.
The front group had grown to 13 riders as George Hincapie, Xavi Tondo, Marco Marcato and Jean-Christophe Peraud all made it in. With 4 km to go the sprint was being prepared.
George Hincapie wins in Ponferrada! The American found the help of Mikel Nieve when he reached the break and completed the day for BMC with a much deserved victory. Oscar Freire and Marco Marcato came right behind but the win for the American was never in danger.
Jelle Vanendert attacked in the last kilometers and built a little gap on the leaders. This won’t save him from losing the third spot in the GC though. The Belgian arrived 50 second behind, while Weening and Dupont were 1’ 18’’ late.
Peraud jumps now to third overall, a good performance by the French. Meanwhile, Hincapie keeps the 7th overall, but could be a lot better if he hadn’t lost 4 minutes after a crash on the way to Cordoba. This was a nice appetizer for the mountain finishes of the weekend in Asturias.
The fourteenth stage is probably the queen stage of this Vuelta. However, all the climbing is left for the last 40 kilometers of the stage. Having said that, the riders will have to face two Hors Categorie climbs, San Lorenzo and La Farrapona. The first one is a very steep climb, with its last 6 kilometers averaging almost 11%. After a very quick descent, the climb to La Farrapona is a long one in 18 km. The lack of flat terrain will reward the attacks made in San Lorenzo.
The peloton took the day off until the town of SamartÃn de Teverga, where the climb to San Lorenzo starts. Leopard was the team that set the early pace, with Frank Schleck very active in front of the pack.
Euskaltel was very keen to get the peloton upside down, as Xavi Tondo and David Lopez attacked. They were only followed by Jelle Vanendert. The trio had 55 seconds on the pack with 2.5 km to the mountain sprint.
George Hincapie led the peloton over the top, 1’ 10’’ behind the break. Most of the favorites were sitting quietly on a group that still had many riders.
Uran was the first to attack on the slopes of La Farrapona, with 15 km to go. The break had 1 minute on Uran and 1’ 35’’ on a group of favorites with around 30 units. Marco Marcato failed to make it into that group and was trying to recover.
Jean-Christophe Peraud attacks in the small flat on the middle of the climb. He goes past Uran and only Dupont and Weening seem able to follow the Frenchman.
David Lopez starts to suffer as the pace of his teammate Tondo is very high. As they cross the 5 km banner, the trio has 1’ 10’’ on Weening, Hincapie, Dupont and Peraud; 1’ 40’’ on Uran; 2’ 20’’ on the small group and 3’ 05’’ on Marcato. The Italian is seeing his chances in this Vuelta go away.
The couple of French raise the level in the followers and catch the Euskaltels and Vanendert with 3 km to go. The leader is not there and may lose some of his advantage in the slopes of La Farrapona.
Xavi Tondo goes for glory, as he raises the pace with 1.5 km and no one follows. Meanwhile, Weening is losing 1 minute.
Xavi Tondo wins in La Farrapona! The Spaniard takes the queen stage of La Vuelta and the first stage for Euskaltel. 12 seconds behind crossed the line Peraud, while Vanendert, Lopez and Dupont were 27’’ late. The leader could limit his loses to 58 seconds, but it is much less to Dupont, his main threat in the GC, who now is 2’ 09’’ behind.
The loser of the day was Marco Marcato, who ended the stage 12th, 4’ 21’’ behind Tondo and loses the 6th place overall to George Hincapie.
The second week of the Vuelta ends with the mythical climb to the Angliru. The stage is short and with short climbs, but very steep. Just before the monstrous Angliru is his partner, the Cordal, with 5.5 km averaging 9% gradient. However, that is nothing compared to the last 6.5 km of the Angliru averaging over 13%. This is a day were the fatigue that starts accumulating in the riders could cause some of them to explode. Surely we will see some big differences in the finish.
The slopes of the Tenebredo, with ramps of 20%, were the first climbing test of the day. Filippo Pozzato, Michael Matthews, Beñat Intxausti and Alexander Kristoff had 1 minute on Lastras, Boasson Hagen and Langeveld. The peloton was 6’ 10’’ back, but the break was going to need a lot of advantage to face the last two climbs.
Pablo Lastras was the only chaser that was able to connect with the break. The difference with the pack had gone down to 4 minutes, so the chances of success were already very slim.
Frank Schleck was responsible for the pace during the first kilometers of the Cordal. However, the first attack came by George Hincapie. The BMC rider was able to open a small gap but was reeled back in. Jelle Vanendert was more successful, as he topped the climb with a few seconds on the group.
Jelle Vanendert starts the climb with 15 seconds on the group, so nothing to worry about for now. Meanwhile, the break is not far away so the stage win will probably be in the peloton.
Lastras and Matthews are the only survivors of the break in the small flat halfway through the climb to the Angliru. They only have 35’’ on a group of favorites. No Euskaltel rider can be seen on that group, and they are losing 1’ 30’’ with the peloton. It seems they left all they had in yesterday’s exhibition.
