The last stage in the mountains block in northern Spain rivals with the earlier stage in Andorra in terms of difficulty. With a total of 7 categorised climbs and very close to 5,000 meters of cumulative climbing it should be a tough test for the riders. Not only that, but the final couple of climbs are a real challenge. The Alto de la Cobertoria, although 1st category, could be clearly considered and HC climb, while the climb to the Ermita de Alba has 6.8 kilometers averaging 10.7% with a very constant slope, which should be a struggle for the riders if they spent their energies earlier in the day. This is the best chance for the climbers to gain time, although most of the top riders in the GC are not particularly good against the clock.
The first part of the stage was quite tough, with 3 consecutive climbs, although only 2 categorised. A break had settled at the front at the Alto de Piedratecha, with 142 kilometers to go. The group of 5 included Maxim Iglinskiy (Sky), Rob Ruijgh (Lotto), Bryan Coquard (Dimension Data), Luke Rowe (HTC) and Pablo Lastras (Movistar). They had a gap of 3' 45'' at the top as BMC was keeping a relatively swift pace in the peloton. Iglinskiy and Ruijgh were battling for the KoM points under very bad weather. The roads were very difficult and there had already been a few crashes in the difficult descents they had to face.
The middle part of the stage was a bit easier but with 64 kilometers to go the riders faced the short but very steep Alto de Tenebredo, which features ramps as steep as 19% in its last kilometer. BMC had to stop putting a high pace and the gap grew considerably to the early break. Even if they were not pushing hard, the group was starting to break in this hard climb. Meanwhile, Vasil Kiryienka (IAM), Simon Spilak (Tinkoff) and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL) attacked at the top of the 2nd categorised climb and went on to join the early break. They had 9 minutes at the top of the Tenebredo, so they may well have a chance to get the stage win.
The continuity in the climbs was very good in the last part of the stage and it started with the Alto del Cordal, a 2nd category climb which top was 35 kilometers from the finish line. Vasil Kiryienka put a pace in the early break that was initially followed by Maxim Iglinskiy. However, the Kazakh could not hold on to his wheel for long and with a couple of kilometers to the climb he had already put 1' 05'' on Iglinskiy and 1' 55'' on the rest of the break. The gap was growing a lot and this was still a rather easy climb compared to what they would be facing later. Back in the peloton no team wanted to chase even though the IAM rider was 17 minutes behind in the GC and his gap was 12' 50'' over the group. They were taking things easy until the last couple of climbs.
Juanjo Cobo (HTC) launched a surprising attack halfway through the climb to El Cordal, which meant that the pace in the group suddenly picked up. Others like Robert Gesink (Ag2r), Frank Schleck (Etixx) and Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery) tried to join him with no luck and were quickly caught back. However, the Spaniard pushed on and still had 55 seconds over the main bunch halfway through the climb to La Cobertoria. The main group was made of 45 riders but they were facing several kilometers at an average of 10%, which meant that riders were dropping off the back continuously. Vasil Kiryienka kept his lead at the front of the race and his gap had grown to 3' 40'' over his most immediate chasers.
The top of the Alto de la Cobertoria was 18 kilometers from the finish line but the pace at the climb, combined with the slopes it had, broke the race into pieces at the top. Chris Froome (Lampre) had managed to break from the group of the favorites without attacking and his rivals had dropped one after another. However, even though he had been close to Juanjo Cobo he lost time in the last kilometer and was 50 seconds behind the Spaniard at the top. Simon Spilak and Steven Kruiswijk had left Maxim Iglinskiy behind but they were still 4' 30'' behind Vasil Kiryienka at the top. On the other side of the race, Peter Stetina (BMC) had lost contact with his group and was struggling with no company. He had rivals like Michele Scarponi (Astana), David Lopez (Euskaltel) or Domenico Pozzovivo (Trek) ahead. It was a difficult time for the leader.
Vasil Kiryienka did a good job of holding on to his lead and by the time he started the last climb to the Ermita de Alba he was 4' 20'' ahead of his chasers. It looked like the stage win was waiting for him but he could not take it for granted as he still had a proper HC climb in front of him. Meanwhile, Peter Stetina saved a very difficult situation as the riders that had gone through one by one at the top of the Alto de la Cobertoria rejoined in the descent. They formed a group of about 20 riders but they still were 1' 30'' behind Juanjo Cobo. Chris Froome was also ahead of this group and looked keen to cut his losses in the GC.
