Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco: Stage 3 April 3rd, 2014
Vitoria is becoming somewhat of a traditional place for a stage finish in this race, with an appearance for a third consecutive year. Just like in past editions, the finish is reached from the fairly gentle slopes of Alto de Zaldiaran. Sprinters have tended to survive it in the past, but perhaps this is the year the GC contenders figure it's time to change that?
In an attempt to continue the task he embarked on during stage 1, Cazaux jumps with the breakaway. His companions - Marcus Burghardt and Michal Golas - easily overpower him, but an advantage of nine points going into the day still puts Cazaux in a provisional KoM lead after the first two climbs.
Thanks to good cooperation, the trio are still up front by a solid three minutes when entering the last 25 km of the stage. A stage win could be up for grabs, but it soon starts to come down when Costa goes crazy on the hill preceding Zaldiaran, trying to get back at Quintana.
His efforts are in vain, since the Colombian is among those responding. Koretzky brings everyone back a little while later.
More attacks follow when the actual climb is reached. Ulissi and Vandenbroeck in particular, make big pushes - but the peloton is kept intact all the way to the summit.
A dropped Cazaux gets shut down just before the top; preventing him from taking any final points. Unfortunate for him, since Golas takes another six points and climbs to first in the KoM classification.
On the descent, the peloton becomes a big mess of teams trying to organize themselves for a sprint finish. In the chaos, many forget that Golas and Burghardt are still up the road.
Their advantage remains as they close in on the final kilometer, but Ulissi is determined to bring them back and sets off again - this time with Kwiatkowski.
The two are clearly faster than the rest, and the gap starts to fall...
But it's way too late. Golas takes it for OPQS!
Kwiatkowski is a very superior third, with Ulissi running out of steam in the final meters. Neither Peter Sagan (46th) nor Philippe Gilbert (49th) were able to contend the sprint, surprisingly.
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco: Stage 4 April 4th, 2014
No changes were made between the favourites yesterday, so they must be saving themselves for these final days. First up is this typical Pais Vasco-stage, with a bunch of steep hills - topped with an uphill finish in Altsasu.
A reduced group contesting the stage win is likely what we'll see. The category 1 'La Cadena' might look close enough to the final ramp to instigate attacks, but it is in fact more than 20 km on flat terrain. Any attempts from long range are likely to be swept up by a chasing peloton.
The - among the Basque fans - increasingly popular Pierre Cazaux once again features in the group that escapes right from the start of the stage. Just like previously, he picks up a few points here and there - despite being unable to compete with the other members of the breakaway.
On the fourth climb of the day, he is forced to let go for good and drops back to the peloton, while Igor Antón (16th GC!), Ben Hermans and Enrico Barbin race away.
Shortly afterwards, Antón goes on to drop Hermans and Barbin as well - placing him in a solo lead with 40 km to the finish. It's unfortunate for Cazaux, since the OPQS rider also claims the next climb and pulls on the KoM jersey with 40 points, against Cazaux's 29 and Barbin's 28.
That competition is surely far from over, though!
The favourites have done nothing up to this point, but Gilbert looks keen to change that with an attack halfway up La Cadena. The former world champion is no threat to Quintana's GC lead, but the Colombian is forced to follow when Nibali also makes a move.
They sit up, so Sagan and Ulissi try instead. Barbin is caught in the meantime; leaving Antón as the only remaining breakaway member.
Sagan has been almost invisible thus far in the race, but it seems like that's set to change today. Ulissi pops before the summit, while the Slovakian sets off in pursuit of Antón by himself.
The main field isn't exactly going slow either. La Cadena reduced the group to a mere 45 riders - with 3rd overall Hesjedal and 9th Vandenbroeck caught in a second peloton, a minute behind!
Back at the front, Sagan catches up with Antón - only to be run down by a chasing Movistar train. Unwilling to recover and wait for the final dash, he immediately stomps on the pedals with a new attack.
Simon Gerrans, Samuel Sánchez and Aleksandr Kolobnev tag along, and Quintana's domestiques are struggling to contain them!
With the gap still stuck at 30+ seconds at the bottom of the final hill, Kwiatkowski takes the matter into his own hands. With Hesjedal way down the road, the Polish rider could be looking at a podium spot in the overall tonight!
Or maybe even more than that - Kwiatkowski is gone!
Sagan leads into the final kilometer, stressed by an approaching Kwiatkowski. Gerrans is meanwhile losing contact with the other three.
It looked like his form was completely off ahead of the Ardennes, but it appears that Peter Sagan is right where he wants to be. Victory for Cannondale!
A total of 16 riders finish 10 seconds back. Kwiatkowski made his strike a bit early, which allows Nibali to lead the other favourites back in the final kilometer.
The day's losers - Hesjedal and Vandenbroeck - finish at two minutes, causing them to tumble down the overall standings.
Why is Belkin highlighted in blue? Did I miss something?
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Pais Vasco is going really well! Kwiat is really doing so well this year and of course its partly due to the master tactician controlling him in the races
La Pomme has long been one of my favourite stories on the site, and its probably the story I take the most inspiration from, thanks for keeping it going all this time! Hopefully it can continue for a long while still!