Peraud and Hincapie jump from the favorites group and are leading the stage as the toughest slopes arrive. Xavi Tondo was able to recover and joined the chasers, 55 seconds behind the leading duo.
Peraud leaves Hincapie in the Cueña les Cabres, the straight with a gradient of 23.6%. The American loses 25 seconds on the French, while the favorites are still together, 1’ 35’’ behind. Peraud is currently the virtual second on the GC.
No attacks on the chasers group: Vanendert, Weening, Dupont, Tondo, F. Schleck, Marcato and Nieve. With 2 km the leader’s jersey of Weening was starting to be at risk and he took the responsibility to up the pace. The deficit was already 2’ 35’’.
Jean-Christophe Peraud wins in the Angliru! The French had no competition for today’s stage win, as only Hincapie was able to follow his attack. That is the first stage win for Peraud and the second for Leopard in the whole season, but it’s a quality win in one of the most famous climbs in the world. Hincapie ended up 39’’ seconds behind.
Pieter Weening sprinted to bring the favorites 2’ 21’’ later than Peraud. The Dutch keeps the yellow jersey by 45’’ after the mountain weekend. On the last kilometer Marco Marcato and Mikel Nieve fell behind this group and ended up losing 3’ 26’’.
Apart from Peraud move on the GC, Frank Schleck moved into the top 10 after holding the entire climb with the favorites. The perception was that the three consecutive days of mountains would leave the GC decided, but nothing near that happened. The stage ending in Peña Cabarga is the most suitable for GC moves, but after that it is difficult to see where an attack could be successful.
The last week of La Vuelta starts after a short transfer and a rest day. The sixteenth stage is one of the easiest in this year’s route, as it is almost pancake flat. The route goes from West to East across the highlands in the north of Spain. It will be the first chance for a sprint in a long time, as the sprinters missed the stage before the set of mountains.
A group of 9 riders was hopeful that the peloton would allow them to make it to the finish. The most notable names were Jose Joaquin Rojas, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Jose Rujano and Joaquim Rodriguez. In the first intermediate sprint, with 82 kilometers to go, they had 7’ 20’’ on the peloton. However, Garmin and Saxo Bank had already started chasing.
The chase was tougher than anticipated for the peloton, as most of the terrain was favorable in the last 70 kilometers of the stage and the leading group was fairly big. Rojas was the last man to be caught with 7 km to go.
The bad luck hit two of the top 10 in the GC, as Marcato and Phinney crashed in the last 5 kilometers. They would lose some valuable time in the finish.
The two usual suspects were leading the sprint. Vinokourov had taken Farrar’s wheel again, can he be able to win this time? Behind them, the Quickstep duo of Gerrans and Ponzi don’t seem to be able to go for the win.
Alexandre Vinokourov wins in Haro! The Kazakh wins again after a period without wins and makes it 6 stage wins in the season. Behind him were Farrar, Gerrans and Tony Martin.
Marco Marcato and Taylor Phinney ended up losing 2’ 30’’, what kicks the American out of the top 10. The bad news of the day is the abandon of Thomas Voeckler due to the injuries he suffered in the very same crash.
The seventeenth stage is probably the last one where differences in the GC can be easily made. It is the longest stage in the Vuelta at 210km, and the final 6 are the climb to Peña Cabarga averaging 9.3%. There are no other major difficulties in the day, so the fight will be left for the last 10 km. The most interesting fight will be that of Peraud to steal the yellow jersey from Pieter Weening.
An uneventful first part of the stage saw a group of 7 riders take shape shortly after the start of the stage. The biggest names in it were Thor Hushovd, Jose Joaquin Rojas, Fabian Cancellara and Grega Bole. As they passed under the first intermediate sprint in Espinosa de los Monteros, they had a gap of 4’ 15’’ on the peloton. It wasn’t a gap big enough to win the stage, as only in the last climb they would lose more than that.
The peloton goes through the top of Lunada with a high pace but still around 100 riders in it. The difference between the break and the pack was down to 3 minutes.
Grega Bole attacked from the leading group. As they went past the second sprint, the Slovenian had 40 seconds on Rojas, Ponzi and Hushovd and 2’ 15’’ on the peloton.
Vanendert, Hincapie, Pozzato and Froome attacked in the first slopes of Peña Cabarga. They had 50’’ on the group as they went past the 5 km banner. The Italian seems to be recovered from his injuries following a fall in the first week.
Hubert Dupont attacked soon after and when he got to the, by then, leading group, only Hincapie was able to follow. The French seemed to have much better legs today, as he had never left behind so many rivals. With 3 km to go, the duo had 25’’ on Vanendert and Pozzato; 55’’ on Bole, Weening, Peraud and Nieve; and 2’ 15’’ on the peloton. Xavi Tondo didn’t seem to have an answer and was suffering again.