Chris Froome did not look as comfortable in the Ermita de Alba as he was in the Cobertoria. He was caught by Michele Scarponi a couple of kilometers into the climb as the Italian attacked. Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) and Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil), who had already been in trouble in the Cobertoria, dropped straight away and we could also see the leader starting to suffer. On the other hand, David Lopez looked much better than yesterday and ready to mount a fight for the podium. However, they should be very aware of Juanjo Cobo, who was still pacing himself and kept a lead of 1' 10'' over Scarponi and Froome. Vasil Kiryienka was only 3 kilometers from the finish line.
Peter Stetina was struggling as he could not follow the pace of the best and his leader's jersey was in serious risk. As Vasil Kiryienka entered the last kilometer of the stage, the American had lost 2' 10'' against Michele Scarponi, who was having a very good last climb. Juanjo Cobo was still the best among the favorites and at that point 2nd on the road. He had 1' 25'' over Scarponi and 1' 55'' over Chris Froome and David Lopez. Another group was ahead of the leader, including Mikel Nieve (Katusha), Domenico Pozzovivo, Robert Kiserlovski and Frank Schleck. They were 2' 25'' behind Cobo. The gaps were growing at an alarming pace for the riders that had been left behind.
Vasil Kiryienka wins in the Ermita de Alba! That was an unexpected and spectacular win by the IAM Cycling rider, who had not joined the early break until later in the stage and decided to do the last 40 kilometers of the stage on his own. His performance was outstanding and, although the gap was not that big at the end, he will jump many places in the GC as well. Kiryienka had already won in the Vuelta a España last year in what had been his last win. Among the favorites, Juanjo Cobo was also rewarded for being brave. He rolled over the finish line 3' 04'' behind the winner and will get back a lot of time in the GC.
Nevertheless, the biggest winner among the favorites was Michele Scarponi. The Italian did a really good final climb to the Ermita de Alba, putting time on all the others that started the climb with him and cutting a little the gap to Cobo. He finished 4' 17'' behind Vasil Kiryienka and grabbed the leader's jersey from the shoulders of Peter Stetina. The 4th and 5th places went to Chris Froome and David Lopez, both 5' 09'' behind the winner and more than 2 minutes behind Cobo. It is a shame for Froome that he had lost that much time as he is still far from the podium after a good stage for him.
The other side of the coin was for Peter Stetina today. He started the last mountain block on a high by winning at Alto Campoo and no one was expecting him to drop so much time. He crossed the finish line 12th alongside Tanel Kangert (Katusha), both 6' 32'' from the winner. This meant that he dropped to the 2nd place in the GC, 1' 40'' behind Scarponi. A very big margin in favor of the Italian considering the stages remaining. Juanjo Cobo jumped straight to a podium place, 2' 13'' behind the leader. Meanwhile, the rest of the favorites are all a bit far from the podium but they still have stages where they can be brave and attack far from the finish line.
It took a long time for the first and only individual time trial in the Vuelta a España to happen. The 17th stage will be a 37 kilometers long ITT in the surroundings of Burgos, which is one of the flattest parts of Spain. Therefore, the specialists should have an edge, although it is well known that the energies left in the riders will play a significant role so late in the race. A number of mountain stages compared to the few time trial kilometers mean that the route is quite unbalanced but this is a constant in the last few years in the Grand Tours.
The first of the candidates for the stage to start was David Millar (HTC). He did it really early in the day as he was 114th in the GC before the stage. He was close to being the strongest time trialist this year and he wanted to prove it by taking the stage win today. He was easily fastest than the best time so far in the day, set by Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL). However, the gap was not as big as it was expected for a rider like Millar. He was only 38 seconds quicker, basically 1 second per kilometer. Either Van Hummel was very strong or Millar will have it difficult to fight for the stage.
The next important rider to start is the rider that seems to have overtaken David Millar and Cameron Meyer (Trek) as the best time trialist, Tony Martin (Lotto). He started quite a bit later, already in the second half of the stage. In the long while since Millar finished, Fabian Cancellara (Cannondale) had taken over the best provisional time, proving that Millar's performance was far from his best. However, the Swiss would not stay for long on top as Martin was 15 seconds faster overall. Tony Martin's time was a lot more solid than those we have seen so far and it would not be strange if he took the final win.
There were no other candidates for the win that were not involved in the GC fight and the next rider on the spotlight was Marco Pinotti (Sky). The Italian has been rather disappointing so far in the Vuelta, but he already won the long time trial in last year's Giro d'Italia. His performance today was also very strong, good enough to displace Tony Martin from the top of the timesheets. He put 29 seconds between the two of them. It is a shame for Pinotti that he was so far in the GC that his good time trial would only be enough to overtake Emanuele Sella (Movistar) for the 20th place.
