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Elites of Professional International Cycling
La Vuelta a España 2013, 68th edición
Three weeks ago, Garmin opened the Vuelta when they started their team time trial and now 3298 km later Yoeri Havik closes the Vuelta after dropping in the last stage. We have excitement and drama. Teams goals being achieved and failed. We had cheers and jeers. All in all, Vuelta got it all.
La Vuelta in 20 sentences
The Vuelta started with a team time trial in Vilanova de Arousa which was won by Garmin – Sharp. the teams that had a bad day and lost some time were NetApp (König), Sky (Froome), and Astana (Fuglsang) losing 30 seconds. The rest of the first week was dominated by Movistar, with 5 stage wins and the red jersey in the first 8 stages. Valverde (3x), Castroviejo and Inxausti won in different ways. Only Matthews and Degenkolb were the only non-Movistar riders winning in the first week.
one of the many Movistar victories from the first week; this one is from Castroviejo
Everything changed after 9th stage however, Valverde started to show fatigue in a stage. In the same stage EPIC history was written when Mitchell Birt of Team NetApp made himself the first rider to win after being introduced by the EPIC youth development program. He made his Vuelta even better the next day when he won again. this also marked the day that Valverde lost the race lead when Joaquim RodrÃguez took the red jersey.
Rodriguez and Froome showing that they are the strongest in the Vuelta
Stage 11 - The time trial was surprisingly not won the current time trial world champion Tony Martin but Oreste Ghita was the one that beat the already legendary German. Proving that EPIC youth development program isn’t something that made a one-hit wonder with Birt. The EPIC youth development program got close to more stage wins but the Chilean Jorge Cristobal Riquelme got stopped by Ciolek, who won stages 12 and 13 in a row. The red jersey wasn’t in danger besides the time trial but RodrÃguez only lost 1 second to Froome in the time trial.
Jorge Cristobal Riquelme on the right get’s beaten by Gerald Ciolek in stage 13
However the mountain came and that’s when Tour de France winner Chris Froome started to show himself that he was the main contender. He took the red jersey from RodrÃguez on the 14th stage that was won by Bouet from the AG2R team after a long breakaway, that would put Bouet into the top 10 of the GC. In the last week of the Vuelta, the fatigue showed in the peloton as all the following stages were won from breakaways. The big winners thanks to this was Astana that took 4 wins (Seeldraeyers-15, Tiralongo-16, Kashechkin-19, Silin-20) including the finish on the legendary Angliru.
Silin showing he’s the boss on the Angliru
Garmin, Belkin and Omega Pharma also took a stage win home, Vande Velde for Garmin in stage 18, Clement for Belkin in stage 17 and Rabon for Omega Pharma in stage 21. Froome however was never threaded after he took the red, RodrÃguez tried and got a few seconds back but it was all for not when RodrÃguez had to abandon on stage 20. Froome was joined on the podium by Alejandro Valverde and teammate Rigoberto Urán, who secretly made his way upward helping Froome on his way to the front. The surprises in the top 10 in the GC are of course the 41 year old Chris Horner from RadioShack; The Irishman Daniel Martin who proved that top 5 in a GC and youngsters Leopold König and Oreste Ghita surprised the world by finishing within the top 10.
