Iglinsky is having a great season, still, you certainly aren't one of the strongest teams around if Iglinsky is challenging for the role of top leader.
The 8th stage will be a bit easier for the favorites in the GC but the outcome is difficult to predict. The riders will ride from Puebla de Don Fadrique to Murcia and, while most of the route is slightly downhill, they will have to climb twice to the Alto de la Cresta del Gallo. The climb, which sits to the south of Murcia, has 5 kilometers averaging 6.5% gradient. The last time they cross the top of the climb they will still have 17 kilometers to ride so it is unclear whether a mass sprint is still possible. A break would also be a possibility for the stage win.
It took a long time to get the break of the day formed as many teams wanted to filter riders in it. The win was a real possibility today but in the end the group only had 5 riders: Maxim Iglinskiy (Sky), Sebastian Langeveld (Cannondale), Heinrich Haussler (Ag2r), Nick Nuyens (Lotto) and Paul Martens (HTC). With 98 kilometers to go they had built a gap of 4' 20''. The teams most interested in keeping a quick pace in the peloton were LottoNL and BMC. The Dutch teams had much faith in Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL) but we will see if he could get over the double climb.
Astana was setting a good pace at the first climb to the Cresta del Gallo, which top was 34 kilometers from the finish line in Murcia. It was mostly Davide Formolo (Astana) and Javier Moreno (Astana) at the front and they had brought the gap down to 2' 40''. They should be careful not to burn Marcel Kittel (Astana) too much as the second climb will most likely be climbed at an even higher pace. The German was far back in the peloton and suffering to keep in touch. There were already a few riders dropped and it could be more at the start of the descent.
Maxim Iglinskiy was setting the pace in the early break at the second climb to the Cresta del Gallo. With 2 kilometers to go, the break was pushing hard to stay ahead but the gap was slowly coming down and at 1' 25'' at that moment. Javi Moreno was being helped mostly by Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel), who is a great rider both for the flat between the climbs and in the climb itself. Euskaltel was probably trying to get rid of rivals for the win because Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) is meant to be one of the sprinters that goes through the hills best. However, the peloton did not look as stretched as in the first climb.
It was not meant to be an easy one for the sprinters at all as Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) attacked with 2 kilometers to the top of the climb for the peloton. He dragged a group of 10 riders with him with some dangerous riders like Michele Scarponi (Astana), Robert Gesink (Ag2r) and Mikel Nieve (Katusha). They reached the top of the climb with a gap of 45 seconds over the group of the leader, which might be enough for them to get a gap at the finish line in Murcia. Meanwhile, Maxim Iglinskiy had attacked from the front group and had 20 seconds over Paul Martens and Nick Nuyens. However, their gap was coming down quickly with the increased pace behind them.
Maxim Iglinskiy was still alone at the front with 6 kilometers to go but he was going to have a hard time getting to the finish line ahead as the chasers were only 20 seconds behind. The group of the leader had been very fast once they hit the flat but even riders like Peter Stetina (BMC) and David Lopez (Euskaltel) had to work in the chase. They caught back everyone except Iglinskiy but it would not quite be a mass sprint. No more than 90 riders survived in that group and we could see some sprinters like Elia Viviani (Euskaltel) and Yauheni Hutarovich (IAM) had been left behind.
Euskaltel did a good job to get Alexander Kristoff to the front and neutralise Maxim Iglinskiy. However, with 2 kilometers to go it was Simone Ponzi (LottoNL) at the front of the pack with Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL) on his wheel. We have seen this image quite often in the Vuelta so far. Luca Paolini (Astana) was trying to bring Marcel Kittel closer but the German seemed to be suffering from his earlier efforts to get over the climb. Among the riders following Van Hummel we could see Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre), Michael Matthews (Cannondale) and Alexander Kristoff. It was a very different picture than the typical finish of a flat stage.
Kenny van Hummel started his final sprint and with 700 meters to go there was no catching him anymore. Simone Ponzi had done a sterling job again to get him in a perfect position and he had a gap that would be impossible to close. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) was leading the chasers but he had started his sprint from very far out, while Alexander Kristoff and Jurgen Roelandts (Sky) looked in a better position to battle for the second place. They were followed closely by Emanuele Sella (Movistar) and Michael Matthews. The fact that Sella was getting involved in the sprint proves that the stage was quite harder than expected.
Kenny van Hummel wins in Murcia! It was not even a close sprint and Van Hummel could celebrate in the last meters of the stage that he already has 3 wins in this Vuelta a España. The LottoNL - Jumbo rider looks in top form and he has been by far the best sprinter in this last part of the season. He has also been helped by a great Simone Ponzi as the Italian has been more than willing to help his teammate in these stages. The second place went to another rider that is taking advantage of the hilly stages, like Michael Matthews. Jelle Vanendert was third, which proves that even if the Belgian is not great in the mountains he is still committed to doing a good race.
The top 5 was rounded by Jose Joaquin Rojas and Alexander Kristoff. None of the favorites lost any time in Murcia but the front group was only made of 93 riders, much less than what we expected before the stage. The route might have been difficult in the last kilometers but the riders had had a very easy way towards Murcia and the first climb to the Cresta del Gallo. The story will be very different tomorrow and the riders will have to tackle the very hard climb to Cumbres del Sol, which lies right next to the Mediterranean Sea.
Frank is still up there, but he doesn't seem at his best, and there is not a lot of other Etixx rider mentioned, look like he is pretty much on his own.
The favorites in the GC will have to be involved in the fight today as the riders will have to tackle a double climb to the Alto de Puig Llorenca. The second of the climbs, where the race finishes, goes right to the top of the climb and has 4 kilometers with an average 9.2% gradient. Therefore, there is a good chance of a few gaps appearing among the favorites. This kind of stage is also a bit more difficult to predict than a mountain stage as there will be many riders getting to the bottom of the climb in the main group. Nevertheless, the rest of the stage is quite easy and the wind could be one of the biggest problems for the riders.