Jerome Coppel (Etixx) had won the Tour de France in July but he found himself doing a very discreet race in Spain. Nevertheless, the time trials had given him an edge in the Tour and he should be doing well here. However, even if his performance was quite good, it was not enough to get the top spot on the time sheets. He finished in the provisional 2nd position, 11 seconds behind Marco Pinotti. Nevertheless, he was basically in the same position as the Italian in the GC. The close to 20 minutes that separated him from the lead meant that gaining positions would be quite hard.
The only other rider that looked in a position to win the time trial was Levi Leipheimer (Trek). The American was outside the top 10 in the GC but his performance overall was better than expected. Today he was outstanding and he clearly beat the best time so far, set by Marco Pinotti. Leipheimer was 20 seconds quicker, a huge advantage that would be difficult to beat for other riders. The American has already won twice this season but none of them was a time trial. Getting a win here would round up a very good season for him.
The top riders in the GC were not accomplished time trialists. One of the best proofs of that is Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery). The Croatian is a rider that managed to get a podium in last year's Giro, although he does not look set to repeat such a feature. In today's time trial he could not be better than 35th provisionally as he crossed the finish line, 2' 23'' behind Levi Leipheimer. Crucially, he lost 20 seconds against Mikel Nieve (Katusha), which would put him behind the Spaniard in the GC. Nevertheless, the gap between them was really small.
The 4th in the GC just before the start was Domenico Pozzovivo (Trek), who is not very good against the clock either. The Italian has already won a stage in the Vuelta, the one finishing in Cortals d'Encamp. However, he lost a lot of time today, taking the 46th place as he crossed the finish line. He lost 2' 34'' against his teammate, Levi Leipheimer. His time also meant that Mikel Nieve would overtake him in the GC. The Spaniard would finish the day 4th in the GC, just ahead Pozzovivo. In the end, even if the Italian does not get to the podium it will still be better than what was expected from him.
Juanjo Cobo (HTC) had done a really good mountain stage in Asturias yesterday and he was looking to consolidate his podium position in the time trial. The Spaniard has had very good performances this season but a combination of bad luck and lack of consistency meant that he could never convert the stage wins in the Volta a Catalunya and the Criterium du Dauphine in good results in the GC. His time trial today was quite good and he clocked the 22nd position provisionally, 1' 51'' behind Levi Leipheimer. That would increase his cushion in the GC to 2 minutes, which looked enough considering the stages remaining.
It was not a good day in the mountains yesterday for Peter Stetina (BMC). However, he was in principle the best in a time trial among the favorites and he did not miss the opportunity to put time in all of his chasers. He finished the day in the 14th position, 1' 25'' behind Leipheimer, which would give him confidence to face the remaining stages and consolidate his podium position. That may give him the opportunity to attack Michele Scarponi with more confidence. The American has taken two unexpected stages this year in hilly stages and if he repeats he could end up winning the Vuelta.
The leader, Michele Scarponi (Astana), was the last to hit the road. The Italian has done nothing spectacular in the Vuelta so far but has always been among the best and he took a stage win already. Today he was expected to lose time against Peter Stetina and he did. However, he finished the stage in the 23rd position, 1' 50'' behind Levi Leipheimer, which was a relatively good performance for him. The gap that he enjoyed in the GC decreased to 1' 15'' but that could well be enough to hold on in the remaining stages. He has been really solid, so it would be strange if he was dropped.
In the end, the stage win went to Levi Leipheimer, his third this season, ahead of Marco Pinotti and Jerome Coppel. Chris Froome (Lampre) was the best in the top 10, taking a 4th position that served him to get ahead of Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) in the GC. Tony Martin completed the top 5. In the end, most of the favorites lost quite a bit of time but the gaps among them were not too big. The riders will now face a couple of stages with climbs relatively close to the finish line but not hard enough to create gaps among the favorites. They are great opportunities for breaks to win them.
The harder mountain stages are over but the 4 stages remaining should give opportunities to riders that are brave to attack from far away from the finish line. Today's stage finishing in Riaza is a good example as the riders will have to tackle the Puerto de la Quesera before the final descent towards the finish line. The climb itself is not that hard, featuring 7.4 kilometers at an average gradient of 5.9%. However, the road leading to it is plagued of short but steep climbs that might be good to get riders in an attacking mood. The riders that have positions to gain in the GC should do their best to try to take advantage of this terrain.
The first part of the stage was the easiest but with 121 kilometers to go, the riders already faced the first categorised climb of the day: the Alto de Santibañez de Ayllon. We already had a group of 8 riders settled at the front of the race, including riders like Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL), Rob Ruijgh (Lotto), Thibaut Pinot (Etixx), Julian Alaphilippe (Ag2r) and Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff). They had already built a gap of 6' 30'' at the top of the climb. The composition of the group meant that there would be a good fight between Kruijswijk and Ruijgh for the KoM points and the LottoNL rider won the first battle. Meanwhile, Astana was leading the peloton at an easy pace.
Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre) was quickest in the intermediate sprint in Campillejo ahead of Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) and Michael Matthews (Cannondale). Nevertheless, there were few points to fight for at the sprint. With 47 kilometers to go the gap of the break had grown to 12 minutes, which gave them a lead that was big enough for them to fight for the stage. It was a complicated day in the peloton as it was marked by crashes. The most important riders to fall had been David Lopez (Euskaltel) and Philippe Gilbert (Vacansoleil). The Spaniard had had no problems to rejoin the group but he was a bit bruised as he got back on his bike.
As we said before, the road leading to the Puerto de la Quesera was very tricky. It was plagued with short but steep climbs with higher gradients than those in the actual climb. The break still had a big gap at the front, 11' 30'' so they would have to battle for the stage win in the climb to La Quesera. Things were not so quiet in the peloton as Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery) and Vasil Kiryienka (IAM) attacked shortly after the intermediate sprint. However, they could not hold on to their lead, which never even got to 30 seconds. Many teams still had riders to work at the front of the group and they were ready to use them.
Another movement by Robert Kiserlovski was followed by Michele Scarponi (Astana) and they also dragged Frank Schleck (Etixx), Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) and Vasil Kiryienka with them. That was still before the proper climb started but the fact that the leader had filtered in the attack raised all the alarms in the bunch. They had a gap of 20 seconds over the group with 23 kilometers to go but the chase was quite well organized and riders like Juanjo Cobo (HTC) and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) were helping the BMC riders at the front. Meanwhile, David Lopez surprisingly got dropped with many kilometers to go. A couple of teammates stayed with him but he looked to be clearly suffering from his earlier crash.
Rob Ruijgh was the first to go through the top of the Puerto de la Quesera in the front group. He was followed by Steven Kruijswijk a few seconds behind and the rest of the early break was not far behind. They were all still within reach of the stage win and had around 9 minutes to the favorites. Kruijswijk would be back at the top of the KoM classification at the end of the day. Back at the group of the favorites, Michele Scarponi's group had been caught back but Juanjo Cobo attacked and opened a small gap as soon as they hit the proper climb to La Quesera. He had 25 seconds over the group of the leader with 5 kilometers to the top, where as many as 38 riders remained. Meanwhile, David Lopez was losing more than 3 minutes already.
There were no other attacks among the favorites in the climb to La Quesera but Juanjo Cobo still held a small 15 seconds lead over the group of the leader at the top of the climb. The main group was led by Jelle Vanendert, Frank Schleck and Mikel Nieve (Katusha) but it was still quite large and other than David Lopez's demise there were no further changes at the top of the GC expected. Meanwhile, Tanel Kangert (Katusha) was suffering quite a bit in the last kilometer of the climb and others like Vasil Kiryienka and Marco Pinotti (Sky) had been dropped. At the front of the race, with 7 kilometers to go, Rob Ruijgh had increased his gap to 35 seconds over the rest of the early break.
Rob Ruijgh went under the last kilometer kite with a 25 seconds gap that should be more than enough. It looked like he had jumped only for the KoM points at the top of the climb but he used that small gap to launch himself in the descent towards Riaza. The chasers were starting the final sprint, led by Pavel Brutt ahead of Jonathan Hivert (Sky), Julian Alaphilippe, Thibaut Pinot and Nicolas Roche (Discovery). The only rider missing at the group was Steven Kruijswijk, who had crashed in the descent shortly after being caught back by the group. He would be happy to wear the mountain's jersey but also bruised after the crash.
Rob Ruijgh wins in Riaza! The Dutch rider managed to get away from the early break at the top of the Puerto de la Quesera and he was not seen again by his fellow riders. Ruijgh was the winner of the 2013 Giro d'Italia so it is not really surprising that he took the win in a break. However, his job has been more of a supporting role in the Lotto team for the last couple of years and he had not won yet this season. Pavel Brutt led the rest of the riders in the break across the line 24 seconds behind, followed by Thibaut Pinot, Julian Alaphilippe and Nicolas Roche.
The group of the favorites did not get too crazy in the descent but they managed to finally catch Juanjo Cobo at the last kilometer of the stage so there would be no changes at the top of the GC. Mikel Nieve and Jelle Vanendert led the group, 6' 47'' behind the stage winner. There were as many as 23 riders in that group, which suggests that the last climb could be done in a relatively good way following a wheel. However, there were notable exceptions to this. Tanel Kangert lost touch with the group right before the top and ended up losing a bit more than 2 minutes at the finish line. He will lose the white jersey to Sergey Chernetskiy (Vacansoleil).
