Category: Vuelta a Espana
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Introducing the contenders for the 2015 Vuelta a Espana
BMC won the opening team time trial of the 2015 Vuelta and that’s pretty much all I have to say about that. The times don’t even count for the overall. The organisers responded to riders’ concerns about the sandy sections of the route by ruling that only the stage win was up for grabs and…
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Stage 11 of the 2015 Vuelta looks really rather hard
I don’t usually do stage previews of anything other than Tour (and I don’t do many of those), but stage 11 of this year’s Vuelta stands out as being among the most intense ever seen in a Grand Tour. It’s not long. Quite the opposite, in fact. At just 138km, it’s pretty dinky, even by…
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Chris Froome earns himself a second place
Chris Froome’s been runner-up in Grand Tours three times now, but whereas on the two previous occasions, he could blame Bradley Wiggins for not being a place higher, this time it was all his own doing. Not that finishing second to Alberto Contador should really be considered failure. Contador’s bust-legged performance in this race highlighted…
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Alberto Contador has the legs – even if one of them’s a bit skeggy and slightly knackered
I can only presume that having prepared for the Vuelta by riding around with a fractured leg and a huge infected wound, racing Chris Froome up a mountain suddenly seems like a pain-free doddle for Alberto Contador. In the pantheon of Grand Tour suffering, it’s not quite up there with Tyler Hamilton grinding his teeth…
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Adam Hansen is still going strong… somehow
Last year, Adam Hansen won a stage of the Giro and I took the opportunity to draw attention to an even more staggering feat – he was riding his fifth Grand Tour in a row. You may be wondering whether he’s since maintained that sequence and the answer is yes. He hasn’t missed any of…
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Fabio Aru is a grooved rider
Fabio Aru won his second stage of this year’s Vuelta and was followed over the line by exactly the same four riders as last time – albeit in a different order. But if Aru’s emergence this season is one story, it’s that of a minor character. Today’s main protagonist was Chris Froome. Doggystyle Froomedog has…
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John Degenkolb stays at the right end of the spaghetti
John Degenkolb says his favourite type of training session is the rest day, or failing that the leisurely coffee ride. I doubt all the riders having the previous day off was what allowed him to win stage 17, but who knows? A little of what you fancy and all that. It was a tense approach…
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Alberto Contador lands a seemingly decisive punch
Stage 16 of this year’s Vuelta a Espana will forever be remembered for the feeble pattycake slapfest that took place between Gianluca Brambilla and Ivan Rovny, who were riding in the break. I still don’t know what they were arguing about – Brambilla may have grown sick of Rovny not taking turns on the front…
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Przemysław Niemiec troubles the commentators
There can’t be many riders whose names offer as many phonetic pitfalls as Przemyslaw Niemiec. Phil Liggett long ago settled on ‘Yakim’ for ‘Joaquim’ and so generally doesn’t even bother with Niemiec’s first name. In this case, I can’t say I blame him. It isn’t exactly great fun to type either. The Polish rider was…
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Ryder Hesjedal motors up final climb
Ryder Hesjedal got in the break, stayed away and paced himself well up the steep final climb to take victory on stage 14. The odd thing is that this is his first win since 2012 when he won… the Giro d’Italia. It’s easy to forget that Hesjedal has a Grand Tour to his name. He’s…