Julien Simon (BMC) worked a lot during the first part of the stage to prevent a big group to get away. In the end, there were only 3 riders forming the break of the day but they were quite strong: Vincenzo Nibali (Lampre), Jose Serpa (Ag2r) and Tejay van Garderen (Trek), the winner of the 2014 Tour de France. With 96 kilometers to go they had built a gap of 7' 15'', so the peloton would have to work hard to bring them back. There was quite a bit of wind but so far it was not playing a role in the stage even though they were riding the whole time close to the Mediterranean Sea.
The first climb to the Alto de Puig Llorenca was done with 42 kilometers to go. Emanuele Sella (Movistar) jumped from the main bunch, probably chasing the points in the KoM. Katusha had been working hard at the front of the bunch with riders like Tanel Kangert (Katusha) and Ben Hermans (Katusha). They decreased the gap of the break considerably and the gap was only 2' 30'' at the top. Discovery and BMC were also working in the group but the pace was not too hard and there were not that many riders losing contact with the bunch.
The intermediate sprint was placed only 14 kilometers from the finish line, in Bahia de Javea. A group of 5 had formed at the top of the first climb: Vasil Kiryienka (IAM), Mathias Frank (IAM), Emanuele Sella, Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff) and Simone Ponzi (LottoNL). They were working together but the gap of the front group was still 2' 10''. Vincenzo Nibali had gone first through the sprint but the group had little hope of making it to the finish line with the very tough finishing climb. The peloton was chasing but not decreasing the gap too much as they were still 2' 45'' behind.
Vincenzo Nibali was not going to wait for the break to be caught and he attacked from the early break in the small climb that came before the final climb of the day. The top of the climb was only 6 kilometers from the finish line in Benitatxell and he only had a few second over Tejay van Garderen and Jose Serpa. Meanwhile, the group of chasers had been reeled back in by the bunch and an attempt by Mikel Nieve (Katusha) had not gone anywhere. Eros Capecchi (BMC) was doing a great job for the leader to control the pace of the group and not let anyone dangerous get a gap.
As soon as the main bunch hit the climb, Cadel Evans (Lotto) attacked and was strong enough to open a gap at the front. With 3 kilometers to go he was 20 seconds in front of the group of the leader, which was losing riders at a very fast pace. Vincenzo Nibali was still building his gap and had 20 seconds over his 2 former companions and 1' 50'' over Evans. It might well be enough for them to fight for the stage but with slopes well above 10% at many points during the climb it would be a struggle for many. Most of the favorites were still playing the waiting game and any serious attacks would probably happen within the last 2 kilometers.
A very hard attack by Simone Ponzi was followed by Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) and Mikel Nieve. Eventually all of the favorites followed and the attack was so hard that they brought Cadel Evans back and the early break was very close to being caught as well. Frank Schleck (Etixx) was a bit closer to the front than in previous stages but David Lopez (Euskaltel) and especially Michele Scarponi (Astana) were a bit far back in the group. This kind of climbs with very hard slopes can be difficult to tackle after a day of mostly riding in the flat.
Jelle Vanendert gave everything he had in an attack from 1.5 kilometers out. He easily went past the riders in the early break and with 700 meters to go he had built a gap of 40 seconds over the group of favorites. It was a very serious performance from a rider that had not done much in the Vuelta so far but that is meant to fight for the final podium in Madrid. The chasing group was led by Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery) and among the riders close to the front we could also see Frank Schleck, Simone Ponzi, Mikel Nieve, Tejay van Garderen and Johann Tschopp (BMC). Peter Stetina (BMC) was starting to struggle to keep up with the pace in the group and Michele Scarponi did not seem to like the climb very much either.
Jelle Vanendert wins in Benitatxell! The Belgian had done nothing special in the Vuelta so far and had actually lost time in the GC but today's performance was quite impressive. It is his 4th win of the season and it will serve him to jump a few places ahead in the GC. David Lopez was the only other rider to gain time over the group of the leader. He crossed the line 42 seconds behind Vanendert. Meanwhile, the main group was 59 seconds behind and 30 riders made it over the line with the same time. Juanjo Cobo (HTC) led the group, followed by Domenico Pozzovivo (Trek) and Cadel Evans.
The leader did not lose any time today but his performance raised serious doubts as to whether he would be able to hold on to his lead in the next few days. David Lopez and Jelle Vanendert are very dangerous and they climbed the 4th and 6th positions in the GC respectively. They are both more than 1 minute behind but with all the serious mountain stages still to be tackled it does not look like a big gap. The 4th place from Domenico Pozzovivo was also a very good and unexpected performance and it looks like Trek's best bet in the GC will be the Italian.
The 10th stage is yet another one that is classified as flat but where the pure sprinters will have a hard time. The stage is quite short and mostly easy but 17 kilometers from the finish line the riders will tackle the climb to the Alto del Desierto de las Palmas, a 7.5 kilometers climb averaging 5.2%. Nevertheless, that gradient does not tell the whole truth as the last couple of kilometers are almost flat. Therefore, even though a mass sprint is the most likely option, the early break also has a chance of making it to the finish line for a change.
The early break was really small today as only 3 riders made it: Maxim Iglinskiy (Sky), Sebastian Langeveld (Cannondale) and Bryan Coquard (Dimension Data). LottoNL was working quite a bit at the start of the stage to avoid a large group to get away. However, they were not getting much help from other teams, which makes sense given how good Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL) has been so far. The leaders had built a gap of 4' 45'' with 86 kilometers to go and were about to start the descent towards the coast. The terrain was very easy until they hit the climb of the Desierto de las Palmas.