Froome finishes in the 21th stage, winning the Vuelta
stage winners and GC leaders
| Stage | Stage Winner | GC Leader |
| #1: Vilanova de Aruosa – Sanxenxo | Garmin – Sharp | Rohan Dennis (GRS) |
| #2: Pontevreda – Alto do Monte da Groba | Alejandro Valverde (MOV) | Alejandro Valverde (MOV) |
| #3: Vigo – Mirador de Lobeira | Jonathan Castroviejo (MOV) | Alejandro Valverde (MOV) |
| #4: Lalin – Finisterra | Alejandro Valverde (MOV) | Alejandro Valverde (MOV) |
| #5: Sober – Lago de Sanabria | Beñat Intxausti (MOV) | Alejandro Valverde (MOV) |
| #6: GuiJeulo – Cáceres | Michael Matthews (OGE) | Alejandro Valverde (MOV) |
| #7: Almendralejo – Mairena de Aljarafe | John Degenkolb (ARG) | Alejandro Valverde (MOV) |
| #8: Jerez de la Frontera – Estepona | Alejandro Valverde (MOV) | Alejandro Valverde (MOV) |
| #9: Antequera – Valdepeñas de Jaén | Mitchell Birt (TNE) | Alejandro Valverde (MOV) |
| #10: Torredelcamp – Güéjar Sierra | Mitchell Birt (TNE) | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez (KAT) |
| #11: Tarazona – Tarazona | Oreste Ghita (ARG) | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez (KAT) |
| #12: Maella – Tarragona | Gerald Ciolek (MTN) | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez (KAT) |
| #13: Valls – Castelldefels | Gerald Ciolek (MTN) | JoaquÃm RodrÃguez (KAT) |
| #14: Bagà – Andorra | Maxime Bouet (ALM) | Chris Froome (SKY) |
| #15: Andorra – Peyragudes | Kevin Seeldraeyers (AST) | Chris Froome (SKY) |
| #16: Graus – Sallent de Gállego | Paolo Tiralongo (AST) | Chris Froome (SKY) |
| #17: Calahorra – Burgos | Stef Clement (BEL) | Chris Froome (SKY) |
| #18: Burgos – Peña Cabarga | Christian Vande Velde (GRS) | Chris Froome (SKY) |
| #19: St. Vicente Barquera – Oviedo | Andrey Kashechkin (AST) | Chris Froome (SKY) |
| #20: Avilés – Alto de L’Angliru | Egor Silin (AST) | Chris Froome (SKY) |
| #21: Leganés – Madrid | Frantisek Rabon (OPS) | Chris Froome (SKY) |
Team by Team review
Garmin - Sharp
stage wins: 2, GC: 5th
the American team started the Vuelta great by winning the team time trial and winning their first team goal immediately. their second goal of a top 20 in the GC was never in doubt as Irishman Daniel Martin never left the top 10 with a 5th finishing place as a result. A second stage win in Peña Cabarga when American Christian Vande Velde was able to hold of JoaquÃn RodrÃguez from the Peloton. 3,5/5
Team Saxo-Tinkoff
stage wins: 0, GC: 9th
The Danish team have been pretty invisible in the first two weeks but Roche and Majka have been hard to miss in the last week. the two have been charging up the GC and it ultimately ended in 9
th place for Roche and 12
th place for Majka. enough for Saxo to complete their top 10 goal. 3/5.
Belkin Pro Cycling Team
stage wins: 1, GC: 18th
Belkin took a risk for sending Ten Dam as only GC rider to the Vuelta leaving Kelderman, Gesink and Mollema home. this risk didn’t work out as the 18
th place in the GC was the team’s best and it wasn’t even Ten Dam but Luis León Sánchez that achieved it. if it wasn’t for Stef Clement winning stage 17, the Vuelta would have been a disaster. 3/5
Movistar Team
stage wins: 5, GC; 2nd
the team of the first week but faded when Valverde faded as well. when Valverde came back in the third week, Movistar seemed to do better as well but even despite several breakaway tries, they couldn’t take another win. not that they were short of any. their top 4 goal was easily achieved with second place. 4.5/5
AG2R La Mondiale
stage wins: 1, GC: 15th
AG2R was only seen in the picture twice. both times was it Bouet that was in the breakaway that succeeded in week three. this gave him a top 10 in the GC but wasn’t able to hold on to it, making them miss their top 10 goal. a stage win is all they got from the Vuelta. 2.5/5
Astana Pro Team
stage wins: 4, GC: 11th
