Vuelta a España: Stage 18 review

Stag18: Aguilar de Campoo to Valladolid, 204.5km

After more than a week in hibernation, a flat stage allowed the sprinters to dust off the cobwebs. It was a routine race but by no means an easy one – an average speed of 48kph was enough to shatter the peloton in the latter stages – at the end of which the experience of Daniele Bennati (RadioShack-Nissan) edged out the youth of Ben Swift (Sky).

The day’s break was initiated at kilometre zero and eventually settled down to a group of five riders including Martijn Keizer (Vacansoleil-DCM). A lead of five minutes was never going to be enough, and they were easily swept up with more than 15km still to go, with Keizer the last to be caught.

With several teams continuing to keep the pace high, the peloton split in the closing kilometres. First a group of about 40 found themselves detached off the back, with further fractures soon appearing. In a chaotic finish, with John Degenkolb‘s Argos-Shimano out of position and no one else controlling the front, it was left to Lloyd Mondory (AG2R La Mondiale) to open up the sprint. Swift came around him, and although he pulled out 1½ lengths on Bennati, the veteran Italian’s late charge proved to be the better-timed as the British rider faded, and a well-executed bike-throw at the line saw him snatch a photo-finish victory. Orica-GreenEDGE’s Allan Davis was third.

VeloVoices rider of the day

He has never been the fastest pure sprinter in the mould of a Cavendish or a Greipel, but 31-year old Daniele Bennati is plenty quick enough and has the experience and judgement that can be worth that all-important metre on the road. Ben Swift should really have won this stage, but to me it looked like he reacted too hastily to Mondory’s jump, whereas Bennati remained calm and picked his moment to launch his sprint. It was a close-run thing but it was enough – a good lesson to learn for the young Sky sprinter if he wants to make a step up the pecking order in the likely event of Cav’s departure.

Having already recorded a second and a third already during this Vuelta, this was a richly deserved win for a rider who has always ridden well in the Grand Tours – today was his sixth win at the Vuelta, to add to three at the 2008 Giro and a pair at the 2007 Tour – and also has a consistent record in the spring Classics. He has even won the green jersey in Spain (in 2007), and in a climber-dominated race this year he has consolidated his sixth position in the points classification – the all-conquering Degenkolb (in fourth) being the only sprinter above him.

Of course, rumours that Bennati’s victory today was spurred on by Panache’s inclusion of him (and his cat) in his 10 things I love about cycling feature yesterday are purely unfounded. Or are they?

Observations

It was no surprise to see riders from Cofidis (Luis Angel Mate) and Andalucia (Gustavo Veloso) in today’s break, desperately tying to make an impact for their sponsors. Cofidis have had a miserable Vuelta, with David Moncoutie barely making an impression on the King of the Mountains competition which he has won in the past four editions, and barely a sniff of a stage victory. Their highest-placed rider on GC is Mickael Buffaz – a lowly 47th, more than 83 minutes off the pace. Andalucia have done okay – they have been prominent in breaks throughout, but they would have been stung badly by fellow wild-card Caja Rural’s Antonio Piedra‘s storming solo victory on the fabled Covadonga.

The only real surprise was that there weren’t more underperforming teams ensuring they put someone in the day’s break. For instance, has anyone noticed Lotto-Belisol much in this race? Maybe they have actually just packed up and quietly gone home …

Tactical analysis

No change today, and precious little else of note. The top of the GC was unchanged, and victory in the points competition was already out of reach of the sprinters. Intriguingly, Katusha’s Gatis Smukulis was put in the breakaway group, offering the prospect of a bold attack by Joaquim Rodriguez. It was hard to see where and how the former race leader could make a move stick, though, and a combination of the high pace throughout and him possibly not feeling great meant the threat ultimately never crystallised.

VeloVoices will bring you previews of each day’s stage every morning, live coverage of as many stages as possible on Twitterreviews in the evening and in-depth analysis after selected stages.

Link: Vuelta a España official website

Vuelta a España: Stage 7 review

Stage 7: Huesca to Alcañiz. Motorland Aragón, 164.2km

It was another hot day. Alberto Contador had sponges in the back of his jersey to keep cool and everyone is looking browner and browner with each day as their cyclist’s tans are coming along nicely. There was a four-man breakaway almost from the start of the stage – Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural), Frantisek Rabon (OPQS), Pablo Lechuga (Andalucia) and Bert-Jan Lindeman (Vacansoleil-DCM) – and they worked up to a maximum lead of five minutes before being reeled in inside 20km.

A crash in the middle of the peloton occurred at 9km, holding up a number of riders, but none of the main GC contenders. Sky rode on the front at a fierce pace as they took to the motor racing circuit for the sprint finish. However, they pushed it too hard too soon for Ben Swift, even splitting the peloton until the Argonauts made their move in the last kilometre and green jersey John Degenkolb powered to the line for a hat-trick of victories, taking the stage ahead of Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Allan Davis (Orica-GreenEDGE).

