Today's stage: 167 km stage with lots of rolling hills expected to end in a bunch sprint despite a late hill.
Who won today's stage? Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) got his second stage win of the Vuelta. Most impressively, he did it with no teammates as all of them were back in the peloton with team leader Vincenzo Nibali.
What matters in the GC race? Not much. The very top was unchanged. Bauke Mollema did pick up 11 seconds from a combination of winning the intermediate sprint and being in the front group of a small peloton split at the end. Mollema is still 6th, now 36” behind leader Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky).
What matters in the other competitions?
Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) scored no points today and Sagan did with the stage win. Rodriguez still leads, but Sagan is now second and close enough to consider making a move for it. Of course Sagan will have no team support given the presence of Nibali on the roster.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – None of the leaders got any points on either of the early category 3 climbs today. The top three are still Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale), David Moncoutie (Cofidis), and Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervelo)
White Jersey (Allround) – No changes here either. Mollema is still the leader, followed by Daniel Moreno (Katusha) and then Rodriguez.
Biggest surprise: Nothing. This was a bunch sprint stage from the start and nothing was going to be changing that.
Biggest disappointment: Many of the sprinters, most notably Marcel Kittel (Skil-Shimano) are leaving the race tonight after racing this stage. I know there isn't much for them to do for the rest of the race, but I still think they should try and get to Madrid and the finish.
Other items of note: Adam Hansen (Omega Pharma-Lotto) most certainly made a tactical error today. Hansen was in the days breakaway with three others. He attacked them late in the stage while they were holding a 2 minute lead. He briefly dropped his break companions, but then watched them claw back and drop him because he expended too much energy attacking them. Ouch... No major changes in the team competition. Mollema being in the positive end of the split along got his Rabobank team a few seconds, pulling them to 1'58 behind Radio Shack.
What is coming tomorrow? A mountain stage that is not a summit finish. It looks like a slightly more difficult version of the Tour de France Col d' Aubisque stage won by Thor Hushovd. The breakaway is likely to get away tomorrow and there is space for GC guys to take some time, especially strong descenders like Nibali.
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