Tag: Carlos Betancur

  • Nacer Bouhanni finds a flat stage in the middle of the Vuelta

    It’s unusual for the Vuelta to get through an entire stage without taking a detour to go up some hill or other, but on stage eight it managed it. However, the Vuelta being the Vuelta, it still managed to fill this seemingly most predictable of days with its fair quota of uncertainty. It was a…

  • Alejandro Valverde adds to the uncertainty

    I love the Vuelta. I really, really love the Vuelta. I’ve been thinking this a lot recently and can’t put my finger on precisely why I enjoy it so much more than other races. Sometimes it’s best not to scrutinise these things lest you inadvertently dissipate the magic, but one thing I’ve concluded is that…

  • It can be hard to get round John Degenkolb

    It was another sprint finish and another John Degenkolb win. Nacer Bouhanni managed to stay in the front group, but couldn’t get round the German at the finish. Bouhanni says this was because Degenkolb was in his way. More accurately, he tried to overtake where there was little room when he could just as easily…

  • John Degenkolb v Michael ‘Bling’ Matthews

    John Degenkolb and Michael Matthews are suited to similar sorts of stages, but yet I much, much prefer the former. Why? I’ve given it some thought and I think it boils down to name, appearance and interests. Name Michael Matthews’ nickname is ‘Bling’. I might be alone in this, but I find that spectacularly annoying.…

  • Michael Matthews can sort-of-sprint and sort-of-climb

    There was much dicking about in captain’s hats and aeroplane cockpits at the start of the day, with the stage beginning aboard The Don Juan Carlos I aircraft carrier. The ship managed to remain afloat despite being subjected to the weight of Carlos Betancur, but later on kilograms proved more of an issue with the…

  • Eight pairs to watch in the 2014 Vuelta a Espana

    There aren’t enough race previews binding riders together into twos. Let’s be honest, all the best things come in pairs. Also Twixes. The Chrises – Chris Horner and Chris Froome Horner won last year. Froome’s one of the big favourites to win this year. What more do you need to know? Horner’s age, maybe? He’s…

  • Fat Betancur and fit Contador

    Have you ever had two books on the go? A friend of mine was once reading two books from the same series at the same time – one at work and one at home. He’d started the seventh book in the series and quite liked it, so he then started the first one. I feel…

  • Vincenzo Nibali’s happiness (and the varied feelings of others)

    It would be wrong to say that Vincenzo Nibali would have been happy at the bottom of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo climb at the end of stage 20. He was about to face 20km of increasingly difficult uphill cycling and the weather near the top was about as pleasant as an old man’s scrotum.…

  • Carlos Betancur climbs mountain and general classification

    If you’re wondering what to get Carlos Betancur for his birthday this year, how about second place on a stage of the Giro d’Italia? He loves them. He’s now been second across the line on stages nine, ten and 15. Lord knows what stage 14’s third place was all about. He must have made a…

  • Uran Uran unleashed

    It’s amazing the difference a double-D can make. I’m not being lecherous; I’m referring to woeful 80s posers Duran Duran. They were rubbish, but Team Sky’s Uran Uran is very good. He won stage 10 and leapt into third place in the general classification in the process after finishing 30 seconds ahead of the leaders…