VeloVoices rider of the day

It’s got to be the Argonaut of the moment, John Degenkolb. His team are riding brilliantly, keeping him out of trouble and letting others set the pace and use up their men on the run-in, before the Argonaut Express kicks it into gear and leads their man out.

The Vuelta’s never been a sprinter’s race and perhaps there was the thought that, because the big-name sprinters went elsewhere to race this August, the flat stages might not have the gusto of the Giro or the Tour. But Degenkolb has lit up these stages. It just goes to show: it’s always the riders who make the race.

Observations

Although none of the main GC contenders were involved in the crash near the end of the stage, Rigoberto Uran (Sky) punctured and dropped from fourth to 15th. A shame for him as, considering how well Sky have been riding, he could well have finished in the top five in Madrid, bettering his seventh-place finish at the Giro.

It didn’t help that the real attention of the media was several thousand miles away with the tearing down of Lance Armstrong, but the appearance of cyclists on a sparsely attended motor racing track is always a bit odd, and lent an eerie atmosphere to the closing kilometres. I’ve seen school sports days with bigger crowds and vacuums with more atmosphere. Just sayin’.

Tactical analysis

Not much to talk about, really. Yesterday we highlighted the possibility that Katusha might be happy to let a break go to engineer a handover of the red jersey, but Argos-Shimano‘s willingness to work on the front of the peloton ensured there would be no surprise winner today. The same thought applies again tomorrow, though. With no sprint teams wanting to force the pace ahead of a summit finish, we could well see a successful breakaway as the contenders worry more about each other than about a stage victory. Watch out for David Moncoutie and other King of the Mountains hopefuls to make a move tomorrow.

VeloVoices will bring you previews of each day’s stage every morning, live coverage of as many stages as possible on Twitterreviews in the evening and in-depth analysis after selected stages.

Link: Vuelta a España official website

Vuelta a España: Stage 2 review

Stage 2: Pamplona to Viana, 181.4km

The boys were feeling hot, hot, hot as the temperature hit a rubber-melting 39ºC. An early break of Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha), Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural) and Javier Chacon (Andalucia) were allowed to get a maximum lead of five minutes. Ignatiev took the honours on the two intermediate sprints while Chacon secured the first blue polka dot jersey of the race before dropping back to the peloton. The other two were caught at 12km. A last-ditch dig in the final 6km by Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM) didn’t get far and the boys lined up for a bunch sprint. Ben Swift (Sky) and Allan Davis (Orica-GreenEDGE) were first to make the jump but John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) flew past and took the stage.

VeloVoices rider of the day

Stage winner Jonathan Degenkolb (image courtesy of Argos-Shimano)

John Degenkolb is my rider of the day. I’m a big fan of the Argonauts and, after a very disappointing Tour de France where their main man Marcel Kittel had to abandon due to illness, it’s good to see they’ve come into this Vuelta with a fighting spirit.

Observations

It’s hard to believe how hot it is out there – a top temperature of 39ºC today, the commissaires waived the 30km rule of not handing out bottles. There was a lot of talk about teams who may have hotels with no air conditioning. I wonder just how much impact the overheated conditions will have on some of the riders.

Tactical analysis

We got an early glimpse of how the competition between the sprinters – in the absence of most of the top men – may pan out over the next three weeks. Sky’s Ben Swift outgunned Degenkolb two stages to one at the recent Tour of Poland, but Sky are clearly intending to apply the same team strategy which won them the Tour: protect their GC rider (in this case Chris Froome) at all costs, and leave their sprinter to fend pretty much for himself. But whereas Mark Cavendish has the speed and nous to do just that, here Swift found himself on the front too early and was swallowed up in the final 100 metres. Orica-GreenEDGE have no such problems with their strong lead-out train, and in Allan Davis they possess a veteran fast-man who knows his way around a bunch sprint. Degenkolb exhibited a prodigious final burst here and, like Orica, Argos-Shimano’s focus is also on sprint wins. These three, plus perhaps RadioShack’s Daniele Bennati, FDJ-BigMat’s Nacer Bouhanni and Liquigas’ Elia Viviani, are likely to feature at the sharp end of most sprint finishes.

Although there are quite a few riders within ten seconds of the top spot, there was no change in the GC, with Movistar keeping both defending champion Juan Jose Cobo and race leader Jonathan Castroviejo out of danger. Javier Chacon‘s first polka dot jersey gives his team Andalucia some good press but with a mountain stage tomorrow, I suspect he’ll not keep it long. Degenkolb took the points jersey with his win today.

VeloVoices will bring you previews of each day’s stage every morning, live coverage of as many stages as possible on Twitterreviews in the evening and in-depth analysis after selected stages.

Link: Vuelta a España official website