The intermediate sprint was again relatively close to the finish line, in Benicassim. They had 26 kilometers to go and were right at the bottom of the climb to the Desierto de las Palmas. The sprint in the bunch was clearly won by Kenny van Hummel ahead of Marcel Kittel (Astana), which will allow the Dutch to continue growing his lead in the points' competition. The gap to the break had dropped a lot as Euskaltel and Astana also put a couple of riders to chase. The group had 1' 45'' at the start of the climb, which would not be enough in a mountain stage but considering that some teams do not want to wear their sprinters too much might work out.
Maxim Iglinskiy took the lead of the group right at the bottom of the climb and dropped Sebastian Langeveld first and Bryan Coquard close to the top of the climb. He did not even attack to open a gap of 20 seconds over the French at the top of the climb. It has been a great season so far for the Kazakh and he might cap it with a win in the Vuelta. Meanwhile, the main group was 1' 30'' behind at the top, with 17 kilometers to go. Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel) was working hard at the front and trying to put some of the sprinters in trouble before the final kilometers.
Emanuele Sella (Movistar) tried to attack in the final part of the descent but the move was completely controlled by Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), who was working at the front of the group and driving the descent. Maxim Iglinskiy was still leading the race but his gap had come down to 45 seconds with 9 kilometers to go. Among the top sprinters, we could see Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) and Michael Matthews (Cannondale) close to the front of the group but many others were still trying to make progress after going through the climb quite far from the front of the peloton.
The peloton finally managed to impose its strength and Maxim Iglinskiy was finally caught with 5 kilometers to go. The final sprint was being prepared and Bernhard Eisel (LottoNL) did a great job to bring the LottoNL - Jumbo train forward with 3 kilometers to go. They would have Simone Ponzi (LottoNL) again leading Kenny van Hummel but they were also dragging John Degenkolb (HTC) with them. On their left, Greg van Avermaet was going to be the last rider for Alexander Kristoff, who had Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre) on his wheel. Among the rest of the fast riders that could join the party we could see Mauro Finetto (Katusha), Stefan van Dijk (Vacansoleil) and Michael Matthews.
Simone Ponzi did a great job again to put Kenny van Hummel at the front for the final sprint but the Dutch decided to start his own sprint more than 1 kilometer from the finish line. Luca Paolini (Astana) and Alexander Kristoff were trying to follow his wheel but they had a gap to close if they wanted to do it. Paolini was sprinting for himself as Marcel Kittel was not even close to the front today. The gaps in the sprint were quite big and the riders following were very far from the front, including John Degenkolb, Mauro Finetto and Michael Matthews.
Kenny van Hummel was clear of all his followers and heading for another win in the Vuelta a España. This was an impressive sprint from him as not even Alexander Kristoff could keep up with him. Luca Paolini was also drifting away and losing ground pretty quickly. The rest of the sprinters were going to fight for the minor places as they were too far behind with 700 meters to go. We could see Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) gaining a lot of positions with others like Michael Matthews and Mauro Finetto alongside him. Nevertheless, this sprint looked like another show from Van Hummel.
Kenny van Hummel wins in Castellon! No surprises in the mass sprint as Van Hummel bagged his 4th win in the Vuelta a España. There was not even a slim doubt of who was going to win the stage as even though he started his final sprint from very far out, the other sprinters did not even come close to getting within reach of the stage win. The second place went to Alexander Kristoff, who tried to follow the wheel of the Dutch but did not really get a tow. The top 5 was completed by Jose Joaquin Rojas, Michael Matthews and Jurgen Roelandts (Sky).
The stage went more or less as expected, although there was always the slim chance that the early break would have had enough of a gap before the Desierto de las Palmas to win the day. The group that got to the finish line was very big and there were barely any changes in the classifications. Maxim Iglinskiy was the only one that managed to grab a jersey, taking the KoM jersey from Juanjo Cobo (HTC). The story will be much different after the transfer to Andorra. The next stage may be the queen stage of the Vuelta and there should be significant differences in the GC, which has been pretty tight for the first 10 days.
The 11th stage is the first important mountain stage of the Vuelta and could be the toughest mountain stage of the year. The riders will face 6 categorised climbs, including the Col de la Rabassa, Collada de la Gallina and the final climb to Cortals d'Encamp. The last climb is 10 kilometers long and averages 8.2% gradient but will not be the most difficult climb in the stage. That honour will be for the Collada de la Gallina, with 11.7 kilometers averaging 8.6%. All those climbs will be done in only 136 kilometers so there will not be a moment to relax for the favorites.
It took the best part of the initial 2 climbs to get a break settled at the front. It was formed by only 3 riders: Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL), Emanuele Sella (Movistar) and Rob Ruijgh (Lotto). Darwin Atapuma (Sky) was trying to join and crossed the top of the Col d'Ordino only 30 seconds behind. They were 104 kilometers from the finish line. Meanwhile, the peloton led by BMC was already 4 minutes behind. The team of the leader had worked quite hard in the Collada de Beixalis not to have a dangerous break but in the end Sella, 20th in the GC, filtered in the break. That meant that many riders had already lost contact with the bunch.
The group of the leader could barely be called a peloton as they climbed the Col de la Rabassa, with 65 kilometers to go. There were only 70 riders when they were a bit after the halfway point of the stage. The pace had been considerably increased at the front by riders like Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel), Eros Capecchi (BMC) and Javier Moreno (Astana). Nevertheless, the gap to the early break had grown to 5 minutes, which proved that the riders at the front were quite strong, including a winner of the Giro d'Italia. Darwin Atapuma had closed the gap so that group had 4 riders at the time.
