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.

2013 Tour de France Race Wrap-up

I posted my picks for the jerseys and the top ten in the General Classification in my stage 1 preview.

Here is a brief look at how I did on my top 10 picks for 2013 Tour de France:

MY PICKS:                                                   ACTUAL RESULTS:

1. Froome 2. Contador 3. Valverde 4. Evans 5. Rodriguez 6. Van Den Broeck 7. Mollema 8. Quintana 9. Porte 10. Fuglsang

1. Froome 2. Quintana 3. Rodriguez 4. Contador 5. Kreuziger 6. Mollema 7. Fuglsang 8. Valverde 9. Navarro 10. Talansky

  

Seven of my ten picks made the top ten in the final classification; Valverde notably finishing lower than I expected, and Quintana, higher. My three picks that did not finish in the top 10 were:

Evans couldn't podium in two Grand Tours

1) Cadel Evans, who finished 39^th, ninety minutes off the winner’s time. I believe I commented before the Tour that Evans had more miles in his legs this year than any of the top contenders. Racing to third place at the Giro d’Italia in May turned out to be more draining than training for the veteran Aussie and 2011 TDF Champ. (Perhaps interestingly, this Tour’s winner and runner up, Froome and Quintana, had come into the race having ridden the fewest miles this season, out of any of the top GC contenders).

Stage 21 Report 2013 Tour De France Final Stage Results

134k from Versailles to Paris

Weather: sunny, 33c (92f)

Versailles

The riders left Versailles for the final stage of the 100^th Tour De France under sunny skies. It is shaping up to be the hottest day of the Tour.  By the time they finish, the skies will have darkened, as the race concludes with its first ever twilight finish.

Hundreds of ex-Tour riders will be on hand for the celebrations at the end. 170 riders will celebrate finishing the 2013 Tour De France after three weeks of intense competition on the roads of France.

Chris Froome will officially solidify his win when he crosses the finish line on the Champs-Élysées, and he will earn Team Sky its second consecutive Tour victory. The Kenyan-born talent who rides for Dave Brailsford’s British team asserted his will all over the race, and finishes with an indisputable five-minute win over second place Nairo Quintana of Team Movistar.

Stage 21 profile

All the jerseys have been decided. Peter Sagan coasts into Paris with the green sprinter’s jersey. The young Slovakian speedster was diligent in both the finish sprints and the intermediate sprints, which have become more significant with the changes in the points system. He also rides into Paris with a green dyed goatee.  Read on...

Stage 21 Preview 2013 Tour De France

134k Versailles to Paris, FLAT

Stage 21 finishes, as always, in Paris

The 2013 100^th edition of the Tour De France comes to a conclusion on Sunday.  Chris Froome of Britain’s Team Sky has sown up the win after defending his lead for two weeks. He won on top of Ax 3 Domaines on stage 8, and has worn yellow ever since. He even had to defend himself, literally, when he shoved a fan out of the way who had gotten too close to the elite breakaway trio.

The other jerseys are all decided too. All that is left to contest is Sunday’s sprint finish on the Champs-Élysées. The winners will enjoy a leisurely ride into Paris from Versailles, and a nighttime finish has been scheduled for the first time, in honor of the centenary celebration. The finish is scheduled for around 9:30 pm local time. 

Stage 21 Profile

Stage 21 route

Mark Cavendish will try to grab his fifth career win on the famed Boulevard between the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde. Peter Sagan will probably pop another wheelie or two. Let’s hope he comes up with some new tricks soon.

André Greipel and Marcel Kittel wouldn’t mind another notch on their stage-win belts. There is not much more to say about the stage, except, enjoy the pageant and pick your sprinter.

MY PICK: My last pick of the race is going to the Manx Missile from Omega Pharma. Mark Cavendish

I will post full results after the stage, and then a race wrap-up later on, with conclusions from the race, and I will see how I did on my picks and predictions overall. [I think nine of my stage picks came in second]

Stage 20 Report and Results 2013 Tour De France

125k from Annecy to Annecy-Semnoz

High Mountains, MTF;

Weather: partly cloudy, 27c (80f), chance of rain: 30%

Stage 20 on the map

Today’s stage is a short 125k, and will probably be fast and furious. The stage ends on top of the HC Annecy-Semnoz climb.

Stage 20 is the last chance for riders to try and change their positions in the General Classification. Chris Froome of Team Sky still leads with a commanding 5:11 over second place Alberto Contador of Team Saxo-Tinkoff. The battle for Contador’s spot is in the minds of Movistar’s Nairo Quintana and Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez. Either one of them or Saxo’s Roman Kreuziger will likely get the third podium position. Who will be denied a spot on the podium in Paris?

The stage 20 route around Annecy

We will also see who has the legs to fight for the king of the mountains jersey today. Chris Froome leads Pierre Rolland of Europcar by one point in the mountains competition. Mikel Nieve of the Basque Euskaltel squad is third with just five fewer points than Rolland. Quintana lies fourth, and Christophe Riblon of Ag2R is fifth, just 11 points off the lead.

The difficult category-1 Mont Revard, which tops out at km 78.5, may cause some decisive splits, although its summit is almost 50k from the finish. In any case, it will show who does not have the legs to contest the stage win today.

TO THE ACTION:

170 riders will take the start in the picturesque city of Annecy today.

Sun is shining as the riders take the start.

*Pierre Rolland (EUC) attacks as soon as the flag drops. It looks like the French climber is interested in the polka dot jersey after all.

Jens Voigt (RSL) is the next to jump away from the peloton.