where Movistar ruled the first week, the third week was ruled by Astana. 4 stage wins in the last week hid however the fact that their leader Fuglsang wasn’t able to complete the top 10 goal set by the team, he finished 11
th. 3.5/5
Katusha Team
stage wins: 0, GC:16th
Katusha was so close to having a good Vuelta but when RodrÃguez was forced to abandon, so did any change of Katusha having a good Vuelta. Daniel Moreno did try the redeem Katusha’s Vuelta but with no stage wins and only a 16 place in the final ranking, it’s surely one of the more disappointing teams in the Vuelta. 2/5
RadioShack – Leopard
stage wins: 0, GC: 4th
The Shack had hoped on a stage win but the closest they got was 2
nd place on stage 9 so they missed their goal. they can be happy about Chris Horner that finishes in 4
th place which could have been higher if not for a really bad 16
th stage. 3.5/5
Cannondale Pro Cycling
stage wins: 0, GC: 20th
Cannondale with Peter Sagan isn’t a team that could be expected to win every other day but with riders like Moser, De Marchi and Caruso it was expected that they could at least one stage win. they failed to deliver however with only two 5 places on stages 3 and 9. Caruso with 20
th place on the GC isn’t something great either. 2/5
FDJ.fr
stage wins: 0, GC: 29th
aFDJ is known for their attacking spirit and they surely showed it in the Vuelta again. it didn’t however deliver as with numerous podium placings but no win. the UCI crushed FDJ with a top 10 goal but Fédrigo in 29
th place must have been surprising for the French team. 1.5/5
MTN - Qhubeka
stage wins: 2, GC: 19th
2 of the three wildcards teams have shown that they are worthy of being invited again. MTN had some hard goals set up by themselves. 2 stage wins and 4 breakaway attempts. they succeeded in both mainly thanks to Ciolek when he took back to back wins. it was thanks to Meintjes that they succeeded in their breakaway goal. Hintermuller showed himself by finishing 19
th place. 4/5
Omega Pharma - QuickStep
stage wins: 1, GC: 52th
they did what everybody expected to do: winning at least one stage. it wasn’t however world champion Tony Martin that took the stage win in the time trial but Frantisek Rabon that took the honors in the last stage. This was however one of the few times someone from Omega Pharma was in sight. 2/5
Caja Rural – Seguros RGA
stage wins: 0, GC: 41th
The Spanish team is known for their attacking spirit but even despite them showing it, it didn’t really work out as the best they got was two 3rd places by Marcs GarcÃa. 1.5/5
Lotto Belisol
stage wins: 0, GC: 7th
Secretly but steadily Belgian Jurgen Van den Broeck made his way up into the top 10 of the GC and showed himself to be able to keep up with the lead trio at occasions. However the side of the team that they are known for was relaying on Roelandts in the sprints and he didn’t deliver. 2.5/5
BMC Racing Team
stage wins: 0, GC: 14th
With the exceptions of breakaway attempts, BMC was barely seen in front of the race. They had a stage win goal but there best result was a 4th place in stage 17. The 14th place in the GC for Santaromita however is one of the bigger surprises in the Vuelta. 2/5
Sky Procycling
stage wins: 0, GC: 1st
With a first and third place in the GC, you would think that they would be considered to be the team of the Vuelta. The lack of stage wins are the only remarks on the British team so it’s not a perfect Vuelta yet. 4.5/5
Lampre - Merida
stage wins: 0, GC: 42th
The Italians were pretty much the abodiement of invisible. The only noticeable performances where from Durasek and Serpa. A 3rd place on the last stage was maybe more than they deserved. 1.5/5
Team NetApp - Endura
stage wins: 2, GC:6th
The last wildcard team in this review and they also showed that they are worthy of the wildcard. In the first look on the team during the team time trial, we mentioned that if König and Birt don’t perform the team could be in trouble. Thanks to 2 stage wins from Birt and a 6
