Category: Vuelta a Espana
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Let’s try and work out who’s actually trying to win the Vuelta a Espana | a recap of stages 1-8
A cast list for the 2018 Vuelta a Espana Week one recap Week two recap Final week recap The logical thing to do would have been to include the stage nine summit finish in this report, but sometimes logic has to bow to convenience. I’ll catch up with that and the whole of the second…
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A cast list for the 2018 Vuelta a Espana
A cast list for the 2018 Vuelta a Espana Week one recap Week two recap Final week recap Grand Tour riders plan their seasons around whether they’re aiming for the Giro d’Italia or the Tour de France. A little later in the year, a whole bunch of them cross their fingers and hope they just…
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Chris Froome’s career reaches its peak while Alberto Contador departs at the top of one | the 2017 Vuelta a Espana final week wrap
The Final Week Wrap is an attempt to give an overview of how the Vuelta a Espana was won. As such, it focuses on the general classification – which is the overall race – rather than stage wins. Preview First rest day wrap Second rest day wrap Final week wrap If there was a theme…
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Vincenzo Nibali and Miguel Angel Lopez do a spot of looming| the second 2017 Vuelta a Espana rest day wrap
The Rest Day Wrap is an attempt to give an overview of where things stand in the Vuelta a Espana. It focuses on the general classification – which is the overall race – rather than stage wins. Preview First rest day wrap Second rest day wrap Final week wrap The second week of the Vuelta…
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Chris Froome does the early riding | the first 2017 Vuelta a Espana rest day wrap
The Rest Day Wrap is an attempt to give an overview of where things stand in the Vuelta a Espana. It focuses on the general classification – which is the overall race – rather than stage wins. Preview First rest day wrap Second rest day wrap Final week wrap You can hang around for a…
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Who will most enjoy the uphill finishes of this year’s Vuelta a Espana
If there’s one thing the Vuelta a Espana is known for, it’s throwing a hill in at the end of a stage. Flat day or mountain day, they tend to find one. There may be a long time trial in this year’s race (and a team trial to start) but it’s the uphill finishes that…
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A good Vuelta for Froome’s reputation but a better one for Quintana’s
For a race so profoundly sprint-unfriendly, the final stage seems bizarre – almost irrelevant. Supposedly a reward for sprinters who’ve lasted the course, the truth is that few turned up in the first place, so this just seems a weird, out-of-character, tacked on extra. Best of the dregs was Magnus Cort Nielsen, who also won…
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Nairo Quintana not inclined to budge from race lead
In the end, the task of gaining over a minute on Nairo Quintana on a mountain stage proved as impossible as might realistically have been expected. If the Colombian has a weakness, it is not uphill. The final 5km of the stage were mostly just Chris Froome attacking and Quintana following him with a face…
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Chris Froome minces his rivals in the time trial
He minced everyone, in fact; minced them as if he had some sort of grinder hooked up to his oval chain ring and a hunger for mince that could not be sated. Only Movistar’s time trial specialist Jonathan Castroviejo got within a minute of Chris Froome, finishing 44 seconds down in second place, but the…
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Is Magnus Cort Nielsen really a sex symbol?
It took a while, but we finally got a fairly normal sprint stage. Danish rider Magnus Cort Nielsen – whose nickname is purportedly ‘Sex Symbol’ – took the win. If we’re to categorise this year’s Vuelta stage winners, he probably goes down as ‘up and coming’ rather than ‘low profile domestique having his day in…