A lot further back, David Lopez rolled over the finish line more than 14 minutes behind the stage winner. The Spaniard crashed halfway through the stage and although he initially came back to the group easily, he was clearly bruised by the fall. He lost contact just before the start of the last climb and that settled his day. The time loss means that Levi Leipheimer (Trek) will take his place in the top 10 of the GC. It is unlikely that Lopez is able to recover with only 3 days to the end of the Vuelta so it is quite likely that his only way is backwards in the GC.
Today's stage finishes in Avila and it has a profile that is quite similar to the one the riders faced yesterday. However, there are a few differences. The last climb, the Alto de la Paramera is longer but quite gentle and further away from the finish line, 19 kilometers. On the other hand, the entrance to Avila features the cobbled climb next to the walls, which might be an opportunity for some riders to mount an attack and gain a few seconds. Nevertheless, the chances of the break taking the stage win are again quite high given that Astana or other teams do not look interested in controlling these stages.
The peloton allowed a rather large group to go away very easily in the early kilometers of the stage. Among the 11 riders at the front we could find quite important cyclists like Philippe Gilbert (Vacansoleil), Tony Gallopin (IAM), Daniel Moreno (Euskaltel), Simon Spilak (Tinkoff), Maarten Tjallingii (Etixx) and Jurgen van den Broeck (Cannondale). It was a very solid group that would be very difficult to chase down for the main bunch. With 120 kilometers to go they had already built a gap of 6' 30'' while the pace in the peloton was very easy. The first part of the stage was almost completely flat and many riders were not spending much energy.
The first categorised climb of the day was the Alto de Valdavia. It was a very gentle climb that was tackled right after the first passage through the finish line in Avila. The peloton was being led by Andres Kloden (Astana), Javier Moreno (Astana) and Manuele Boaro (Astana). Nevertheless, they were not too worried about chasing and the gap to the break had grown to 9' 40'' with 81 kilometers to go. Simon Spilak was the only rider to jump for the KoM points but he was quickly back with the rest of the group. In the first passage through the cobbles, Jurgen van den Broeck punctured his tyre but he had no trouble getting back in the break.
There were not many changes in the front group as they closed in to the final climb of the day. The intermediate sprint in El Barraco was in the first part of the climb but there was no fight for the points. Jurgen van den Broeck was doing most of the job at the front as riders like him should try to drop those that would be a threat in the cobbles before the finish line, like Maarten Tjallingii, Philippe Gilbert and Tony Gallopin. Back in the peloton, there had been an attack by Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) and Cadel Evans (Lotto) before the climb started but they had not been allowed to go anywhere. The gap of the early break had grown to more than 13 minutes.
There were several other attacks in the first part of the climb to the Alto de la Paramera in the group of favorites. Riders like Cadel Evans, Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery), Robert Gesink (Ag2r) and Frank Schleck (Etixx) tried to break away but they did not go anywhere. Nevertheless, it served to displace the Astana riders from the front of the race but there was barely anyone losing contact with the peloton. The road was quite nice and made it easy to follow a wheel. The break was already at the top of the climb, 19 kilometers from the finish line. Simon Spilak again jumped to grab the KoM points and had a few seconds over the rest of the break.
Jelle Vanendert and Frank Schleck were still trying to open a gap at the top of the climb but were unable to do anything. Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) got to the front of the group to close all the gaps, doing a great job for Michele Scarponi (Astana). One of the problems was that, even if there were plenty of attacks, the pace was slow when those were caught. Crucially, the gap to the break had barely come down in the climb. The riders in the break were already 7 kilometers to the finish line with Simon Spilak still 20 seconds ahead of the group. He was trying to do the same thing that Rob Ruijgh did yesterday but it looked much more difficult with the cobbled climb ahead.
Simon Spilak entered the streets of Avila still with a gap of 20 seconds over his chasers. He still had 4 kilometers to go as they had to head towards the cobbled climb next to the walls of the city. Had the finish been as easy as yesterday he could well have made it work easily. However, Tony Gallopin, Maarten Tjallingii and Peter Velits (Discovery) were chasing hard in the group and Spilak was using a lot of his energies. Gallopin should be the quickest if it comes down to a sprint but Maarten Tjallingii and Philippe Gilbert should handle the cobbles better than him. It was hard to predict with 180 kilometers in the legs of the riders.
Tony Gallopin pushed forward in the cobbled climb and he was only followed by Philippe Gilbert and Maarten Tjallingii. They were already on Simon Spilak's wheel with 700 meters to go as the Slovenian was struggling to keep up the pace. It looked like they had left the rest of the riders in the group far behind as Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Lampre) and Dani Moreno were chasing but the gap to the front had grown to 25 seconds. The stage was apparently going to be solved in a sprint among the 4 riders at the front and Tony Gallopin was on paper clearly the quickest of the 4.