th place overall from König, they delivered and with that completed NetApp’s top 10 goal. 4/5
Euskaltel - Euskadi
stage wins: 0, GC: 8th
After a horrible Tour and a not much better Giro, it was time for the relegation-fighting Basque team to redeem themselves and thanks to Sánchez they achieved their Top 10 goal so the Vuelta can’t be a complete disaster for them. Lobato mixed it up in the sprints but sadly, that didn’t led to a stage win. 3/5
Team Argos - Shimano
stage wins: 2, GC: 10th
Thanks to John Degenkolb and Oreste Ghita, the second Dutch team won two stages and a top 10 overall goal. More was expected however as Degenkolb was easily the biggest sprinter here and Ghita surprised everybody with the stage win and a top 10. 3.5/5
Orica - GreenEDGE
stage wins: 1, GC: 17th
The public expected more from the Australians but with only 1 stage win and a 17th place in the GC from Weening it isn’t much to write home about. Michael Matthews had problems with his lead-out as Impey frequently either got better results or left Matthews with one man short. 2.5/5
Shonak wrote:
-ALL YOUR FRUSTRATION BELONGS TO US!-
Some of the ragiest posts during the past 3 weeks, right out of the team cars into our living rooms!
Spoiler
brewers90 wrote:
Damn, I took Jeremy Powers out instead of Lander. WHY?!?!?!
Bikex wrote:
Purito
nacho63 wrote:
What the fuck, Ghita, what the, even Luke Rowe made the dam selection, bet he was protecting Degenkolb...........
Selwink wrote:
Seriously MTN. You have a wildcard for your first GT ever and then don't join the break? Next on all your riders drop, including your GC hope, and all are beaten by De Backer.
brewers90 wrote:
Yeah, I'm out. Enough of this bullshit now.
brewers90 wrote:
Decent effort from Blythe, appalling shitefest from Van Avermaet.
Shonak wrote:
Whaaaat. No, no, no! Screw this shit. Argos and Euskaltel gnaaaah, such crash profiteers, phew ... oh poor König, backstabbed: Et tu, Euskadi?
8 Minutes, jeez... RIP NetApp Endura.
Ollfardh wrote:
Come on Belkin, try harder!
mvhoogdalem wrote:
Really Moser.... dammit. You're lucky I like you.
brewers90 wrote:
Meanwhile, on planet BMC, I'm gonna go and bang my head against the wall for a few hours. WILL SOMEBODY TRY TO GO FOR A STAGE WIN. Morabito has still done nothing
all season!!!
brewers90 wrote:
Wow. This AI sucks. I like NetApp but this is some straight up bullshit.
Good try by Ivan
again. The rest aren't going to do anything for the whole race are they?
The Rider wrote:
I really should have gone for a top5 in GC goal instead of a stage win, as it is harder but more realistic for this team.
brewers90 wrote:
We can't even win the lanterne rouge. I thought Lander would be shit enough to win it but there's
six Lotto riders below him. Grand Tours hate me and I'm starting to hate them.
Luis Leon Sanchez wrote:
Are you fucling serious
sutty68 wrote:
This race is just a farce for the Lampre boys
sutty68 wrote:
The sooner the better that this race ends so Lampre can stop causing me embarrassment
Shonak wrote:
FML, this stage must have been the aquivalent of a bitch slap.
Selwink wrote:
Come on MTN, join a break. There's no use defending a 16th GC and then dropping to 21st when breaks are free to go
Ollfardh wrote:
Guys, can we at least try to get in a break? And it seems Ten Dam can't even get a top 20..
Great reports though, I really enjoy reading as long as I forget I'm managing Belkin.
brewers90 wrote:
I give up.
The problem I have is that my riders are doing so badly, I won't even be able to sell them at the end of the season.
"Here you go guys, this is a rider who will really make your team stronger if you want to be anonymous for three weeks in a row."
brewers90 wrote:
Santaromita up to 13th. I'm so, so confused.
brewers90 wrote:
Did Owniak crash?? I hope he did, otherwise that's dreadful.
