Welcome to the coverage of the 14th stage of La Vuelta 2018, in what’s the second timetrial in 5 days. But this isn’t a long flat timetrial, like the Cadiz one was. This is a timetrial for strong rider that can both timetrial and climb well, given that they’ll have to climb Alto del Moncayo in the first part of the TT.
Today the most important Spanish sport newspapers have in the front page a picture of Angel Madrazo, as the Gazelle rider became yesterday the new race leader after being the best climber of the favourites in Lujar, in a stage won by another Spanish rider, Marquez. But his lead is too slim to hold it today against the best timetrialist in the world like former race leader Taylor Phinney
We only have live TV since the last 20-25 riders started their race, but we have the info have what happened until this moment.
So far, Brendan Canty has the best time in the finish in Tarazona, with only 2 and 4 seconds over two RBC riders, Brown and Cataford, and Stake Laengen in fourth 6 seconds behind
Moncayo
Tarazona
Destribois
33'45
Canty
56'45
Canty
+ 14
Brown
+ 2
Konrad
+ 22
Cataford
+ 4
Zardini
+ 22
Laengen
+ 6
Brown
+ 26
Salcone
+ 13
Van der Hugenhaben
+ 29
Kozhatayev
+ 14
Kozhatayev
+ 31
Konrad
+ 17
Laengen
+ 34
Zardini
+ 25
Vysna
+ 35
Ludvigsson
+ 33
Salcone
+ 41
Koep
+33
Best time in Tarazona for Destribois, who was flying today despite yesterday being in the breakaway. 31 seconds is his lead over Canty
Another great time for a RBC rider, as Cort Nielsen goes second fastest, 19 seconds slower than Destribois
Goos does the third best time, just one second worse than Cort Nielsen.
We also have info about time in the summit of Moncayo, and some of the late Top20 GC riders are struggling a lot today. Quintana is surprisingly the best (+23), with Brambilla close to him (+29), same as Alarcon (+34), but some of the better timetrialist are doing really bad times; Schelling (+1’00), Haig (+1’04), Abal (+1’06), Galta (+1’09) and Eastman (+1’46)
Faiers finishes 35 seconds slower than Destribois, setting the sixth best time so far.
Also, Olivier loses 1’24 in the top of Moncayo
A bad time for one of the possible stage contenders like Cattaneo in the top of Moncayo, losing 45 seconds to Destribois. The Italian has been nowhere close to his level in last year’s Giro in this race.
Even Marquez got really close to his time, losing 54 seconds in the top of Moncayo
Keinath goes second in Moncayo, just 14 seconds behind Destribois. A great time for a rider that stays in the GC Top10 since the first TT
Haig ends up losing 1’23 to the stage leader, not even a Top20 time
Not a bad timetrial for Alarcon, who will lose only 1 minute to Destribois
+ 37 for Barguil in the top of Moncayo, a decent time for the French rider
Decent time for Intxausti, losing 23 seconds in Moncayo. These times only shows how fast did Destribois climb Moncayo today
+ 52 for Chiarello in the finish line, good enough to keep his Top20 spot in GC
+ 1’14 for a very disappointing Abal
Uran with an average time up Moncayo, +27 on Destribois (+13 on Keinath, best of GC riders)
And finally someone beats Destribois time in the top of Moncayo! It’s home favourite Tenorio, improving that time by 22 seconds
+ 1’32 for Galta in the finish line in Tarazona
Great time for Kritskiy in the top of Moncayo, but not enough to beat Tenorio, missing out on the best time by only 2 seconds!
+ 38 for Quintana in his best stage of the race so far. Something feels wrong about this with the Colombian being a pure climber...
Martin limiting his losses in the top of Moncayo, losing 40 seconds to Tenorio
Hard to do worse than Eastman today, as he loses 2’11 to the current leader. And Destribois is surely getting his time improved by some GC riders
And one of them could the wonderkid Silvio Herklotz, as the German is the fastest so far in the top of Moncayo! 7 seconds faster than Tenorio, which gives him a certainity of staying in the GC podium after this stage
+ 1’22 for Schelling in Tarazona
Wow, this is a real surprise... Taylor Phinney losing half a minute to Herklotz in the top of Moncayo...
+ 2’02 for Olivier who might have done it better, but could afford a stage like this after his great ride yesterday
Madrazo is the last rider to go over the top of Moncayo, and while he’s only fourth fastest, losing 12 seconds to Herklotz, he’s 15 seconds faster than Phinney. He might have a chance to keep the GC lead afterall!
+ 50 for Cattaneo, who again disappoints in a timetrial in this race
+ 1’19 for Marquez, who saved the day after his win yesterday in Lujar. He’ll stay in contention for a Top10 spot anyway
Keinath goes fourth fastest in Tarazona, 20 seconds after Destribois, and sets the fastest time of the GC riders so far
+ 51 for Barguil in a good day for the 2017 Tour of America winner
This is how the current standings are with just 8 riders to finish the stage
Inxtausti recovered well in the second part to set the fifth best time so far, 24 seconds slower than Destribois
+ 34 for Uran, who hasn’t done one of the best timetrialist of his life, that’s for sure
It took a very very long time, with Destribois staying in the “Hot Seat” for hours, but finally someone beated his time! Tenorio is the first rider to go under 56 minutes, with a time that is 38 seconds faster than Destribois’
The crowd celebrates as Kritskiy crosses the line, and is 6 seconds slower than Tenorio
+ 1’12 for Martin, who gets a Top10 place, in a really good stage for the Irish rider
Next one is Herklotz, the fastest one up the Moncayo. And he’s also the fastest in Tarazona! What a stage for the German rider, who is about to win his second Vuelta stage in three days!
This shows that even the greatest timetrialist of ¿all-time? can have a bad day in a timetrial. Phinney can only be fourth, losing 27 seconds to Herklotz, and likely losing the chance to gain back the GC lead, but let’s see what Madrazo does first before assuming that
Here comes the race leader, who had a 15-second gap at the top of Moncayo (plus 2 seconds in GC). He needs to do a time better of 55’57 to stay in the race lead...
... 55’49 is his time. Close but no cigar for Madrazo, who against all odds will stay in the GC lead for another day
What a win for Silvio Herklotz, probably using his great descending skills to overcome his TT deficit to Tenorio and Kritskiy. This is just his first year in the top of his game and see how much damage he’s doing
Madrazo continues as the race leader, increasing his gap over Phinney to 8 seconds, but Herklotz closes the gap and is third only 33 seconds behind the Spaniard. An exciting final week coming up with this trio of stars fighting
