Category: Vuelta a Espana
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How do you feel about Fabio Aru?
Last week a reader wrote to me wondering why he couldn’t warm to Fabio Aru. It’s a common feeling. For this reader at least, his cycling played a part. “Aru looks like a spasticated muppet on a bike, with that stupid flailing from side to side and his tongue hanging out. You don’t often get…
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A reason to warm to Alejandro Valverde
“There were some unexpected moves by Movistar,” said Tom Dumoulin after the stage. What he meant was there was one unexpected move by Movistar, the team, and then about a billion inexplicable attacks by Alejandro Valverde. It was hard to know precisely what Valverde was trying to achieve. He didn’t pick a stretch of road…
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Aru on the uphill, Dumoulin on the downhill and Nicolas Roche way ahead of them
In the autumn of his career, Haimar Zubeldia appears to have made an uncharacteristic decision to get on TV. He was one of two riders to emerge from a really rather sizeable break on stage 18. The other was Nicolas Roche, who won the stage for all the Franco-Irish out there. Roche generally rides well…
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Half-decent time trial from Fabio Aru the most meaningful ride of the day
The threat of a time trial is a lot more interesting than the time trial itself. Beforehand, you can try and gauge riders’ fitness and fatigue while simultaneously weighing their size and power. You can then apply these vague assumptions to the route, looking at how long it is, how technical, how undulating, before finally…
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Purito earns a stupid hat and a different jersey
Stage 15 was notable for a rare sighting of the fabled Haimar Zubeldia, a man of such astonishing invisibility that he has five Tour de France top ten finishes to his name without anyone even knowing what he looks like. He was last man standing from the break, but was passed by the favourites with…
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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…