2014 La Vuelta Ciclista a España

['Dale]

“I won a Giro stage, now a Vuelta stage. It is coming together and I am very happy... I wanted to do something, that is for sure. There was a steep climb and a lot of the sprinters were annihilated, which was good for me. I was always active in the final so I was sort of hoping in the very, very end I would do something. They attacked a bit earlier than I wanted to and I sort of went with it... I was too far out but I said, ‘okay, I have to give it everything,’ and surprise, surprise.”

 

Hansen, on his breakaway win today

 

['Dale]

Tomorrow's penultimate stage

 

It's gonna be hot!

 

[tombeej]

Huge respect to Adam Hanson on his win yesterday, and how he pulled it off. Takes a big engine, a really big heart and some street smarts.

 

Adam is developing a bit of an eclectic following a la Jens Voigt. About to complete his 10th consecutive grand tour, I believe. Must be some sort of record, surely.

['Dale]

Huge respect to Adam Hanson on his win yesterday, and how he pulled it off. Takes a big engine, a really big heart and some street smarts.

 

Adam is developing a bit of an eclectic following a la Jens Voigt. About to complete his 10th consecutive grand tour, I believe. Must be some sort of record, surely.

 

Not yet a record

But, yeah, what a very clever win

 

What a racer

 

[tombeej]

Do you know what the record is 'Dale?

[tombeej]

As always, Google knows.

 

The consecutive Grand Tour record is held by Spain’s Marino Lejaretta, who completed 10 back-to-back Grand Tours between 1988 and 1991.

 

So Hanson is less than 2 days away from equalling the record....

[tombeej]

Hanson is a bit of a character in the peloton. Great to see one of the hardest f~~~ers in pro cycling who doesn't take himself seriously.On the Angliru in 2013...

[tombeej]

Remember the 2013 TDF when he downed a beer on the second ascent of Alpe d’Huez.

 

"Having got a feeling for the party happening on Dutch Corner the first time up, he snatched a glass of lager on the second pass, chugged it down and found his maverick reputation rising as sharply as the road to the summit. In these days of in-house team chefs and the ultra careful monitoring of all food and drink intake for fear of contamination, which could feasibly lead to an adverse doping result, Hansen’s downing of a un-checked demi from the 72 hour non-stop party that is Dutch Corner may well have been his boldest move in all of his [10] Grand Tours."Chapeau, Adam Hanson!

['Dale]

One if the coolest Aussies hey

['Dale]

Some good news for the riders is that it is warm and dry at the finish. Very little wind around to hamper their efforts too.

['Dale]

After 42 kilometres of racing it looks like these four are our escapees of the day, with a gap of 1:08 now. He's a reminder of the men out front Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida), Wout Poels (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Jerome Coppel (Cofidis), Maxime Mederel (Europcar)

['Dale]

The gap to our four escapees has ballooned up to 4:25.

['Dale]

The gap to our escapees continues to grow up to five minutes after 62 kilometres of racing.

['Dale]

After 70 kilometres, the gap between the leaders anf peloton has gone up to a sizeable 7:40.

['Dale]

Like Niemiec, Wout Poels has been pretty active in the breakaways. He was part of the three-man escape yesterday. The Vuelta a Espana is likely to be one of the last races the Dutch rider does for Omega Pharma-QuickStep. It is expected that he will join team Sky next season.

['Dale]

As our four leaders approach the intermediate sprint, they have a 9:48 advantage over the peloton. None of the riders in the break are a threat to John Degenkolb's points jersey.