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 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

Stage 11 Time Trial Preview 2013 Vuelta a España

"The old man" Horner in red again

Stage 10 of the Vuelta a España featured a steep summit finish where Radioshack’s Chris Horner earned his second stage win of the race, and reclaimed the red jersey of overall race leader as a bonus. To the other top GC contenders the American’s relentless attack with about 4.5k to go must have seemed too early to stick. It was not until almost 2k to go that Vincenzo Nibali responded with a move of his own to chase down the plucky American.

Nibali finished 48 seconds behind Horner, and :14 ahead of Valverde, Basso, Rodriguez and Pinot, with Nicolas Roche another eight seconds back. Daniel Moreno struggled on the climb, lost the race lead, and dropped down to 6^th place.

Leopold Konig and Ivan Basso swapped places, Konig moved down from 7^th to 11^th place, and Basso up to 7^th from 11^th. The Italian Cannondale leader moving up as a result of the very good form he has been showing in the mountains.

You can see there was a lot more movement in the standings than after stage 9. Many riders made either significant advances or losses based on their performance on the final climb up the Alto de Hazallanas on Monday. Notably, beyond Horner moving into the lead, and the other “rearranging” of the top five, Thibaut Pinot of FDJ found the big climb to his liking, and he moved up ten spots to 8^th place overall. His higher aspirations may find trouble next weekend however, with stages 14 and 15, as more descending will be on the menu—Pinot’s big weakness.

Stage 10 Preview 2013 Vuelta a España

Mountainous stage 10 is the last in the south

Here is a reminder of the demanding stage-10 profile for Monday. The big summit finish will surely see more changes to the overall classifications. The GC favorites will likely fight hard for advantages, as the stage is followed by a welcome rest day on Tuesday (there is however a long transfer north before stage 11). After the rest day the riders will tackle the only individual time trial of the race on Wednesday which will further establish the pecking order ahead of the big Pyrenean stages to come.

Stage 10 Profile

 

Stage 10 categorized climb profiles

My pick to win stage 10: Joaquim Rodriguez.

I think Purito will want to go for whatever time he can grab in the mountains, before the TT on stage 11.

 

Sunday Standings Update - Stage 9 2013 Vuelta a España

Continuing from the previous post, here is a table of the top 40 riders in the General Classification for the Vuelta a España after stage 9. Again, the last column shows the number of places each rider has moved up or down in the standings since the previous stage.

As expected, stage 9 did not produce the same kind of time splits as stage 8—or as stage 10 will on Monday. Daniel Moreno took over the race lead with his impressive attack on the final steep kick up to the finish on Sunday. Most riders in the top 40 only rose or slid one to three spots. Pinot is the only one to have dropped back as many as five spots, and Purito’s four-spot jump up to 6^th place puts him among the best improvers on stage 9.

Stage 3 Report and Stage 4 Preview 2013 Vuelta a España

The favorites for the General Classification at the 68^th Vuelta a España found the short uphill finish of stage 3 too inviting to be left to the uphill sprinters, as some pundits claimed might be the case today. Team Radioshack’s 41-year-old American climber, Chris Horner, won the stage on a late attack on the final climb, claiming his first ever Grand Tour stage win, and first ever GT leader’s jersey.

Chris Horner made history on stage 3

The win also makes Horner the oldest rider ever to win a GT stage and the oldest ever to lead a Grand Tour. Horner had won the queen stage at the Tour of Utah a couple weeks ago, but had struggled through much of the season with a lingering knee injury. Five months away from racing in the heart of the 2013 season does not seem to have prevented the great American talent from finding his top form again just 58 days from his 42^nd birthday. Relatively easy stage profiles for the next four stages suggest that Horner could potentially keep the red jersey for several more days.

Stage 4 on the map

Stage 4 to Fisterra on Tuesday takes the riders 189 kilometers to the end of the world. “La etapa del fin del mundo” is so named because the peninsula hosting the stage finish is the westernmost point in mainland Spain. A bumpy rolling route, stage 4 heads generally westward to another small uphill ramp to the finish. Half the size of stsage 3’s finish climb, the stage 4 finale climbs about 100 meters over 2.5k. This is the stage for the strong, uphill sprinters. 

The stage-4 route to "the end of the world"

The finale peninsula

Stage4 Profile

Profile of the final 5k of stage 4

Stage 4 is a tough stage to pick a winner, as a lot of riders will have marked this one down as a good one to go for. World Champion Philippe Gilbert might target this one for his first win of the season. Also look for the likes of Michael Matthews, Gianni Meersman, Simon Gerrans, Angel Vicioso, Juan Antonio Flecha, Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Jelle Vanendert, Daniele Ratto, Johnny Hoogerland, Grega Bole, Zdenek Stybar, Anthony Roux, or Luis Leon Sanchez to go for glory on Tuesday. Maybe Fabian Cancellara will treat us to an escape attempt tomorrow. Spartacus has enjoyed testing his legs on stages like this in the past.

My pick to win stage 3, Roman Kreuziger, finished 22^nd, with the second group of favorites behind Horner, :13 back. [though I was ecstatic to see Horner get the win today].

