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 15 Report and Results Mont Ventoux 2013 Tour De France

 

Happy Bastille Day!

Stage 15 route profile to the daunting finish on Mont Ventoux

Stage 15 dives south through the Rhône River Valley

Will one of the French riders pull off a coup today? 

181 riders take the start of the longest stage of the 2013 Tour De France.

 

242.5k from Givors to Mont Ventoux

Flat first 220k through the Rhône Valley, then an HC-cat climb to the finish.

Weather: sunny and 80f again; some clouds and wind and cooler temps on the mountain;

Mont Ventoux is 20.8k at 7.5%. The riders will be in the saddle for five hours before they even arrive at the base of the mountain.

Several break attempts were brought back in the first hour.

There were ten men in the break, but El Fares is now gone.

Stage 15 route

The current 9-man break: Sylvain Chavanel (OPQ), Wout Poels (VCD), Daryl Impey (OGE), Peter Sagan (CAN), Christophe Riblon (ALM), Alberto Losada (EUS), Markel Irizar (RSL), and Jeremy Roy (FDJ).

Chavanel is the highest placed rider on the General Classification. He is currently 20^th overall, trailing the race leader Froome by 14:57. Poels is next at almost 24 minutes back.

 

The first four categorized climbs were split among De Gendt, Rolland, El Fares, Roy and Riblon, with Riblon getting 2 points to the others’ 1 point for his big summit of the only cat-3 climb out there. It came with about 100k to go.

The riders have been keeping a very fast pace again today. They are currently 30 minutes ahead of the fastest expected time.

-84k: the gap to the peloton is 3:43.

Stage 15 Preview 2013 Tour De France

 

I am sorry I don’t have time today to do a better preview for Mont Ventoux. But here are the basics:

Stage 15 on the map

The longest stage of the race will end on top of the barren landscape of the famed Mont Ventoux. Stage 15 is 242.5 kms long. The first 220k are mostly flat, but the stage ends with the 20k climb up Mont Ventoux, topping out at 1912 meters.

The intermediate sprint point comes at km 208, so the sprinters’ teams may want to keep it lively. The sprinters were shut out of the points on stage 14 because of the size of the escape group, and the fact that they lasted to the finish. But knowing that the stage battle will go to the climbers, the sprinters could also sit back and let the GC contenders’ teams do the work at the front of the peloton all day.

 

Stage 15 profile

Profile of Mont Ventoux

The climb up Mont Ventoux is 20.8k long with an average gradient of 7.5%. If a break gets away, the climbers will want to catch them on or before the climb. 

The climb has broken men--and even worse. Tom Simpson died after climbing Ventoux in 1967. In 1970 Eddie Merckx had to get oxygen to recover from exhaustion on Mont Ventoux.

By the top of the long climb, only the elite will be left to fight for the stage win. Some may plan to attack Chris Froome to chip away at his lead. Froome may want to rev his engine and go for the win to demoralize his competitors.

Lance Armstrong put the hurt on Jan Ullrich on Mont Ventoux in 2000 when he rode to that well-remembered finish with Marco Pantani.

Finally, Ventoux comes on Bastille Day. A few Frenchmen will definitely have designs on this stage. Pierre Rolland, for one, would love to add a Tour De France Bastille Day win on this renowned mountain to his palmares.

MY PICK: Nairo Quintana. The young Colombian climber is the last Movistar rider to remain in the top ten overall. He is also in a battle with Michal Kwiatkowski for the white jersey, and is a great climber. He does not have to wait to lead Valverde around anymore, so he is free to go for it.