Nice try by Nerz (finally
) but I'm so past frustrated, I don't care. I've long given up on getting a stage win. The AI hates BMC for a reason I'm not sure of.
mvhoogdalem wrote:
Disappointing post nr. 18
brewers90 wrote:
What a pile of wank.
nacho63 wrote:
Feel totally mugged off by Ghita after the last stage ffs
sutty68 wrote:
mvhoogdalem wrote:
This can't end soon enough.
Totally agree with you on that
brewers90 wrote:
Though Santaromita finishing the Vuelta in 14th position has got to be one of the most ridiculous results of the year. He's the only one of my riders within an hour of Froome.
And Frank can fuck right off. Done nothing all season.
Selwink wrote:
Ah ffs, join a break in mountain stages
Bikex wrote:
Ollfardh wrote:
Auch, I predict a bad few weeks for ICL, as Bikex just smashed his computer
Not only, I accidently burned my entire house. Nevermind SSJ2Luigi's house is next.
The bad luck I have and the indignation of my riders really sucks so much, first Spilak and Kristoff pretending they are on a training ride at the Tour de France and no Purito abandoning on the penultimate stage just because he feels like it. He didn't even crash or something, just stopped pedaling his bike.
brewers90 wrote:
So, so disappointed with how the AI handles outsiders in GTs. Pathetic. Just got to wait to hear from Damian now to find out why he fell off a cliff in the final week. He was in the top 20 with a week to go and he's finished 38th, over 20 minutes behind 20th.
sutty68 wrote:
I totally agree with all the others, Great reports and all done at a nice pace too
, pity about my results though
Alright the previous comments might not have been the most ragiest but we were selecting the comments to be used in the review and half way through we shifted the criteria. Basically it’s now a list of our favorites. I’ll close the Vuelta by changing my profile picture and signature and leave you with one final table.
the goals overview
| Team | Goal | Difficulty | progress | rating |
| Movistar | Top 4 | Medium | 3rd (+1) | 4,5/5 |
| Team Sky | Top 5 | Medium | 1st (+4) | 4,5/5 |
| MTN | 4 breakaways | Easy | 4 breakaways (8, 10, 12, 17) | 4/5 |
| 2 Stage win | Hard | stages 12 & 13 | |
| NetApp | Top 10 | Hard | 6th (+4) | 4/5 |
| Garmin | Top 20 | Easy | 5th (+15) | 3,5/5 |
| Stage Win | Hard | Stage 1 | |
| RadioShack | Stage Win | Easy | 2nd place – stage 9 | 3,5/5 |
| Argos | Top 10 | Hard | 10th (0) | 3,5/5 |
| Astana | Top 10 | Easy | 11th (-1) | 3,5/5 |
| Belkin | Stage Win | Medium | Stage 17 | 3/5 |
| Euskaltel | Top 10 | Easy | 8th (+2) | 3/5 |
| Saxo-Tinkoff | Top 10 | Easy | 9th (+2) | 3/5 |
| Orica | nothing | - | - | 2,5/5 |
| AG2R | Top 10 | Medium | 15th (-5) | 2,5/5 |
| Lotto | nothing | - | - | 2,5/5 |
| Katusha | Top 3 | Hard | 16th (-6) | 2/5 |
| Cannondale | Stage Win | Medium | 5th place – stages 3 & 9 & 21 | 2/5 |
| OPQS | nothing | - | - | 2/5 |
| BMC | Stage Win | Medium | 4th place – stage 17 | 2/5 |
| FDJ | Top 10 | Medium | 29th (-19) | 1,5/5 |
| Caja Rural | nothing | - | - | 1,5/5 |
| Lampre | nothing | - | - | 1,5/5 |
| De Rijke | nothing | - | - | 0,5/5 |