The Col de la Rabassa was immediately followed by the climb to the Collada de la Gallina. Steven Kruijswijk and Emanuele Sella were constantly working at the front of the break and Darwin Atapuma had already lost contact with them. Nevertheless, it would be difficult for them to get to the finish line ahead with many teams interested in making the race as hard as possible. With 43 kilometers to go and 5 to the top of La Gallina their gap had dropped to 3' 35''. Joaquim Rodriguez (Euskaltel) was the rider leading the group, a man that knows the roads of Andorra quite well as he lives very close by.
Daniel Moreno (Euskaltel) took the lead of the peloton from Joaquim Rodriguez in the final part of the climb to La Gallina and the group went down to 34 riders as the pace increased. It looked like David Lopez (Euskaltel) was suffering at some point in the climb, as he was towards the back of the group. However, he won a few places and with his teammates working it looked unlikely that he had an issue. Meanwhile, Rob Ruijgh also lost contact with the head of the race and their gap stayed at 3' 15'' with 38 kilometers to the finish line. Nevertheless, Ruijgh was the provisional leader of the KoM classfication at that point.
The attempts to break away in the group of the favorites started at the climb to La Comella. There were several attacks that did not go far but at the top of the climb a group of 4 had opened a small gap with the group of the leader. The riders in it were Marco Pinotti (Sky), Vincenzo Nibali (Lampre), Vasil Kiryienka (IAM) and Levi Leipheimer (Trek). Steven Kruijswijk had left Emanuele Sella behind in this penultimate climb of the day but he only had 1' 10'' with the group of favorites, which did not seem enough to survive a climb to Cortals d'Encamp. Eros Capecchi (BMC) was leading the group doing again a great job for the leader.
The attackers did not go far and by the time they hit the final climb of the day a group of around 28 riders was at the head of the race. Chris Froome (Lampre) did not lose any time and attacked in the first ramp, which was the toughest of the whole climb to Cortals d'Encamp. He was followed by Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) and Peter Stetina (BMC) but eventually the whole group followed and things settled a bit. Stetina had just won the intermediate sprint, which had been placed in Encamp, right before the climb. Meanwhile, riders like Pieter Weening (Tinkoff) and Chris Horner (HTC) were starting to suffer in the group.
There were other attacks in the initial part of the climb but the only one to open a gap was Domenico Pozzovivo (Trek). The Italian jumped from the group with 6 kilometers to go and soon opened a 45 seconds gap at the front. It was quite a surprise given that the Italian has not shown this kind of form earlier this season. That attack caused the group of the favorites to split and very important riders lost contact. Jerome Coppel (Etixx) was 2' 05'' behind Pozzovivo with 5 kilometers to go, while a bigger group including Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil), Frank Schleck (Etixx) and Robert Gesink (Ag2r) was already losing 2' 30''. This stage was really hard and could generate significant gaps at the finish line.
Jelle Vanendert took the responsibility to chase Domenico Pozzovivo and he was leading the group of the leader for a couple of kilometers. However, he had no response when Michele Scarponi (Astana) attacked in chase of his fellow Italian. With 3 kilometers to go the two riders looked like the strongest in the race and there were 30 seconds between them. The group of the leader, including David Lopez and Jelle Vanendert was 55 seconds behind, while Juanjo Cobo (HTC) and Chris Froome had lost contact and were 1' 25'' from Pozzovivo. Meanwhile, Bauke Mollema and Frank Schleck were already more than 3 minutes behind. It was completely unexpected, especially the Luxembourgish losing ground.
Peter Stetina was not feeling too bad and had been hidden the whole day but he attacked with 1.5 kilometers to go to try to conserve his leader's jersey. Domenico Pozzovivo was still at the front but his gap was slowly decreasing. However, the stage win looked close as his gap was 25 seconds over Michele Scarponi and 45'' over Stetina with 700 meters remaining. David Lopez and Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery) were right behind the American and they had left Jelle Vanendert and Mikel Nieve (Katusha) behind. Even the gaps among the riders that were together with only a couple of kilometers to go could be quite big given that the climb did not become gentle at the end.
Domenico Pozzovivo wins at Cortals d'Encamp! That was a very serious and unexpected performance from the Italian, who was not even among the favorites to take the stage win in Cortals d'Encamp. However, an attack from 6 kilometers out ended up giving him the stage. One has to wonder if he had a bit of help from the fact that he was not one of the main wheels to be followed. His closest chasers crossed the line 24 seconds behind, with Peter Stetina edging Michele Scarponi for the 2nd place. The American did a very fast last kilometer of the stage. Robert Kiserlovski and David Lopez completed the top 5, 59 seconds behind the winner.
The gaps then increased quite a bit, with Jelle Vanendert finishing 1' 12'' behind, Chris Froome losing 1' 38'' and others like Frank Schleck and Bauke Mollema losing close to 4 minutes. That would be the end of the chances for both of them to climb on the final podium in Madrid in 10 days time. The GC has also been completely changed, although the gap between Peter Stetina and Michele Scarponi remained practically unchanged. The GC riders should now have a couple of easier stages before the crucial stages in northern Spain later in the race. Additionally, we lost 24 riders that were out of the time limit. The most remarkable of those was Marcel Kittel (Astana), so his team will concentrate on working for Michele Scarponi for the rest of the race.
The stage yesterday left very tired legs among the riders and they would be feeling it today. Fortunately for them, today's stage is relatively easy. Most of the stage has a downhill profile, although the climb to the Col de Boixols, with 15.7 kilometers averaging 5%, will be a difficulty in the first half of the stage. Even with that climb, the stage might end up in a mass sprint, although a win by the early break cannot be discarded. The last 40 kilometers are very favorable for a peloton that is organised and the chances of another sprint until Madrid are slim.