Tony Gallopin wins in Avila! The French was expected to win the stage once they emerged from the cobbled section and he delivered but not with a huge margin. They only managed to properly get ahead of Simon Spilak in the last 500 meters but the Slovenian was 4th in the stage as Philippe Gilbert and Maarten Tjallingii got ahead of him. Gallopin has not had a good season so far and this win will not properly fix it. He had not had any results whatsoever so far and that is not acceptable for someone supposed to be a leader of his team. Another group of 4 chasers finished 25 seconds behind with Dani Moreno taking the 5th place ahead of Peter Velits.
There were a couple of attacks in the cobbles in the group of the favorites including Frank Schleck, Chris Froome (Lampre), Jelle Vanendert and Peter Stetina (BMC). However, they were properly controlled by the leader and in the end, there were no gaps among the favorites. Frank Schleck was the first to cross the finish line ahead of Peter Stetina. David Lopez (Euskaltel) could also make it on the same time, even though at some point in the climb to the Alto de la Paramera he seemed to be struggling to follow the pace of the peloton. He might have a more difficult day tomorrow.
All in all, the stage finishing in Avila was difficult to rate. The fight in the break was really good to witness but even though there were attacks in the peloton no team wanted to increase the pace to make those more successful. The main group finished more than 16 minutes behind, which tells that the pace was not strong enough to have tired legs in the riders. It will probably be a different story tomorrow as the riders will face the last mountain stage of the Vuelta. Michele Scarponi is still leader but his gap is not big enough that he can relax and they will have 4 proper climbs.
It is the last chance for the favorites to make a difference in the GC and they should not let it go without trying. The stage today takes place in the mountains north of Madrid, where the race will finish tomorrow. The organisers programmed a stage without a mountain-top finish, so if any of the favorites is ambitious he will have to attack from far out. To do it they will have 4 first category climbs: the Puerto de Navacerrada, the Puerto de la Morcuera twice and the Puerto de Cotos. However, Cotos, which is the last climb, is also the easiest as it has 12.8 kilometers but the average gradient is only 5.1%.
Astana followed the same strategy they had in previous days and refused to control the early break. Therefore, a group of 8 was already clearly established by the time they faced the first climb of the day: the Puerto de Navacerrada. The group included riders like Philippe Gilbert (Vacansoleil), Simon Ponzi (LottoNL), Maxim Iglinskiy (Sky), Tony Gallopin (IAM) and Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lotto). They already had a gap of 5' 20'' over the bunch at the top, with 147 kilometers to go. At the top of the climb, Iglinskiy was the only one interested in the KoM points and he was well within reach of the dotted jersey if he took most of the points on offer today.
Simon Spilak (Tinkoff) attacked in the last part of the climb to Navacerrada and decided to try to bridge the gap to the early break. He was still chasing at the top of the Puerto de la Morcuera, which was 109 kilometers from the finish line. The northern face of the climb was a bit easier than the southern, which would be tackled later in the stage. Spilak was still losing 3' 40'' at the top of the climb but the gap to the peloton was even bigger: 9' 30''. Andreas Kloden (Astana) was doing most of the job in the peloton but Astana was not really interested in chasing the break. The best scenario for them was that the break takes the bonus seconds in the finish line.
The loop in between the two climbs to the Puerto de la Morcuera only served to witness how Simon Spilak finally managed to join the early break. Their gap also increased substantially and halfway through the third climb of the day it was around 12 minutes. With 53 kilometers remaining it looked quite clear that one of the riders in the front group would end up taking the stage win. Maxim Iglinskiy was taking the responsibility to lead the group followed by Stefano Garzelli (Movistar). The group of the leader was finally increasing the pace slightly but we had not seen any riders losing contact yet as they were only starting the climb.
It was a really disappointing climb to La Morcuera in the peloton. No rider tried to attack in the group of the favorites and the pace that Astana put at the front was not going to leave anyone behind. It was quite clear that most of the riders were happy with their positions in the GC and only the minor positions in the top 10 where the gaps were smaller could change in the climb to Cotos and the following descent. Other teams should have made the race harder if they really wanted any future attacks to be of any effect. Meanwhile, the gap to the break had grown to 13' 45''.
Stefano Garzelli was leading the front group ahead of Simon Spilak as they climb to the Puerto de Cotos. It was clear that it was a climb were leaving others behind was difficult as they were already 5 kilometers to the top and no one showed signs of being about to be dropped. It may well be the case that the attacks in the break happen in the descent towards Cercedilla or that they fight for the stage in the last uphill kilometer. Meanwhile, the attacks in the group of the leader finally started at the bottom of the climb. A group of 6 including Mikel Nieve (Katusha), Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery) and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) had 15 seconds over the chasers, where Tejay van Garderen (Trek) was working to defend Domenico Pozzovivo's (Trek) position.