My long shot pick, Huzarski, finished in the same group. He was 18^th on stage 3.

My pick for stage 4: I like Grega Bole and Anthony Roux (among others) here, but I am going with Gianni Meersman of Omega Pharma-Quickstep.

For a long shot I’ll pick 21-year-old Warren Barguil of Argos Shimano. The young Frenchman has not produced much in the way of personal results this year, but he is riding well so far in the Vuelta, and looks to be in good form.

Stage 2 Report and Stage 3 Preview 2013 Vuelta a España

The son of a champ is champ for a day

Stage 2 of the 2013 Vuelta a España featured the first summit finish of the race, the category-1 Monte da Groba. The three-man break was caught on the early slopes of the 11-k climb to the finish, and the GC hopefuls showed their form as they tested their legs on the first serious climb of the race.

Four riders got clear of the bunch in the final kilometers and battled for the stage win. Leopold Konig of Team Netapp-Endura put in a promising attack, but was reeled in by Ag2R’s Domenico Pozzovivo, Team Saxo Tinkoff’s Nicolas Roche, and Daniel Moreno of Katusha. In the end it was Roche who took the win, showing his best form of the season, and netting his first win in two years. Before the race Roche stated that he was going for a top-5 spot on the general classification.

The bigger story may be the unexpected suffering of some of the race favorites on the final climb. Sergio Henao, Team Sky’s proclaimed leader, lost contact with the peloton and finished 60^th, 2:41 behind Roche’s winning time. It looks now like Sky will pin their GC hopes on Henao’s fellow Colombian, Rigoberto Uran, who finished 10^th today.

Sammy Sanchez, leader of the moribund Euskaltel Team, was dropped on the climb and lost significant time. As of this writing, his name does not appear in today’s stage results. His teammates Igor Anton, Gorka Verdugo and Egoi Martinez all lost 2:41, so the Basque team only has Mikel Nieve remaining in a competitive position, currently 29^th, 1:14 off the lead. **UPDATE: They finally added Sanchez's name to the stage results: he finished with his teammates who had waited for him, 2:41 back.

Beñat Intxausti of Team Movistar was another casualty of the clock, losing more than two minutes. His team is of course counting on Alejandro Valverde for overall success, but Intxausti’s help will be vital in the big mountains to come.

First red jersey wearer, Janez Brajkovic of Astana, finished 40^th, :51 off the pace, but more importantly, his leader, Vincenzo Nibali, took over the race lead with his solid performance on stage 2.

Stage 3 route

Stage 3 Profile

Stage 3 continues in Galicia, taking the peloton 185 mostly flat kilometers, from Vigo to Mirador de Lobeira. The circuitous route follows much of the local coastline, and should offer some very nice views. The only categorized climb on the route is the cat-3 finishing hill. It is about a 3k steep ramp that will favor the puncheurs.

The stage 3 climb to the finish

 

My pick to win stage 2, Rafal Majka finished 12^th, with the main group of GC favorites, :14 behind the winner—Majka’s teammate, Nicolas Roche.

My pick for stage 3: I would say Pozzovivo, Gilbert and Purito are good bets, but I am going to pick Roman Kreuziger to give Saxo two consecutive wins.

For a long shot I’ll pick Bartosz Huzarski of Team Netapp to notch his first win of the season.

Stage 2 Preview 2013 Vuelta a España

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)

2013 Vuelta A España Race Preview

2013 VUELTA A ESPAÑA RACE PREVIEW

The final weeks of summer are upon us, and that means it is time for the third and final Grand Tour of the season. The 2013 Vuelta a España arrives to fill up those last weeks of summer with the promise of 21 stages of thrilling racing filled with mountains, mountains, mountains. The route of this 68^th edition of the race is similar to last year’s, with plenty of uphill finishes for the climbers, and just one individual time trial of 38k—and it includes some climbing.

The Pro Tour’s top climbers will come out to try and capitalize on the favorable parcours. This is not a race like the Tour de France, where excellent time trial skills are required for GC contenders. This tour favors pure climbers. Along the 3359-kilometer route the riders will travel counter-clockwise around Spain from Galicia to Madrid. Forays into Andorra and France will showcase some of the challenging mountains the riders must conquer.

THE OVERALL CONTENDERS:

Valverde, Rodriguez and Nibali lead the list of favorites

Top overall contenders for the general classification include: Joaquim Rodriguez, Alejandro Valverde, Vincenzo Nibali, Domenico Pozzovivo, Carlos Betancur, Sammy Sanchez, Dan Martin, Michele Scarponi, Sergio Henao, Chris Horner, Roman Kreuziger, Rafal Majka, Bauke Mollema, Laurens Ten Dam, Ivan Basso, and more.

THE SPRINTERS:

The mountainous race route gives short shrift to the sprinters with just six or seven stages looking like viable sprint finishes. Accordingly the sprinters’ field is relatively slim. I am looking at Gianni Meersman, Tyler Farrar, Michael Matthews, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Maximiliano Richeze, Greg Henderson, Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg, Theo Bos, Daniele Ratto, Daniel Schorn, Juan Antonio Flecha, Barry Markus, Andrew Fenn, Geoffrey Soupe and Leigh Howard--and a few others.

