Today's Stage: Textbook example
of a sprint stage. No categorized climbs and so flat in its circuits
around Logroño that only one rider went in the breakaway.
Who won today's stage? John
Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) won his second stage of this year's Vuelta,
beating Daniele Bennati (RSNT) at the line.
What matters in the GC race?
Nothing, nothing at all. This type of stage is a favorite of the race
leader (doesn't have to do anything) and a hated type of stage for
fans (there wasn't even a breakaway of note to watch or any suspense
about it). Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) retains his one second lead
over Chris Froome (Team Sky).
What matters in the other
competitions?
Green Jersey (Points) –
Degenkolb doubled his point total to 50 and he now lead this category
and takes the jersey. He could keep it for awhile as the upcoming
stages are unlikely to yield a challenger to him. Once we start
getting to the other summit finishes Degenkolb will likely lose this
jersey.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the
Mountains, it's blue in Spain, not red) – With no categorized
climbs today, Simon Clark (Orica-GreenEdge) retains his lead over Pim
Ligthart (Vacansoleil) though neither is likely to contend for the
jersey at the end of the race.
White Jersey (Allround, instead of
young rider, calculated by adding the rankings in GC, Points and KoM,
lowest score wins) – Joaquin Rodriguez leads here, followed by
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). Valverde will wear the jersey tomorrow
with Rodriguez in the race lead.
Team Classification (top 3 times by
team on each stage) – No change here with this kind of sprint
stage. Rabobank leads Team Sky by 3 seconds and Astana by 1'55”.
Biggest surprise: Nobody
bothered to go in the breakaway. Normally, even on these doomed
breakaway stages, the breakaway ends up being 4-5 riders just to get
the sponsors airtime. This course was so flat and dull though, that
nobody wanted in. The one guy who did go, Javier Chacon (Andalucia),
was so tired that he gave up a 7 minute lead without the peloton
really making an effort to chase.
Biggest disappointment: A stage
this dull was allowed into the race. I understand the need for sprint
stages. Still, at least give us a point to point race if something
like this must be included. The only thing keeping us going on these
days is the beautiful scenery, but today that wasn't even great since
we saw it eight times. If the race must be circuit, at least give us
something interesting, even if its a small climb, just to give the
breakaway hope and entice riders to go into it.
Other items of note: Yesterday's
attacking the red jersey controversy continued today (in part because
there isn't much interesting to discuss about the stage today). For
the most part people are siding with Team Sky, even in Spain. Sky was
racing and crash happened behind. If there is a crash like that and
then the attack happens, that would be a whole other deal... At the
USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Tejay van Garderen (BMC) attacked up the
Crested Butte finishing climb to win the stage with Christian Vande
Velde (Garmin-Sharp) just behind. Van Garderen leads overall headed
to the Independence Pass stage being reprised from last year.
What is coming tomorrow? A stage
that looks a lot like this one. Except for the finish. There is a
category 3 climb just 16 km from the finish and another at the
finish. Should be good for punchy climbers like race leader Joaquin
Rodriguez and classics aces like Philippe Gilbert (BMC).
Tomorrow's Prediction: Joaquin
Rodriguez, Alejandro Valverde, Philippe Gilbert
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