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.