A tough week at school plus a short trip away from my PCM computer over the weekend has prevented me from reporting for a few days. After that little delay, here's finally the final mountain stage!
547984 - We've been third in the team ranking every day since the start, so I accidently coloured them - thinking that we were still 3rd
valv321 - Thanks man, it's always good to hear from you! I'm hoping to keep this going for at least this season. After that, it's going to depend on how much free time school allows me
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Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco: Stage 5 April 5th, 2014
With the exception of Hesjedal and Vandenbroeck falling out of the overall top 10 yesterday, not much has changed since Quintana claimed the race lead on the second stage.
For the other pre-race favourites, it is currently looking like a race for 2nd, but a good day today could easily see strong timetriallists like Kwiatkowski and Nibali spring back into contention - given that Quintana tends to lose quite a bit of time on flat time trial courses.
One man has really won the hearts of the Basque fans during the events of this race: Pierre Cazaux. After struggling in breakaway after breakaway, the French-Basque rider is hoping to finally get his hands on the polkadot jersey today.
Unfortunately, his dream is shattered right from the start of the stage. A starting position at the very back of the peloton causes him to miss the first attacks, and subsequently - the day's breakaway. He initially tries to bridge across to the 8-man group, but eventually realises it's not going to happen, and drops back to the main field.
After that early drama, the stage cools down and goes slow until just before the summit of the day's second climb - where Nibali puts pressure on Quintana with a surprising attack.
Even though the finish is more than 30 km away and Movistar still have their entire squad around, the yellow jersey decides to take the bait and follow.
Kreuziger, Schleck and Niemiec join the action too; creating an escape group that actually pulls away from a chasing peloton.
However even for a powerhouse like that, it's just not possible to go at the same speed as the main field when the descent flattens out. The question now is: will those 15 km of intense effort impact them on the final climb?
Apparently not. Kreuziger immediately attacks on the 10% gradient that marks the start of Alto de Arantzazu, and Quintana is among those responding.
Or did I speak too soon? 4th overall Kreuziger pulls away with 2nd placed Costa, and it's Betancur - not Quintana - who seems most keen to chase!
Possibly just tactics between the two Colombians. Betancur takes the rest of the favourites, including Quintana, across to Kreuziger and Costa - who have caught all breakaway members except Zandio and Losada.
Into the final 3 km, and Betancur goes again - this time with Quintana.
They get nowhere, so Kwiatkowski jumps on the pedals instead.
This acceleration is far more concentrated, and gaps start to appear all over the place! Quintana, Betancur and Nibali are the only ones that seem capable of following, as Kreuziger pops after trying to tag along too.
A few hundred meters up ahead, Losada beats Zandio for the stage win. The two attacked at just the right moment - when Betancur closed Kreuziger and Costa's gap - and managed to hold their advantage all the way.
22 seconds later, Kwiatkowski crosses the line - having detached everyone except Quintana from his wheel. The other favourites are scattered over small groups with non-major gaps between them.
Great stuff from Kwiatek there in the Basque Country. A top ten on every stage so far, so his high overall and points positions are very deserved! Hopefully he can finish off the good work and win the race. Depends whether he can keep within touching distance of Quintana on the next stage.
Kudos for the great reports as always Pelli, brilliant quality. Can't wait to see how the team does moving forward, first in the Ardennes and then the Giro.
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco: Stage 6 April 6th, 2014
9 kilometers against the clock is all that remains here in the Basque Country. Most of them are flat, but there are a few hundred meters of uphill shortly after the intermediate time check halfway through.
That part of the course will definitely play into the hands of the climbers, but will it be enough for Quintana to defend the jersey he has been wearing for the past days?
Early in the day, it looked like we were up for an interesting run for the stage win - with those anticipated to be among the fastest all posting times of more or less the same strength.
One man would eventually kill the suspense completely, however. Clocking a time that would eventually put him a ludicrous 20 seconds clear of runner-up Tejay Van Garderen, Tony Martin added yet another win to his palmares.
As we approach the top of the general classification and the final remaining riders, it is surprisingly one disappointing performance after another. Along with the aforementioned Van Garderen; Ryder Hesjedal is the only rider who started in the top 20 overall that sits in a provisional top 10 spot with only two riders left to complete the race.
In other words, a disappointing stage from all those who could theoretically have made it onto the podium today. Costa therefore secures a podium, making Ulissi's move past Betancur the only change among the top 10 so far.
But enough of that, as Kwiatkowski gets to the finish. Fouth place so far, 23 seconds slower than Martin. Really nothing special, but much better than all of his closest rivals. Now, what will Quintana do?
The timer keeps ticking, and it's a fairly weak time from Quintana. He's not even in the top 50 on the stage, but with a deficit of 52 seconds to Martin - the Colombian has done what he needed to.
With a margin of 11 seconds, Nairo Quintana is the overall winner!
11 seconds, that's a shame, but at least he took home to points jersey!
baseballlover312, 06-03-14 : "Nuke Moscow...Don't worry Russia, we've got plenty of love to go around your cities"
Sarah Palin, 08-03-14 (CPAC, on Russian aggression) : "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke"
Big thanks to jdog for making this AMAZING userbar!
Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco: Stage 3
