Author: Alex
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Resting with Carlos Betancur
It occurred to me that I neglected to keep you up to speed with Carlos Betancur’s performance after stage nine – although ‘up to speed’ would appear to be entirely the wrong phrase to use. Betancur finished 26m42s down, but went soaring up the leaderboard into third-to-last position after Dominic Klemme finished 29m37s behind the…
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Winner Anacona lives up to his name
That’s ‘Winner Anacona,’ not ‘winner, Anacona’ – although on this occasion misuse of commas and capital letters doesn’t actually matter that much because Winner won and is therefore also a winner. Let’s just call him Anacona for clarity. Anacona, who was only a couple of minutes down on the general classification, got himself into the…
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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…
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All I know about Alessandro De Marchi
Alessandro De Marchi was out in the break a handful of times during the Tour de France. He didn’t win. On stage seven of the Vuelta, he spent the day in the break again. This time he did win. I put ‘de marchi’ into Google translate and it came up ‘de brands’. Alex of Brands.…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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Nacer Bouhanni is the Vuelta sprinter
Grand Tour sprint days have had a surprisingly small cast this year. Marcel Kittel started the Giro as if he was going to win every single flat stage. Then, when he dropped out of the race, Nacer Bouhanni took over. In the Tour, Kittel again looked totally dominant and while he actually waned a bit,…
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Dan martin and Garmin-Sharp survive the team time trial
Garmin have crashed in three out of the last four Grand Tour team time trials. Dan Martin, whose season was built around the Giro d’Italia, saw about five minutes of that three-week race after slipping on a manhole cover and breaking his collarbone on the very first day. Here at the Vuelta, he at least…