Dupont was doing great in the short but steep last climb. He was able to leave Hincapie behind with 2 km to go. As the French crossed the last km, he had 35’’ on the American; 1’ 05’’ on Vanendert and Pozzato; 1’ 40’’ on Weening and Peraud; 3 minutes on Marcato and 3’ 25’’ on Tondo. The French was even threatening the yellow jersey, as he was only 2’ 12’’ behind in the GC.
Hubert Dupont wins in Peña Cabarga! The French had yet to have his day in the Vuelta and he gets it. This is the first win of the season for the Saxo rider. Second arrived Hincapie, 1’ 12’’ behind, while Pieter Weening was able to hold on to the yellow jersey by just 22 seconds by ending 4th, 1’ 41’’ back.
The most relevant changes in the GC are Dupont up to second ahead of Peraud and Vanendert to fourth ahead of Tondo. Meanwhile, a great fight was fought in the white jersey classification, as Denis Menchov holds the jersey with only 3 seconds on Chris Froome.
There are only 4 stages left in the Vuelta and not many places where the GC can change a lot. Today’s stage has some mountains and hills, but they are probably too far away from the finish for them to count. It is a stage more suitable for a break to make it to the finish.
At the second climb of the day, tha Alto del Caracol, a rather dangerous group of 9 riders was ahead, including: Edvald Boasson Hagen, Pablo Lastras, Beñat Intxausti and Bauke Mollema. Lastras was 4th in the white jersey GC. With 105 km to go, the gap on the peloton was 6’ 30’’.
The peloton started chasing and cut the difference to only 2’ 35’’ on the third climb of the day, Alisas. The teams most interested in chasing seemed to be HTC, Saxo Bank and Leopard.
Xavi Tondo attacked in the last climb, hoping to bridge the gap with the break and maybe looking for a stage win. Rigoberto Urán and Marco Marcato tried to follow the Spaniard. The Euskalel rider went through the mountain sprint with a handful of seconds on the peloton.
Xavi Tondo started a series of attacks that made the race difficult to follow. However, with 10 km to go there were men from the break still in front. Bauke Mollema was alone in front with 30 seconds on Capecchi, Garzelli and Ponzi. 1 minute behind Mollema were Nieve, Ballan, Brajkovic and David Lopez. A group of 12 was behind, including Tondo, Hincapie and Marcato; meanwhile, the peloton was 2’ 15’’ after Mollema.
With 5 kilometers to go, Mollema’s chances had increased dramatically, as the Dutch still had 40 seconds on a group of 8 riders, including Tondo, Lopez and Nieve. The other favorites had been reeled back in the peloton.
Bauke Mollema wins in Noja! The Dutch completed a long break with a deserved victory. Behind him arrived Mikel Nieve, Alessandro Ballan and David Lopez. There were so many riders up and down the road with small differences that even the peloton was awarded the same time as the winner.
Euskaltel bagged their second stage win in the Vuelta, which combined with a top 5 by Tondo could be considered quite an achievement for the Spanish team.
Another hilly stage awaits the riders in the north of Spain, as we enter the Basque Country. This time the last climb is much closer to the finish in Bilbao, so someone adventurous could try to attack and grab the stage win.
Three riders decided to leave the peloton in the first kilometers of the stage: Roman Kreuziger, Bart de Clerq and Bjorn Leukemans. They were not dangerous, so the pack let them go. At the top of the second climb of the day, the Alto de las Muñecas, they had a gap of 8 minutes and 100 km to go.
Bart de Clerq took things in his own hands in the first climb to the Alto del Vivero. He easily left the others in the break and was set to ride alone to the finish. However, the peloton didn’t think so and they were closing down. They were 2’ 20’’ behind the Belgian.
De Clerq had a good fight with the peloton, but the Omega Pharma Lotto rider was eventually reeled back in starting the last climb of the day. There were 16 kilometers to the finish and there were some riders showing signs of fatigue already. The length of the Vuelta is weighing on many.
Jelle Vanendert goes under the mountain sprint ahead of Dupont and Freire. The pack is much stretched and it is now all downhill until the finish. Let’s see if anyone tries to take advantage of the disorganization.
Vanendert, Dupont and Tondo managed to open a gap on the descent. This could be the movement that decides the GC, as Weening is nowhere to be seen and the trio has 50 seconds on the pack with less than 5 km to go!
Vanendert leads Dupont and Tondo as the three have a big enough gap with the peloton. This will also mean that Dupont is going to wear the yellow after today’s stage.
Hubert Dupont wins in Bilbao and takes the yellow jersey! The French is doing a great job in this last week, while Pieter Weening seems to be fading away slowly. Behind Dupont arrived Vanendert and Tondo, while the peloton lost 1’ 11’’ and was led by Weening.
Weening is now 59 seconds behind Dupont, while Peraud is third 1’ 58’’ behind. Considering the two stages that close the Vuelta, it will be very difficult that Dupont loses the GC lead if it’s not due to bad luck.