The break of the day was not too big and the teams of the sprinters will probably be happy about it. Only 4 riders were at the front at the top of the Col de Boixols: Philippe Gilbert (Vacansoleil), David Millar (HTC), Jos van Emden (Etixx) and Bryan Coquard (Dimension Data). They had a gap of 8' 30'' at the top of the climb, with 119 kilometers to go. Meanwhile, the peloton was noticeably smaller following the loss of many riders out of time limit yesterday. LottoNL was down to 6 men and that would be hurting the chances of Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL).
The peloton chased hard after the descent of the only categorised climb of the day and at the intermediate sprint they were catching the early break. The sprint was placed in Gerb, 30 kilometers from the finish line. The sprint of the bunch was won by Kenny van Hummel, followed by Stefan van Dijk (Vacansoleil) and Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel). Van Hummel was even close to overtake Bryan Coquard in the sprint. In the end, Euskaltel and Movistar worked quite a lot even though Van Hummel has been dominating the sprint during the Vuelta. They are probably hoping that the Dutch is tired from the mountains.
The rest of the break was finally caught with 14 kilometers to go. The peloton was being led by Pablo Lastras (Movistar), Emanuele Sella (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Euskaltel) and it was quite clear that the Spanish teams were quite keen on grabbing the stage win in Lleida. It looked particularly strange from Movistar. Although Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) is wearing the World Champion jersey he has not been in good shape any time in the season so far. There was also a headwind in this last kilometers, which was allowing the LottoNL - Jumbo riders to be ready to set up the sprint for Kenny van Hummel.
Jens Debusschere (LottoNL) had crashed earlier in the day but it was not much as he was leading the peloton with 3 kilometers to go. His teammates Simone Ponzi (LottoNL) and Kenny van Hummel were right behind, while Mark Renshaw (BMC) had taken the wheel of the Dutch. Right to their left, Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel) would lead Alexander Kristoff for the final sprint with Luca Paolini (Astana) on his wheel. The Italian has to take advantage of Marcel Kittel (Astana) being out of the race to grab good positions for himself. Among the rest of the sprinters, the ones closer to the front were Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre), Juan Jose Haedo (Movistar) and Stefan van Dijk.
Greg van Avermaet was doing a great job to lead Alexander Kristoff to the front of the race but Simone Ponzi appeared as usual ahead of the last kilometer taking Kenny van Hummel with him. It is amazing how a rider like Ponzi has agreed to do the lead-out job so many days when he has proven that he could even have won some of the stages that his teammate took. Mark Renshaw was very well positioned behind Van Hummel but has proven nothing in the Vuelta so far. A bit to the left, Juan Jose Haedo was bringing Jose Joaquin Rojas forward and even riders involved in the GC, like Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) were joining the final sprint.
The final sprint was much tighter than in previous occasions and, most importantly, Kenny van Hummel did not look like getting another dominant win again. In fact, with 700 meters to go he was not even among the top 6. There were 4 riders at the front that were more or less evenly matched: Jose Joaquin Rojas, Stefan van Dijk, Yauheni Hutarovich (IAM) and Jurgen Roelandts (Sky). Other riders like Francesco Gavazzi and Luca Paolini were right behind but any rider among the top 10 could still win the stage. The sprinters were spread all around the road, which made for a very unusual sight.
Michael Matthews (Cannondale) wins in Lleida! It was a very strange sprint and the way that Matthews managed to get to the front confirmed it. The Australian was behind plenty of riders with 500 meters to go but chose the tows carefully to grab his 3rd and most important win of the season. The second place went to Alexander Kristoff, who has been close but is yet to win in the Vuelta, while Jure Kocjan (Katusha) was third. The top 5 was completed by Kenny van Hummel and Mark Renshaw. The BMC rider has been quite inconsistent this year so far and has not been close to winning any stage except for the 4th, finishing in Vejer de la Frontera.
As expected, the day was very easy for the riders involved in the GC and there were very few riders that lost time in the stage. The early break managed to build a big gap but the group was way too small to battle against an organised peloton during many kilometers. Tomorrow's stage will be a better one for the break as the climb to the Moncayo is much closer to the finish line. The sprinters should try to make it work again tomorrow because the rest of the Vuelta will most likely be a battle among the climbers. There are 3 very tough stages that should determine the outcome of the race.
It was unlikely that Coppel was as good as he was to win the Tour but I expected way better from Frank Schleck. To me, it is the biggest disappointment of the race.
The 13th stage is one that has the break written all over it. However, being classified as flat there are chances that the teams of the sprinters think that they can make it in the front group. There is almost 2,500 meters of climbing in the route but most of it is concentrated in the first half of the stage. The only climb in the second part is the 8.3 kilometers climb to the Alto del Moncayo, but its gradient is only 4.4% and there are no sections that are really tough. Most of the favorites for the GC will want the stage to be as easy as possible given that we are very close to the mountain stages.
The hardest climb of the day was the Alto de Beraton, classified as 1st category although that might seem a bit too much. A group of only 4 riders was at the front of the race: Simon Spilak (Tinkoff), Ramunas Navardauskas (IAM), Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Lampre) and Yannick Martinez (Ag2r). They had a good lead of 7' 20'' over the bunch with 106 kilometers to go and there had not been much fight to form the break. BMC was leading the peloton but they were not really chasing, just keeping a gentle pace at the front. A couple of Movistar and Lotto NL riders joined every now and then but the pace was quite easy.
The intermediate sprint was placed at the Real Monasterio de Santa Maria de Veruela, a convent at the foot of the Alto del Moncayo. Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL) was unsurprisingly the quickest at the sprint ahead of Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) and Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel). With 44 kilometers to go, the gap had dramatically decreased for the break. They only had 2' 40'' over the bunch but the sprinters would have to handle the climb if they wanted to fight for the sprint. It was difficult to guess whether they would make it as the stage had quite a lot of cumulative climbing.
