2016 Vuelta a España

[Gen]

Back of the peloton looks painful!

I would develop a stomach bug today[emoji6]

[Bonus]

Jacobus Venter from SA cranking his way up the hill for DDD.

[Eugene Oppelt]

89km remaining from 196km

 

3:45 is the gap now as Sky make some inroads on this climb. Just a few kilometres to the top for the breakaway men.

[Eugene Oppelt]

⚠️⚠️⚠️

 

This climb is beginning to take its toll, with riders getting dropped from both groups.

[Eugene Oppelt]

Fraile moves to front of the breakaway - breaking Orica's control - towards the top of the Soudet. He'll be looking to increase his lead in the mountains classification standings.

[Eugene Oppelt]

Fraile does indeed strike out for it, and Elissonde is quickly onto his wheel. It's those two with a clear gap.

[Eugene Oppelt]

Just over 5000 meters ascent today ????

[Eugene Oppelt]

Another 10 smarties for Fraile

 

Now developing a buffer in the KOM comp

[Eugene Oppelt]

And the Skyborgs continue to set the pace in the chasing peloton

 

Faces grimacing ????

[Bonus]

Break has 6.20 now with 45km to go. My money's on a winner from the peloton though.

:-)

[Bonus]

Ha - the peloton have just turned into a road where my son and I watched he Tour de France in 2005! I recognize it :-) happy days.

[Eugene Oppelt]

46km remaining from 196km

 

The breakaway hit the penultimate climb of the day.

 

Lactic acid ????????????

[Eugene Oppelt]

It's the Col de Marie-Blanque (Cat 1): 9.2km at an average of 7.5%

[Eugene Oppelt]

Eiking and Campenaerts are dropped from the breakaway ahead of the penultimate climb. Orica's work is taking its toll, and it's also causing the gap to the peloton to grow back out to 6:15.

[Eugene Oppelt]

It's still all-Orica at the front of the breakaway. The Australian team has been doing all the work up there for some time now.

What has team leader Esteban Chaves got up his sleeve?

[Eugene Oppelt]

The gap makes Dani Moreno the virtual leader of the Vuelta. He started the day 5:38 down on teammate Quintana. Still no sign of panic from Sky, who continue to calmly go about their business.