There were several attacks among the favorites at the bottom of the Puerto de Cotos but the only riders to sustain a gap were Robert Kiserlovski and Cadel Evans (Lotto). With 5 kilometers to the top of the climb for the main group they had a 30 seconds gap, but that would be enough for Kiserlovski to gain 2 positions in the GC. Nevertheless, there were still as many as 60 riders in the group, which suggested that the pace could still increase quite a bit. It was also a proof that they should have used the tougher climb to La Morcuera to make the stage harder. Meanwhile, Maxim Iglinskiy was first at the top of the climb and was going to win the KoM jersey.
Maxim Iglinskiy had taken the KoM points but it was Nicolas Roche (Discovery) who attacked in the flat road that linked the climbs to Cotos and Navacerrada. With 11 downhill kilometers to go he had a sizeable advantage of 40 seconds over the rest of the early break, which gave him an opportunity to take the stage win today. Tony Gallopin was leading the chase as the French wanted to get a second consecutive win in the Vuelta. Meanwhile, Chris Froome (Lampre) attacked in the group of the leader but Robert Kiserlovski and Cadel Evans were still a few seconds ahead of the group. David Lopez (Euskaltel) was the one to suffer the consequences as he again got dropped when many riders were still holding on.
Juanjo Cobo (HTC) was the first of the favorites to reach the crossing where the road started to descend towards Cercedilla, with a gap of around 20 seconds over the group of the leader. He had opened a gap in the flat after Robert Kiserlovski and Cadel Evans had been caught close to the top of the climb to Cotos. Chris Froome had done most of the job to bring them back, but it was quite strange as they were not a threat to him in the GC. At the end of the climb, as many as 25 riders were still in the group of the leader, so it would be surprising if we saw any differences in the GC. Meanwhile, Nicolas Roche was still ahead as the break was already close to the bottom of the descent.
The riders in the break reached the bottom of the descent of Navacerrada and Nicolas Roche was still 20 seconds ahead. As he crossed the last kilometer flag, it looked very good for him to get the win in the last mountain stage of the Vuelta. The last kilometer was slightly uphill but nothing serious so the time that the rest of the break gets on him should be quite small. Simon Ponzi was leading the chasing group followed by Tony Gallopin, both the best sprinters in the group. They were followed by Julian Alaphilippe (Ag2r) and Philippe Gilbert but they were clearly fighting for the 2nd place in the stage.
Nicolas Roche wins in Cercedilla! That was a very surprising win for Roche, given that he was not among the favorites for the stage even among the riders in the early break. However, he seized the opportunity and attacked when his rivals were more tired after the last climb of the day. That generated doubts in the group and he got a margin big enough that he did not lose in the descent. The second position went to Simone Ponzi, who crossed the line 18 seconds behind followed by Tony Gallopin. Ponzi would have been a very difficult rider to beat had the group got to Cercedilla together and he proved it. The top 5 was completed by Julian Alaphilippe and Simon Spilak.
Michele Scarponi led the group of the favorites over the finish line, showing that he was again strong today and that he will be a worthy champion of the Vuelta. Juanjo Cobo had been caught in the descent and there had been no other attempts to attack. All in all, the attitude of the favorites in the last few stages was quite disappointing. We had seen a very good stage finishing at the Ermita de Alba, where Scarponi took the lead. However, it looks like the riders left all their energies on those stages. The pace that Astana put in the remaining stages was very easy and no other team took over to make the race hard.
The podium in Madrid tomorrow is ready to be occupied by Scarponi, surrounded by Peter Stetina (BMC) and Juanjo Cobo. It will be the first win in a Grand Tour for the Astana rider. He was the only one of the pre-race favorites to meet the expectations put in him and most of the others, like David Lopez and Frank Schleck (Etixx), finished far behind in the GC. The final gap will not be too big but Stetina was unable to respond once he had lost the jersey in the last mountain stage in the north of Spain. This was also the final day for the KoM classification, which Maxim Iglinskiy will win tomorrow thanks to the amount of points he got today.
The Vuelta a España is about to draw to an end in Madrid. The riders will most likely enjoy what will be closer to a rest day than racing and the most likely outcome of the stage is a mass sprint in the centre of the city. The stage itself is only 100 kilometers long and most of it will be raced in a 6 kilometers long circuit. This final part of the race is a bit trickier than the Champs-Elysees in Paris as there is a climb halfway through the circuit. However, it should not be a problem for the sprinters and Michele Scarponi should enjoy the day in the saddle.