The riders in the break were still hopeful of making it to the finish as they reached the top of the climb, with 35 kilometers to go. The gap had grown slightly to 2' 50'' as Stefano Garzelli (Movistar) had been managing the pace in the main group. However, Yannick Martinez was not collaborating any more at the group as maybe he had had enough. The rain started to fall as the riders were about to start the descent towards Tarazona, which would make the last kilometers quite tricky. They cannot slow the pace if the sprinters want to fight for the stage.
Movistar led the main group with Pablo Lastras (Movistar) and Emanuele Sella (Movistar) with 10 kilometers to go. They were quite optimistic about the chances of their sprinters although they had not had any good results in the Vuelta so far. The break was still at the front but their gap had gone down to 30 seconds, which did not seem enough. Meanwhile, Richie Porte (Movistar) crashed in the descent and had to retire from the race. There was another crash at the entrance of Tarazona and we could see riders like Jerome Coppel (Etixx), Xavi Tondo (Lampre) and Tony Gallopin (IAM) hitting the ground.
The riders in the break did not have the legs to hold on to the lead and were quickly caught back. With 3 kilometers to go, LottoNL had moved to the front and Simone Ponzi (LottoNL) was leading the way for Kenny van Hummel again. The Dutch had yesterday's winner, Michael Matthews (Cannondale) right behind and well positioned. On the right-hand side of the road, Juan Jose Haedo (Movistar) was ahead of Jose Joaquin Rojas with Alexander Kristoff on his wheel. We could see other sprinters like Luca Paolini (Astana), Stefan van Dijk (Vacansoleil) and Jurgen Roelandts (Sky) quite well positioned.
Simone Ponzi was left alone very early at the front of the bunch but Kenny van Hummel was also a bit too early to start the sprint. He did it a bit before the last kilometer banner. He had Michael Matthews, Alexander Kristoff and Luca Paolini behind and it was unlikely that he would have the legs to go all the way to the finish line at the front. On the other hand, Juan Jose Haedo was not strong enough to keep the Movistar train up to the speed needed and it looked unlikely that Jose Joaquin Rojas would get a chance. The peloton was really stretched at the front.
If someone could win this sprint from that far out was Kenny van Hummel given the shape he has been on in the Vuelta. With 700 meters to go he was still at the front but Michael Matthews was getting a very good tow from him. They had Alexander Kristoff right behind and the Euskaltel rider had started his own sprint and was gaining on them. It looked like the win would be among those 3 riders as Luca Paolini does not look strong enough to grab a win in the Vuelta and the rest are too far back, led by Jure Kocjan (Katusha) and Stefan van Dijk.
Michael Matthews (Cannondale) wins in Tarazona! Once again, the Australian managed to get ahead in the last few meters of the stage to get his second straight win in the Vuelta a España. He had not done much in the early part of the race but as the days have gone by he has steadily improved. It will be a shame for him that there are no more opportunities for the sprinters until the last stage in Madrid. Alexander Kristoff took the second place for the 3rd time in the Vuelta, while Kenny van Hummel could only manage a third position. The top 5 was completed by Jose Joaquin Rojas and Luca Paolini.
The breaks are not getting any chances of shining in this race so far and today looked like a perfect day for a break to win the day. However, there are many teams still looking for wins with their sprinters and that does not help their cause. Apart from Richie Porte, we also received the news as the riders crossed the finish line that Nick Nuyens (Lotto) had also abandoned the race. It has been a tough race in that sense and only 143 riders are still in competition. The 3 mountain stages that we will face in the following days might mean that the number decreases even more.
The last mountain block starts in the North of Spain with a stage between Vitoria and the Sky resort of Alto Campoo, in Cantabria. It will be a very long day, with more than 200 kilometers but with only two relevant climbs: the Alto del Escudo and the final climb to Alto Campoo. In principle, the battle should be reduced to the last of those, given that there is a long flat section between the two climbs. However, with 17 kilometers averaging 5.8%, it should be enough to generate a few gaps, especially in the final kilometers, which are the steepest in the day.
There were many kilometers of battle at the start of the day to get the early break settled as BMC did not want a group that was too dangerous to get away. In the end, the group was 9 riders, including important names like Thomas de Gendt (Tinkoff), Damiano Caruso (Cannondale), Tony Gallopin (IAM), Rafal Majka (Lotto) and Mauro Finetto (Katusha). The first categorised climb of the day was the Puerto de Estacas de Trueba but although quite hard from the north, today's climb was barely more than a false flat. They had 6' 30'' at the top as De Gendt took the KoM points.
The Alto del Escudo was a much more serious climb as it has many kilometers above of 10% average gradient. Nevertheless, the road is quite good and the peloton was riding at a pace that was not very fast. Linus Gerdemann (BMC), Eros Capecchi (BMC) and Johan Tschopp (BMC) were leading the group and controlling the gap of the break, 6' 05'' at the top of the climb, with 57 kilometers to go. As expected, the favorites left their battle for the last climb but it is a shame that there are no significant climbs that can be joined properly with Alto Campoo or with El Escudo.
The intermediate sprint was again very late in the stage. It was placed in Reinosa, 28 kilometers from the finish line. There was no one interested in the points in the break but they were still fighting against the peloton as the flat section since the top of El Escudo was taking a toll on them. Their gap had significantly dropped to 4' 25'' and they were wasting valuable energies. BMC was still chasing hard in the peloton but it was unclear why they did it given that there was no one dangerous for the lead of Peter Stetina (BMC) in the break. Michael Matthews (Cannondale) took the only point available for the group.
The riders in the break saw how the gap was coming down quite quickly and Thomas de Gendt decided to attack very early in the final climb. With 13 kilometers to go, he had opened a gap of 20 seconds over 3 riders that tried to go with him: Thomas Voeckler (Dimension Data), Edward Theuns (Vacansoleil) and Brent Bookwalter (Trek). The rest of the break was 35 seconds behind De Gendt. Meanwhile, the peloton had started the climb 3 minutes behind, which still gave them a good chance to fight for the stage win. Alessandro Ballan (BMC) was leading the group, which suggested that the climb could be done better saving energy following a wheel for the first part.