STAGE HUNTERS:

Of course, Philippe Gilbert will be on hand hunting a stage win or two. He is one of several Classics-type riders who will like the punchy, short uphill finishes that winnow out the flat sprinters. Look for the likes of Grega Bole, Bartosz Huzarski, Thomas De Gendt, Simon Gerrans, Zdenek Stybar, Angel Vicioso, Anthony Roux, Maxim Iglinskiy, Luis Leon Sanchez, Andrey Grivko, Rinaldo Nocentini and Domenico Pozzovivo-among many others--to go hunting for stage wins.

Some riders will be focused on reaching top form for the World Championship races in September. Don’t be surprised if a few of the GC candidates, time trial specialists, sprinters and strong one-day racers seem to underperform, or drop out before Madrid. The Vuelta is not everybody’s primary goal.

THE ROUTE:

In an effort to cover more areas of the country (last year’s edition stayed primarily in northern Spain), the race organizers have had to include some long transfers for the participants. The two rest days will bring some relief after stages 10 and 16--the latter coming after three difficult stages in the Pyrenees.

The race begins with the 27.4k team time trial, which should establish some GC time splits right off the bat. Stage 2 features the first mountaintop finish on the category-1 Monte da Groba, so the overall contenders will need to come to the race already in good form. As usual, the toughest stages are saved for the final week, before the final bunch sprint into Madrid.

On paper, stages 14 and 15 look like the hardest of the race, but the penultimate stage finishes atop the brutal “Beast of Asturias”, the notoriously steep Angliru, and it could prove to be decisive.

13 mountain stages are listed in the official guide. Twelve are uphill finales.

I see nine mountaintop finishes, and three or four smaller uphill finishes.

Six or seven stages are left for the sprinters.

A few stages may be won by breakaways, but among them I would guess that stages 9 and 19 offer the best chances for a successful escape.

The uphill finishes are:

• August 25, 2013

Stage 2 – Pontevedra – Baiona. Alto do Monte da Groba

• August 26, 2013

Stage 3 – Vigo – Mirador de Lobeira / Vilagarcía de Arousa

• August 31, 2013

Stage 8 - Jerez de la Frontera - Estepona. Alto de Peñas

Blancas

• September 1, 2013

Stage 9 – Antequera – Valdepeñas de Jaén

• September 2, 2013

Stage 10 –Torredelcampo – Güéjar Sierra. Alto de Hazallanas

• September 7, 2013

Stage 14 – Bagà - Andorra. Collada de la Gallina

• September 8, 2013

Stage 15 – Andorra - Peyragudes

• September 9, 2013

Stage 16 - Graus – Sallent de Gállego. Aramón Formigal

• September 12, 2013

Stage 18 - Burgos - Peña Cabarga

• September 13, 2013

Stage 19 - San Vicente de la Barquera - Oviedo. Alto del

Naranco

• September 14, 2013

Stage 20 - Avilés - Alto de L’Angliru

Some of the tougher stage profiles:

Stage 10

Stage 14

Stage 15

Stage 20

SPECIFICS:

The Jerseys

Time Bonuses are available at the finish lines on all stages except for the two time trials. The time bonuses are 10, 6, and 4 seconds respectively, for the first three stage finishers. Time bonuses are also given out at the intermediate sprint points: 3, 2, and 1-second bonuses for first through third.

The points jersey contenders will receive points for top-15 stage finish positions and intermediate sprints as follows:

Stage finish position:

1^st            25 points

2^nd            20

3^rd            16

4^th            14

5^th            12

6^th            10

7^th            9

8^th            8

9^th            7

10^th            6

11^th            5

12^th            4

13^th            3

14^th            2

15^th            1

Intermediate sprints:

1^st            4 points

2^nd            2

3^rd            1

The climbers’ jersey competition awards KOM points for the 39 categorized climbs, according to finishing position, as follows:

CIMA ALBERTO FERNÁNDEZ

[Highest climb of the race—comes on stage 14]

SPECIAL CATEGORY CLIMB [Above Category]

1^st   20 points

2^nd   15 points

3^rd   10 points

4^th   6 points

5^th   4 points

6^th   2 points

SPECIAL CATEGORY CLIMBS (2)

  [Above Category]

1^st  15 points

2^nd  10 points

3^rd   6 points

4^th   4 points

5^th   2 points

1^st CATEGORY CLIMBS (12)

1^st   10 points

2^nd   6 points

3^rd   4 points

4^th   2 points

5^th   1 point

2^nd CATEGORY CLIMBS (7)

1^st   5 points

2^nd   3 points

3^rd   1 point

3^rd CATEGORY CLIMBS (17)

1^st   3 points

2^nd   2 points

3^rd   1 point

I will post regular updates throughout the race, so keep coming back!

I will also post my picks around the time the race begins.

Enjoy the race, and please feel free to hit me with any comments or questions.