The break of the day formed straight away and no team was willing to control the pace in the early kilometers of the stage. The group of 7 included riders like Jonathan Hivert (Sky), Peter Kennaugh (Tinkoff), Tom Slagter (Cannondale), Rui Costa (Ag2r) and Thomas Voeckler (Dimension Data). With 78 kilometers to the finish line they had already built a 4 minutes gap at the front. This triggered the appearance of a couple of riders from LottoNL and Movistar to help controlling the pace. Nevertheless, they had more than enough time to catch them.
The intermediate sprint was placed at the 2nd passage through the finish line. The peloton had already started to up the pace and the gap had come down to 3 minutes. In the sprint, Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL) won again, ahead of Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar). It was quite strange that Van Hummel did sprint, given that he had already won the classification mathematically. He only needed to finish the stage. With 54 kilometers to go, the peloton seemed to have the stage under control and the mass sprint was still the most probable outcome.
The peloton was already closing down on the early break with 10 kilometers to go. They were climbing towards the Plaza de Callao for the penultimate time and the gap was only 35 seconds. However, the peloton was not that big as there had been a big crash a couple of laps before and it was mostly Pablo Lastras (Movistar) doing the chase. Among those left behind by the crash, we could see sprinters like Simone Ponzi (LottoNL), Tony Gallopin (IAM), Kenny van Hummel and Yauheni Hutarovich (IAM). We had also seen two riders abandon the race: Manuele Boaro (Astana) and Lars Peter Nordhaug (Ag2r).
The peloton finally caught the early break as they crossed the finish line for the penultimate time. With 3 kilometers to go it was Emanuele Sella (Movistar) that was leading the way for Jose Joaquin Rojas. The Italian was not the best rider to do a lead out but Movistar did not have many options. Rojas had Stefan van Dijk (Vacansoleil) right behind. Euskaltel were also trying to build a sprint train as Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel) was bringing Alexander Kristoff to the front. They were also dragging Eros Capecchi (BMC) but it looked unlikely that the Italian would join the final sprint. Among the other sprinters, we could see Mark Renshaw (BMC), Michael Matthews (Cannondale) and Jure Kocjan (Katusha) well positioned.
Greg van Avermaet did a great job to bring Alexander Kristoff to the front of the peloton as they were about to take the last turn of the stage. It was placed a bit more than 1 kilometer from the finish line. They were on the inside of the turn and alongside Jose Joaquin Rojas, who had already started his sprint. It was way too far from the finish line to start the sprint and it looked like he was effectively leading Stefan van Dijk out. Other sprinters were trying to follow, like Jurgen Roelandts (Sky), Mark Renshaw and John Degenkolb (HTC) but the leading part of the group was much stretched.
The Euskaltel riders had an issue in the last turn and that dropped them a few places down the order. That left a big space open for Jose Joaquin Rojas to take the lead of the sprint. However, Stefan van Dijk was starting to emerge from behind his wheel and Rojas had started so early that he may run out of energies before the finish line. Jurgen Roelandts was also well positioned and with 700 meters to go it looked like one of the 3 riders at the front would take the win. Mark Renshaw was still relatively close but he was once again very badly positioned ahead of a sprint.
Jose Joaquin Rojas wins in Madrid! The Spaniard has clearly been suffering from the curse of wearing the World Champion jersey but that was clearly not the case today. He grabbed his first win of the season with an outstanding sprint that will satisfy his home fans. It was only the second win for Spain in this Vuelta and the only one for the local Movistar team. In the end, it was a narrow win over Jurgen Roelandts with Stefan van Dijk third. The Dutch was clearly not on his best day as he could not even get on par with Rojas. Alexander Kristoff and Michael Matthews completed the top 5.
The Vuelta is over with this final party in Madrid and the crowned champion is Michele Scarponi (Astana). The Italian had never been in a podium of a race before in his career and this is a huge step forward for him. It was true that he was among the pre-race contenders but it was difficult to imagine that he would come on top. Peter Stetina (BMC) and Juanjo Cobo (HTC) will join him on top of the podium. Stetina was really close to being the first rider that wins 3 Grand Tours in the story but he dropped the ball in the last serious mountain stage, paving the way for Scarponi's win.
- Simone Ponzi (LottoNL - Jumbo)
- Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r - La Mondiale)
- Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi)
- Ben Swift (Vacansoleil - DMC)
Other riders with a shot at the podium are Andre Greipel (Lotto - Soudal), Elia Viviani (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Marcel Kittel (Astana Pro Team), Bernhard Eisel (LottoNL - Jumbo), Francisco Ventoso (Movistar Team) and Tony Gallopin (IAM Cycling).
Just a note that Plouay and Montreal will be short reports instead of the typical ones. I started to do it this season so that the story does not stagnate as I keep adding racing days each season.
