La Vuelta a España 2018

Debs,

I have been so out of touch with The Vuelta this week.Wow Can't believe how Jesus has flown up the g.c .It will be interesting how Nairo Quintana claws back the time.

Thanks for posting

Cheers Ian 

Simon Yates retakes the Red-Jersey with a very fine Stage win!

A fantastic win, must be up there with the best of British Grand Tour stage wins! ; )

Jesus Herrada lost half his 3:22 lead in yesterdays Stage 13, and more than the other half in todays Stage 14 which he finished over 9 minutes down, and to drop down the GC to 17th place at 7:44  

The main contenders are now holding the top ten GC positions.

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) overtakes Bauke Mollema and Ben King to gain 2nd place behind Mate Mardones for the Climbers Jersey

1		MATE MARDONES Luis Angel	No206	COFIDIS SOLUTIONS CREDITS	64 pts
2		DE GENDT Thomas	No64	LOTTO SOUDAL	54 pts
3		KING Benjamin	No106	TEAM DIMENSION DATA	40 pts
4		MOLLEMA Bauke	No161	TREK - SEGAFREDO	34 pts
5		ROLLAND Pierre	No116	TEAM EF EDUCATION FIRST - DRAPAC P/B CANNONDALE	26 pts
6		KWIATKOWSKI Michal	No145	TEAM SKY	15 pts

 

Stage 14: Cistierna to Les Praeres. Nava (171k) Saturday 8th

1 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 04-19-27
2 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team, at 2s
3 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team, at same time
4 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 5s
5 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 7s
6 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 11s
7 Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 19s
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 27s
9 Ion Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 37s
10 Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, at 39s

Overall classification after stage 14

1 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 59-11-18
2 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team, at 20s
3 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 25s
4 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team, at 47s
5 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 1-23
6 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 1-28
7 Ion Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 1-40
8 Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-47
9 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, at 1-55
10 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 2-08

Read more at https://www.cyclingweekly.com/...#iBFpKCBgBFxsw3Hr.99

Sunday 9th Sept 

Stage 15 

The 3rd mountain stage with summit finish in a row, lots of tired legs out there today but with a rest day tomorrow there will be many team tactic schemes and opportunists with a determined effort to attack and gain time.

After one 3rd, and two 1st category climbs, the final 11.7 kilometre 'category H' climb includes a section of 1 in 5 for good measure:

Wow !  what a stage yesterday they where really going for it.Fabulous climbing.Quintana and Valverdes's little dispute was heat of the moment.It's turning out into great race with the time gaps on g.c so tight.

Stage 15: Ribera de Arriba to Lagos de Covadonga (178.2k)

1 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, in 5-01-49
2 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team, at 28s
3 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 30s
4 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team, at 32s
5 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at same time
6 Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 34s
7 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 1-25
9 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 1-33
10 Ion Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 1-49

Overall classification after stage 15

1 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 59-11-18
2 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team, at 26s
3 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 33s
4 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team, at 43s
5 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 1-29
6 Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-55
7 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 2-10
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 2-27
9 Ion Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 3-03
19 Emanual Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, 3-15

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Monday 10th Sept - Rest day

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Tuesday 11th Sept - Stage 16 / Individual Time Trial 

This is going to be a very testing day for Simon Yates, weighing in at under 59 kilo he's a lightweight and naturally talented climber, and time trialling is not one of his better disciplines, plus he has rivals in the top ten who might be able to take a minute and some out of him, and into the Red Jersey.

Days left to go:

Tuesday / Stage 16: ITT

Wednesday / Stage 17: HILLY 157 km

Thursday /  Stage 18: FLAT  186.1 km

Friday / Stage 19 FLAT 154.4 km

Saturday / Stage 20 MOUNTAIN  97.3 km  (today will be full of action, and may produce a late result changer)

Sunday / Stage 21 FLAT 100/9 km (...to end with sprint finish in Madrid)

Thanks for posting Deb's

Sorry to go off topic but I I found your reply to my pet bereavement post.Incredible kind and moving.You spoke so much sense in your reply.

Thanks again ment alot.

Wishing you a good day

Ian

Many fantastic rides in yesterdays Stage 16 time trial:

A very clear strong win by 50 seconds by favourite Rohan Dennis.

However, perhaps the most impressive ride was Simon Yates who being a natural 58 kilo lightweight climber is not a  typical strong time trialist but managed to produce a time to finish 13th but enough to stamp control on his rivals for the Vuelta GC.

Steven Kruijswijk gave the best GC threatening performance after finishing the time trial in 4th place which raised his GC standing to the the podium 34rd spot previous occupied by Quintana who goes down one position.

Some more shuffling of positions in the top ten GC but a strong ride by Yates gains him more seconds over his immediate rivals.