It was not long before the attacks started in the main group. Frank Schleck (Etixx) was the first to try to attack but he did not go far. Nevertheless, in the counterattack a group of 4 was formed: Chris Horner (HTC), Marco Pinotti (Sky), Jerome Coppel (Etixx) and Vincenzo Nibali (Lampre). Schleck was alongside Mikel Nieve (Katusha) and Robert Gesink (Ag2r) 20 seconds behind, while the group was 45'' back with 9 kilometers to go. The gaps among the favorites were not meaningful so far but there had been many attacks considering that the climb was quite gentle at this stage. Nevertheless, Thomas de Gendt was still 2 minutes ahead of any of the favorites.
The 4 riders that were ahead of the group of favorites were still with a small gap with 5 kilometers to go. However, their chasers had changed: Levi Leipheimer (Trek), Juanjo Cobo (HTC) and Chris Froome (Lampre) were trying to join. Meanwhile, Robert Gesink was trying to jump from the group of the leader again but the Dutch had not been showing the legs he had in the Tour de France. The riders were in the lower area of the sky resort, which preceded the toughest part of the climb. Thomas de Gendt was still ahead but his gap was coming down quickly so his chances of winning the stage were slim.
Thomas de Gendt and the rest of the early break were about to be caught within the last 3 kilometers. Juanjo Cobo attacked a bit before and he dragged Peter Stetina, Jerome Coppel and Mikel Nieve with him. The other group of attackers had also been caught by the group of the leader shortly before. They were only 30 seconds behind the leader on the road, while the rest of the favorites were losing 1 minute. The group was still quite big as about 45 riders were still in the group. It was a proof that it was hard to drop riders in the climb to Alto Campoo.
Peter Stetina pushed on in the last kilometers and he was leading the stage after crossing the last kilometer kite. He was only 8 seconds ahead of Mikel Nieve, Juanjo Cobo and Jerome Coppel but he was proving himself quite strong. This was a much better performance from him than on the other mountain stages, when he lost time. Nevertheless, the main group was only 25 seconds behind, being led by Mauro Finetto, Damiano Caruso and David Lopez. It did not look like the gaps would be very big among the favorites but it could be more of a psychological hit from Stetina.
Peter Stetina wins in Alto Campoo! The American finished with a really strong couple of kilometers to take his second stage win in the Vuelta. He increased the gaps in the last kilometer and that will give him a more comfortable lead in the GC. Mikel Nieve and Juanjo Cobo finished 24 seconds behind, although they were not the main chasers of Stetina in the GC. The next group, 35 seconds behind, included Michele Scarponi (Astana), David Lopez and Jerome Coppel. The two other riders in the provisional podium did not show very good legs and they will have to improve in the other mountain stages.
Meanwhile, Domenico Pozzovivo (Trek) was nowhere near his performance in the stage in Andorra. He crossed the finish line 55 seconds behind the winner, which was a significant difference against his rivals. In the end, Stetina managed to extend his lead on Michele Scarponi to a gap bigger than a minute. The American will be the first rider to take 3 Grand Tour wins if he manages to take the overall in the Vuelta a España. There will be no rest for the GC favorites as tomorrow's stage features another mountain-top finish, in Sotres.
The second consecutive mountain-top finish will take the riders to Asturias, the mountainous region in northern Spain that hosts many mountain stages in the Vuelta. The stage itself will not be very hard before the final climb to the Collada Caballar, which is a couple of kilometers from the little village of Sotres. The climb features 12.5 kilometers averaging 8.0% gradient, although that average hides the very tough start of the climb and a last kilometer close to 15%. Therefore, even though the rest of the stage lacks difficulties, the last climb should create gaps on its own.
It took a while for the early break to settle as BMC again tried to control the group. In the end, they only allowed a group of 6 riders to get away, including Philippe Gilbert (Vacansoleil), Simone Ponzi (LottoNL), Michael Albasini (IAM), Simon Spilak (Tinkoff) and Julian Alaphilippe (Ag2r). The initial part of the stage was done close to the sea but once they got past Ribadesella they would turn to the mountains. With 103 kilometers to go they had a gap of 4 minutes over the bunch. BMC was still leading the group but the pace was quite easy.
The first categorised climb today was the Alto del Torno, a climb that combined tough slopes with quick descents and that was probably tougher on the riders than what the profile shows. With 60 kilometers to go, BMC was leading the group with many riders at the front. Among them we could see Alessandro Ballan (BMC), Kanstantsin Siutsou (BMC) and Linus Gerdemann (BMC). Nevertheless, the gap for the early break was still growing: 7 minutes at the top of the climb. Among the favorites, the day was quite easy so far except for Jerome Coppel (Etixx). The Tour de France winner had crashed just before the climb but had no trouble rejoining the group.
The intermediate sprint was not far after the climb to El Torno. It was placed in Posada de Llanes, 43 kilometers from the finish line. Michael Albasini was the first at the sprint but there was not really a fight in the front group to grab the points. The riders would now have to face the climb to the Alto de Ortiguero, which was not categorised but had slopes where many would struggle. Meanwhile, BMC started chasing a bit harder but they had not decreased the gap as they got the intermediate sprint. This gave a hint of hope to the riders in the break. In the sprint for the points, Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) was quickest.
