 |
| Race leader Janez Brajkovic |
The stage 1 team time trial
saw Vincenzo Nibali’s Astana Team surprise the favorites and take the first win
of the race. Janez Brajkovic crossed the line first for the Kazakh squad and
will wear the race leader’s red jersey on stage 2. That is especially good news
for the 29-year-old Slovenian who is shopping around for a new team contract.
 | |
| Stage 2 on the map |
Stage 2 continues in
Galicia, and takes the riders 177.7k from Pontevedra to the first mountaintop
finish in Baiona. The stage is mostly flat, with two distinguishing features: a
10k category-3 climb at about km 52, and—more importantly—the 11k cat-1 climb to
the finish.
 |
| Stage 2 Profile |
The Alto do Monte da Groba is
an undulating 11k climb, with an overall average gradient of 5.6% and a max
around 10%. The Vuelta is establishing GC positions right from the get-go.
Stage 2 results will illustrate who is in good form, and who is not quite ready
to battle.
Astana may do what they can
to keep the yellow jersey on Sunday, but the key for most GC contenders will either
be limiting losses, or trying to regain some of the time that Nibali and his
team took on stage 1. There are time bonuses for the first three at the line,
so finishing positions are important.
Here is a short list of the
times that some of the GC favorites lost to Nibali and his mates after the TTT:
Chris Horner lost :10 to
Nibali, et al
Sergio Henao and Rigoberto
Uran +:22
Alejandro Valverde +:29
Rooman Kreuziger, Rafal
Majka and Nicolas Roche +:32
Bauke Mollema +:49
Michele Scarponi +:56
Joaquim “Purito” Rodriguez
+:59
Sammy Sanchez +1:14
Thibaut Pinot +1:25
Ivan Basso +1:26
Dan Martin +1:41
Domenico Pozzovivo +1:41
Carlos Betancur +1:59
Igor Anton +2:43
So, a lot of guys have their
work cut out for them.
MY PICK to win stage 2: Rafal Majka (TST)
No comments:
Post a Comment