Stage 16 time trial, Santillana del Mar – Torrelavega (32km)

1. Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC, in 37-57
2. Joey Rosskopf (USA) BMC, at 50s
3. Jonathan Castroviejo (Esp) Team Sky, at 50s
4. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 51s
5. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Sky, at 51s
6. Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floor, at 1-03

General classification after stage 16

1. Simon Yates (Gbr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 64-52-58
2. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, at 33s
3. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 52s
4. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, at 1-15
5. Enric Mas, (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-30
6. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team, at 1-34
7. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 2-53
8. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 3-04
9. Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 3-15
10. Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, at 4-43

Read more at https://www.cyclingweekly.com/...#uUalWPxi6ebmWlPk.99

Todays Stage 17 is very hilly, has another summit finish, and has every potential for more attacks and GC upsets : )

Can't see Simon Yates losing the g.c today .He will be keeping an eye on all his rivals especially Valverde .Very impressed with his strong TT yesterday and Quintanas as Debs has said these guys are more climbers but there no slouches with there TT ability.Looking forward to tonights ITV 4 highlights

naim_nymph posted:

Steven Kruijswijk gave the best GC threatening performance after finishing the time trial in 4th place which raised his GC standing to the the podium 34rd spot previous occupied by Quintana who goes down one position.

 

Spot the non deliberate mistake above ^

Please read as 3rd    [ not 34rd ...or 34th ]  

The King of the Mountains award looks very undecided, and interestingly set to battle it out with the current top four.

Mate Mardones gathered most of his big 60+ point lead in the first week of the tour and was far in the lead, but hasn't scored since Stage 13, he can't afford to rest on his laurels if he wants to win the KOM in Madrid - Thomas de Gendt is gaining fast!

Meanwhile, Mollema seems to be concentrated his efforts of gaining KOM points to retake his 3rd podium position, and in todays break-away [spoiler alert!]  both Thomas De Gendt and Mollema are battling it out, while; Mate Mardones and Ben King are plodding along 8 minutes behind in the main 'Red Jersey' peloton.

King of the Mountains - during Stage 17 with 60 km to go

King of the Mountains - after Stage 17 :

A big shake-up to the KOM standings with Thomas De Gendt gaining the lead, and Bauke Mollema re-taking 3rd position. 

Mollema or Ben King will need some luck on the final mountain Stage 20 to succeed in taking the title from a very strong Thomas De Gendt.

Meanwhile after Michael Wood's superb stage victory, another slight reshuffle follows in the top ten GC. 

Quintana and Kruijswijk having a bad finish to lose time and positions. Enric Mas takes up position for a possible 3rd podium.

Stage 17: Getxo to Balćo de Bizkaia (157km)

1. Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First-Drapac, in 4-09-48
2. Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team, at 5s
3. David De La Cruz (Spa) Team Sky, at 10s
4. Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 13s
5. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin, at 38s
6. Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team, at 44s

Overall classification after stage 17

1. Simon Yates (Gbr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 69-05-34
2. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team, at 25s
3. Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-22
4. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team, at 1-36
5. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 1-48
6. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 2-11
7. Ion Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 4-09
8. Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 4-36
9. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 5-31
10. Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, at 6-05

Read more at https://www.cyclingweekly.com/...#CiXlR2h9GqpE95oc.99

Todays flat stage ended with a sprint finish:

Stage 18: Ejea de los Caballeros to Lleida (186km)

1. Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, in 3-57-03
2. Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
3. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe

no change in the top ten GC

Read more at https://www.cyclingweekly.com/...#TqAJOMT7ujupwLyv.99

Friday: Stage 19 looks like a gradual climb all the way to a 17 km category 1 summit finish and another chance to upset the GC : )

Withdrawals - up to Stage 18

After 18 stages of La Vuelta 16 riders have abandoned 

The drop-out rate looks more promising than last years Vuelta with 37 riders  in total who did not reach Madrid after Stage 21.

Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain-Merida) DNS / Stage 18

Simon Geschke (Team Sunweb) DNS / Stage 18

Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida) – crash on stage 17
Jordi Simón (Burgos-BH) – crash with a team car on stage 17

Rohan Dennis (BMC) - to focus on World Championship / Stage 16

Nicola Conci (Trek Segafredo) – to recover ahead of end of season races / Stage 15

Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto-Soudal) / Stage 14

Dylan van Baarle (Sky) – fractured pelvis / Stage 14 (after crash injures - collision with race official after Stage 12)

Pavel Sivakov (Sky) – injury after crash on stage 9

José Gonçalves (Katusha-Alpecin) – injury on stage 13

Alexis Gougeard (AG2R La-Mondiale)  Stage 11 abandons:
Georg Preidler (Groupama-FDJ) – wisdom tooth pain
Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) – illness

Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) – family commitments (wife is due to have twins) Stage 10 abandons:
Simone Petilli (UAE Team Emirates) – crash