Frank Schleck (Etixx) is not having a great Vuelta so far so he decided to try an alternative plan and attacked at the Alto de Ortiguero. He opened a gap big enough to get to the bottom of the final climb with a gap of 40 seconds over the group of the leader. Other riders like Cadel Evans (Lotto) and Chris Horner (HTC) tried to join but they did not have the legs to follow the Luxembourgish. The bad news for Schleck were that BMC found the help of Lampre and Ag2r to control the pace in the group and they did not allow his gap to grow. The riders in the break were not happy either as their gap had decreased a lot in only a few kilometers.
It was a brave attack by Frank Schleck but it was not meant to go very far. He was caught very soon after the proper climb started and there were plenty of attacks once that happened. The stage win was a very real possibility for an outsider if he was allowed to open a gap given that the riders in the break were very close. Their gap had decreased to only 1' 20'' with 10 kilometers to go. Simon Spilak and Darwin Atapuma (Sky) had actually attacked in that group and held a 20 seconds gap over their chasers. The most surprising fact in the peloton was that BMC had disappeared from the front of the group and Peter Stetina (BMC) barely had any teammates with him.
There were plenty of attacks very soon in the climb, which is a very tough section, but no one could open a gap. However, it caught David Lopez (Euskaltel) badly positioned at the back of the group and when he wanted to react he had already lost contact with the group. As they hit the plateau in the middle part of the climb he was already losing 1' 40'' with the group of the leader and Dani Moreno (Euskaltel) was waiting for him. He was in a group with riders like Marco Pinotti (Sky) and Cadel Evans (Lotto), who are not having a great race so far. Meanwhile, the group had been caught by the front group and there was a group of 23 riders at the front.
There was a period where nothing happened at the front group as no one wanted to attack in the easier part of the climb. However, Juanjo Cobo (HTC) jumped from the group right before they hit the final wall, a 2.7 kilometers section well above 10% gradient. The group broke as the Spaniard attacked and only 7 riders followed him. They were 15 seconds behind with 3 kilometers to go and the group included the leader, Michele Scarponi (Astana) and Mikel Nieve (Katusha) among others. The rest of the riders that formed the main group were 35 seconds behind so they still had time to come back. Meanwhile, David Lopez was already losing 1' 55'' as his chances for a podium were slipping away from him.
Juanjo Cobo could not hold on to the lead when Michele Scarponi attacked with 2 kilometers to go. The Italian entered the last kilometer alone at the front of the race. Both Peter Stetina and Domenico Pozzovivo (Trek) tried to chase him down but they were losing 20 seconds against the Italian at that point. A bigger group of 5 riders was 45 seconds behind the leader, being led by Jelle Vanendert (Lotto), Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery) and Cobo. Nevertheless, this last kilometer has an average gradient of 15%, so it should be possible to open or close the gaps. It was a very difficult last section of a very hard climb.
Michele Scarponi wins in Sotres! That was a very efficient performance from the Italian, who takes his first win in the Vuelta a España and will close the gap to the leader. By the looks of it, the Vuelta will be won with attacks in the last kilometers of the mountain-top finishes and we have not had any long attacks like the ones we saw in the Tour. Domenico Pozzovivo was second at the finish line, finishing 31'' behind the winner. He edged Peter Stetina in the sprint as the leader crossed the line 39 seconds behind. This means that the deficit for Scarponi in the GC came down to only 36 seconds.
The bigger group of favorites lost 1 minute, which will hurt the chances of the podium for many. Robert Kiserlovski led them over the line, followed by Juanjo Cobo, Jelle Vanendert, Jerome Coppel and Mikel Nieve. The day was a lot worse for David Lopez, who dropped 2' 05'' in the end and sees his chances of another win in the GC of the Vuelta far away. He was gaining time in a few stages but today he dropped to the 7th place in the GC, almost 4 minutes behind. Nevertheless, he has a good chance to redeem himself tomorrow as the riders will face the 2nd Queen stage of the Vuelta. The finish in the Ermita del Alba should generate gaps among the best even if there are no attacks.
It is one of the leaders of the Vacansoleil - DMC team that is the featured rider today. Philippe Gilbert is currently in his first season at the Dutch team, where he arrived looking for a leading role that had been denied to him in the last few seasons riding for Trek Factory Racing. Vacansoleil is in principle a team that has not been as strong as they had been back in the 2012 and 2013 season and they were able to offer the Belgian a role that did not collide with their other leaders: Bauke Mollema and Ben Swift. They don't have any other rider that can be even close to Gilbert in the hilly classics and that will give him some comfort given that he had to battle with Simon Gerrans to be the leader in those races in the last few years.
This season has been really good for him so far but things were not that easy when Gilbert joined the World Tour. He spent his first 3 seasons bouncing from one team to another: Lotto, Sky and then Discovery Channel. He did not get any meaningful results in those years and it would not be until 2013, riding his third season for Discovery that he got a podium in the GP de Quebec that could hint what was to come. He decided to change teams to the Radioshack - Trek structure and the results slowly started coming together for him in a way that had not happened in his whole career.
Early in his time with Radioshack, Gilbert was able to grab his first professional win, a stage in the Tour de Pologne, which ended putting him on course for a finish in the final podium. Since then, his seasons have been a combination of preparing very carefully the Ardennes, where he got podiums twice in the Liege - Bastogne - Liege, and targeting stage wins in the Grand Tours. He went on to win the Amstel Gold Race earlier this year, his best win in his career so far, and he is one of the few riders that have won stages in the 3 Grand Tours, he completed the feature by taking the 2nd stage in this Vuelta a España, finishing at the Caminito del Rey.
Even if Philippe Gilbert is not one of the super-stars of the sport he has settled himself as a very important rider in the hills classics. He is always one of the favorites in the Ardennes and in other tough races in the calendar. Nevertheless, he seems to have reached his peak in the last few years and, considering that he is 32 years old, it is unlikely that he will become a dominant rider. He still have 1 more year signed with Vacansoleil but if he keeps getting results like this year he will most likely get another good contract at the end of next season.
