2014 La Vuelta Ciclista a España

[Pure Savage]

Bouhani was all over the place in the last 15 meters.

 

He was taking no chance with Matthews trying to pass him! (May as well have just put his arm to the side!)

['Dale]

Bouhani was all over the place in the last 15 meters.

 

He was taking no chance with Matthews trying to pass him! (May as well have just put his arm to the side!)

 

Surprisingly, Matthews didn't appeal as Bouhanni clearly blocked him (changed his racing line which led to Matthews not pedaling but taking evasive action while he was gaining metres)

Edited August 30, 2014 by ' Dale

[Pure Savage]

Surprisingly, Matthews didn't appeal as Bouhanni clearly blocked him (changed his racing line which led to Matthews not pedaling but taking evasive action while he was gaining metres)

 

The commentators were very quick if it was the other way round Bouhanni would have protested before he had stopped pedaling!! This Vuelta has been great!! Thursday was amazing!! The whole office was around the PC shouting and screaming on the hill top finish!

['Dale]

GC action tomorrow possible

 

A ski station finish after two harder climbs. This isn’t a fearsome stage but the final third of the stage is hard work with no valley sections for recovery and regrouping. The final climb is a steady 6-7%.

 

[tombeej]

There are going to be some tired legs tomorrow. Today was a very hard, sustained, stressful day.

 

I've got a sneaking suspicion that we’ll see at least one of the top GC guys having bad legs tomorrow and lose a bit of time.

['Dale]

 

 

The commentators were very quick if it was the other way round Bouhanni would have protested before he had stopped pedaling!!

 

The commissaires reviewed it and awarded the stage to Bouhanni.

Must've been tight.

['Dale]

I read that Quintana was 15 secs behind Valverde and other GC riders at some point when the echelons ruled in the final 30 kms

 

His azz was saved when Giant pulled back the front bunch working to get Degenkolb back for the finalè

['Dale]

We're already into the stage and have seen a number of attacks from the front. There was a large group of around 25 riders clear at one stage but that number has become 27, although the gap is fairly small. It's been a frantic start to the stage though.

['Dale]

20km of the stage has already been covered and there have been so many attacks it's hard to keep up as rider after rider launches off from the front. That group of 27 - always too big to organise - has been caught but we now have six men off the front of the peloton but Astana, Garmin and BMC are chasing hard at the front of the peloton.

['Dale]

The chase has paid off and after 23km of racing the peloton is back together. More and more attacks though as the pace once again jumps up. The initial break is going to be crucial but at this stage it could take a while before it forms.

['Dale]

The pace has split the peloton into three groups. We have a group of 27, then 16 and then the rest of the bunch.

['Dale]

A few riders in the that lead group include Arredondo, Hesjedal, Boonen and Cunego. Cataldo is there for Team Sky too. Will the peloton let this one go?

['Dale]

 

Well the bunch are two minutes down on that large first group so that answers the previous question. No real GC threats in that major break but the peloton can't afford to give them too much room.

['Dale]

Jungles and Hansen are also in that lead group. Vansummeren too. It's a really powerful move and the gap to the peloton is at nearly three minutes. There are six chasers at 40 seconds behind the first group.

['Dale]

Hesjedal is around 10 minutes down on GC. He's pulled back around four minutes already in the stage after 42km of racing.

['Dale]

Courtesy of the race website, here's a full list of riders in the break:

 

Winner ANACONA (2) and Damiano CUNEGO (3), Rinaldo NOCENTINI (18), Alexey LUTSENKO (27), Paul MARTENS (36), Dominik NERZ (46) and Danilo WYSS (49), Peio BILBAO (54), Jerome COPPEL (72) and Romain ZINGLE (79), Natnael BERHANE (82) and Yannick MARTINEZ (87), Ryder HESJEDAL (101) and Johan VAN SUMMEREN (109), Pirmin LANG (125), Eduard VORGANOV (139), Adam HANSEN (146), Javier MORENO (158), Daniel TEKLEHAIMANOT (166) and Jay Robert THOMSON (167), Tom BOONEN (171) and Carlos VERONA (179), Sam BEWLEY (181), Dario CATALDO (192), Julian David ARREDONDO MORENO (212), Fabio FELLINE (213) and Bob JUNGELS (214).