Maurits Lammertink (Katusha-Alpecin) – illness / Stage 8

Friday 14th / Stage 19

A second stage victory for Thibaut Pinot . Valverde loses more time but doggedly remains in 2nd GC place at 1:38 down. Simon Yates gains more time on all his rivals and look set to win La Vuelta on Sunday.  Steven Kruijswijk had a good finish result to retake that potential 3rd podium GC place : )

Stage 19: Llieda to Naturlandia (154km)

1. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, in 3-42-05
2. Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 5seconds
3. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 13s
4. Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 52s
5. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana Pro Team
6. Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
7. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 1-03
8. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, at 1-12
9. Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, at 1-15
10. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, at 1-49

Overall classification after stage 19

1 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 76-44-41
2 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, at 1-38
3 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 1-58
4 Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 2-15
5 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana, at 2-29
6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 4-01
7 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, 5-22
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 5-29
9 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida, at 6-30
10 Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale, at 7-21

With one very exciting, short fast contestable mountain race to go today before the run-in to a sprint finish in Madrid tomorrow, it looks set that Simon Yates will most probably win La Vuelta, Alejandro Valverde looks set to win the points Green-Jersy, Movistar probably win the team award, however the Blue poker-dot climbers Jersey is still very much open with four riders in contention; favourite is currently Thomas de Gendt, but rivals Ben King and Bauke Mollema are within reach of winning enough climber points to gain top spot. Stage 20 has no fewer than five summit climber point prizes to contest, plus a final summit finish too (for the stage winner).

King of the Mountains 

Saturday 15th / Stage 20

The shuffling up in the top ten GC finally settles with the penultimate stage battle for who gets to step on the podium 2nd and 3rd places in Madrid. Simon Yates dominated the mountain stage to finish the stage 3rd and to gain even more time on his closest rivals, his 1st place GC position should now stand after the final formality stage ride into Madrid on Sunday. The final stage 21 being precessional with criterium type race to end with sprint finish, similar format to that used in the TdF. 

Stage 20: Andorra. Escaldes-Engordany to Coll de la Gallina. Santuario de Canolich (97.3km)

1 Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, in 2-59-30
2 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana, at same time
3 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 23s
4 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 54s
5 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 57s
6 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 1-11
7 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 1-15
8 David de la Cruz (Esp) Team Sky, at 2-17
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 3-10
10 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team, at same time

Overall classification after stage 20

1 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 79-44-30
2 Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-46
3 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana, at 2-04
4 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 2:54
5 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team, at 4-28
6 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 5-57
7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 6-07
8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 6-51
9 Ion Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 11-09
10 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 11-11

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The climbers jersey award was fought out between Thomas De Gendt and Bauke Mollema over five mountain summits of Stage 20, there are no more KOM points remaining to be won in the final Stage 21 so this result effectively secures the victory for De Gendt.

Freeview Channel 24 ITV4 highlights of todays final Stage 21 run in and sprint finish - 22:00 - 23:00hr tonight 

My money is on Peter Sagan for a stage win in Madrid : )

Debs

A good win for Yates. A nice little triple by UK riders this year.

Very dull to watch on TV though. The Spanish coverage is not even in the same universe as that of the TdF.  

Congratulations to Simon Yates winning his first Grand Tour.And makes a refreshing change not having Sky dominating a Grand Tour.Thought there was some great Climbing days especially last week.I would have liked Nairo Quintana to have made the podium but a respectable ride non the less.Don't know who won todays stage in Madrid as its live at the moment.Hope Peter Sagan can bag a stage win.Looking forward to The World Championships and The Tour of Lombardy classic.

Channel 24 freeview ITV4 has the highlights on at the later time of 22:00hr tonight

IMO this years Vuelta has been an exciting success, so much shuffling around in the GC, no doubt mainly caused by so many races with summit finishes, and quite a few very steep climbs along the way, this does tend to suit the pure climber style of Simon Yates so would think it gave him some advantage, although he did impress me with his 32km TT result. The guy deserved to win.

Spoiler Alert! : D

Stage 21: Alcorcón to Madrid (100.9km)

1 Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors, in 2-21-28
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek-Segafredo

Final overall classification

1 Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, in 82-05-58
2 Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-46
3 Miguel Angel Lopez (Col) Astana, at 2-04
4 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 2:54
5 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team, at 4-28
6 Thibaut Pinot (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, at 5-57
7 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 6-07
8 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 6-51
9 Ion Izagirre (Esp) Bahrain-Merida, at 11-09
10 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 11-11

Mountains classification winner: Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto-Soudal

Points classification winner: Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team

Combined classification winner: Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott

Best young rider classification winner: Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors

Most aggressive rider: Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo

Simon Yate’s victory is fantastic and done without the Sky/Brailsford approach. And three separate British riders have won all three major cycling tours this year. Huge congratulations to them all. 

Once again, thanks to Debs for curating a great thread on an absorbing tour.