Stage 14 Race Report and Results 2013 Vuelta a España

A young long shot survived to take the win in the first Pyrenean mountain stage today. We saw another stage winner come from the early breakaway on stage 14. Terrible weather had a big impact on the race, causing problems for many riders.

Here is my [rough] stage-14 report if you want to read a brief outline of how the race unfolded. Afterwards you’ll find some comments and my pick for tomorrow:

Stage 14 profile

Stage 14

Baga to Andorra, 155.7k

First day of bad weather

Rain, cold (Temps mid 40’s; beow 40f/5c at Envalira summit)

No TV images for first couple of hours due to cloud cover.

*Early Break went at km3: LL Sanchez, Gilbert, Ratto, Chainel, and Brown.

Lead is up to 11:25

The leaders are on the HC Envalira climb:

The HC climb is 26.7k long

Brown has been there to help Sanchez;

Brown and Chainel are quickly dropped on the climb

Stage 14, 15 and 16 Pyrenees Previews 2013 Vuelta a España

Collective profiles of stages 14, 15 and 16 through the Pyrenees

The Pyrenean stages visit three countries

Stages 14, 15 and 16 take the Vuelta a España into the majestic Pyrenees. The peloton will spend time in Andorra and France, cross eleven categorized climbs—five of which are category 1 or above—and only the strong will survive. Each of the next three stages ends with a category-1 summit finish.  Not one is a walk in the park, but stage 15 stands out as the big killer. I don’t know what other folks think, but in my opinion, stage 15 (which traverses four cat-1 climbs, and ends with the Peyresourde-Peyragudes double) is the queen stage of this Vuelta.

I am not going to be around for a few days, so I am writing this before stage 13. This post is a brief, single preview now for all three Pyrenean stages...

Stage 13 Preview 2013 Vuelta a España

Stage 13 profile

Stage 13 on the map

Stage 13 is a rolling 169 kilometers, which looks at first glance like a sprinter’s stage. But the profile might be slightly misleading. The most outstanding characteristic on the profile is the climb that comes 115 kilometers into the stage. The category-1 Alto del Rat Penat rises 460 meters over 4.3k for an average gradient of a painful 10.6% and a max of 16%, but it tops out with about 50k to go to the finish. It should produce some splits in the peloton, probably dropping some of the sprinters, but 50k is a lot of road to pull back an escape.

The cat-1 climb profile

Ten KOM points are available at the summit of the category-1 Alto del Rat Penat climb, in addition to the three points up for grabs on the early cat-3 climb. While that is no windfall of mountain points, it could still be significant enough in a tight polka dot jersey race, to tempt a persistent jersey hunter like maybe Cofidis’ Nicolas Edet, or Saxo’s Tomas Marczynski, to get into the break.

The final 5k ends with a short slope up

The finale should prove to be the deciding factor when the riders speed in to Castelldefels on the Balearic Coast near Barcelona. 15 flat final kilometers lead up to a four hundred meter slope up to the line. The hill gets steeper toward the top, so this is not exactly ideal for the sprinters. But the stronger, punchy finishers should like the look of the finale.

Expect Philippe Gilbert and Edvald Boasson Hagen to go for it again tomorrow. I would also expect to see Rinaldo Nocentini, Michael Matthews, Gianni Meersman, maybe Stybar or Flecha, and possibly several of the top GC riders take a shot at that final kick up to the line. I would not be surprised at all to see Fabian Cancellara take another shot at a stage win on Friday.

My pick to win stage 13: I really like Nocentini, Gilbert, and Boasson Hagen for stage 13. Yesterday I picked Gilbert to win stage 13, but then he won stage 12 today. So I am going to go with Edvald Boasson Hagen of Team Sky for the win on Friday.

My dark-horse pick goes to Warren Barguil of Argos Shimano. 

Stage 12 Recap and comments 2013 Vuelta a España

After almost an entire year, Philippe Gilbert of Team BMC has broken the curse of the rainbow jersey. The World Champion beat Edvald Boasson Hagen to the finish line on stage 12 at the Vuelta a España today. Gilbert took his first win since his victory at the 2012 World Championship Road Race last September 23^rd.

World Champ Gilbert breaks the curse

The finale of stage 12 appeared to be more difficult than the profile suggested. More inclines (though not steep) in the final kilometer particularly made a difference. The stage did come down to a bunch sprint finish, as expected, but it proved to be slightly more selective than I anticipated. 

The peloton caught the stage’s three early escapees inside of 19k to go, and a large field of riders was on hand to contest the finish. Edvald Boasson Hagen launched an impressive attack in the final 250 meters and built a quick gap, but Gilbert managed to come from behind and overtake the big Norwegian from Team Sky, in the last 20 meters. Both riders are tuning up for the upcoming World Championships in Tuscany. There, Gilbert will try to defend the rainbow bands in a 280k course that is supposed to be a difficult one.

Stage 12 Preview 2013 Vuelta a España

Fabian Cancellara put the big gears to work in the TT

Before the Vuelta began Fabian Cancellara expressed little interest in today’s hilly 38.8k time trial course. His primary goal, he said, was to train for the upcoming World Championships. The Swiss TT master has been a big part of Horner’s success so far, driving the train on all kinds of terrain, setting strong paces in the peloton, and nabbing a couple of stage podium finishes for himself and his Radioshack-soon to be-Trek team in the process.

Because of Cancellara’s value on the road to his Radioshack team, today’s hilly parcours, and Tony Martin’s post-reconnaissance statement that it was a course for the climbers, I was not sure Spartacus would go full gas today—or if he did, that he could pull out a win. But I guess you can’t take the time trial out of the time trialer.   

Cancellara’s time proved to be the best on the road today. He says he is still deciding about which race