Author: Alex
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Nairo Quintana isn’t particularly ill as it turns out
Nairo Quintana’s had a virus. He said he thought he was getting over it. I said he’d flag. On stage 14 of the Vuelta, he beat all of the major contenders, so when it comes to Nairo’s physical wellbeing, listen to him from now on, not me. Initially, it looked like Fabio Aru would gain…
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Nelson Oliveira rides away from everyone
What is it about the Portuguese? Do they only have a finite number of sportsmen’s names? Rui Costa is both a footballer and a cyclist and so’s Nelson Oliveira. Here’s a hint for you, Portugal. Mix and match a bit. Throw in a Rui Oliveira and a Nelson Costa and you wouldn’t have to double…
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In-depth reportage from stage 12 of the 2015 Vuelta a Espana
John Degenkolb got boxed in, allowing Danny Van Poppel to win the sprint. Stage 13 features a couple of mid-length climbs, but they’re not steep. It’s probably another one for the sprinters. How will John Degenkolb manage to avoid winning this one?
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Mikel Landa manages to race, Tom Dumoulin manages to survive, Chris Froome disappears from view
A hard, hard stage. So hard that half the riders found they were too tired to race. Mikel Landa – who’ll move to Sky next year – was the only man from the breakaway to stay away. The best climber in this year’s Giro d’Italia, he can now add a memorable win on one of…
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Can Tom Dumoulin climb?
Tom Dumoulin can climb. I keep calling Tom Dumoulin ‘big’ but he’s not that big. He’s not Miguel Indurain big and being as Indurain won seven Grand Tours, we can safely assume that Dumoulin’s size is no barrier to general classification success. Stage nine finished with – and you’re not going to believe this –…
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Peter Sagan taken out by a motorbike
Peter Sagan had 7km to go. He’d got over the two climbs and there weren’t any particularly strong sprinters left in the front group. He should have been confident of finishing one place higher than usual. But then a support motorbike cleaned him out. Sagan was displeased by this. Standing around in the road immediately…
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Only minor skirmishes but Chris Froome still got dropped
For those of you wondering how a man can win the Tour de France and then get dropped in the Vuelta a Espana, it’s due to a phenomenon known as ‘being tired’. The final climb of stage seven, long though it was, wasn’t ferocious. Nor was it raced with any real gusto by the favourites.…
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Esteban Chaves has even more to smile about
Today’s stage could have appropriated the title format of one of those sensationalist ITV filler programmes and called itself When Race Leaders Attack. It was one of the Vuelta’s typical short, erratic climbs to the finish. When it was steep, little Esteban Chaves attacked. When it flattened out, big Tom Dumoulin followed him. It was…
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Caleb Ewan is the latest excuse for Esteban Chaves to smile
The ferociously happy Esteban Chaves lost the overall lead on stage five of the Vuelta after being caught the wrong side of a split in the bunch. How did he feel about that? “I’m very, very happy,” he said. And he looked it too. Chaves was mainly happy because his team-mate won. That was his…