Vuelta a Espana Final Review - Contador wins overall, Degenkolb wins final stage

Today's Stage: The final sprint in Madrid. Nothing other than a stage win and the Green and Combined Jerseys on the line.

Who won today's stage? It was a sprint. John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) hadn't won one of those in awhile, but he took today's easily over Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale). The win was Degenkolb's fifth stage win of the race, easily confirming himself as the best sprinter in this weakened field of sprinters (most stayed away because of the mountainous nature of this Vuelta course that gave them few stages to target.

Final GC: No changes today, as expected in the final General Classification. Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) finished with the main group to confirm his overall victory followed by Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha). Here is the final top 10:

1 Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff)

2 Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) +1'16”

3 Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) +1'37”

4 Chris Froome (Team Sky) +10'16”

5 Daniel Moreno (Katusha) +11'29”

6 Robert Gesink (Rabobank) +12'23”

7 Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) +13'28”

8 Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) +13'41”

9 Igor Anton (Euskatel) +14'01”

10 Benat Intxausti (Movistar) +16'13”

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points) – Valverde took sixth on the stage in the sprint while Rodriguez finished outside of the points. This allowed Valverde to overtake Rodriguez and steal the jersey on the final day (the second year in a row this has happened as Bauke Mollema overtook Rodriguez to win the jersey in Madrid last year). Here is the final top 5:

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) 199

Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) 193

Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) 161

John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) 149

Daniele Bennati (RSNT) 107

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains, it's blue in Spain, not red) – Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) sealed this jersey early on the Bola del Mundo stage. His work done, he sat up and slowed home after that and today with the Mountains jersey and a stage win in his pocket. Here is the final top 3:

Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) 63

David de la Fuente (Caja Rural) 40

Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) 36

White Jersey (Allround, instead of young rider, calculated by adding the rankings in GC, Points and KoM, lowest score wins) – Rodriguez had led this jersey for so long that it may have seemed impossible to catch him, but Valverde did, forging a tie and winning on the tiebreaker of higher in GC Classification. Here is the top 3:

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) 8

Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) 8

Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) 10

Team Classification (top 3 times by team on each stage) – No changes here, Movistar wins easily. Here are the top 3:

Movistar

Euskaltel +9'40”

AG2R La Mondiale +20'19”

Biggest surprise of the race: Alejandro Valverde's performance. Valverde, racing this season coming off a doping suspension was not thought to be a contender here. Heck, he wasn't even his own team leader (that was defending champion Juan Jose Cobo, more on him in a moment). Also, Valverde had struggled through the Tour de France taking one stage where he had to empty the energy tank entirely and likely still would have been caught if not of Team Sky team orders. Given that form and situation, seeing Valverde emerge as Movistar's contender was a big surprise.

Biggest disappointment: Speaking of Mr. Cobo. He was awful. From day one. In the Team Time Trial he lost contact with his team and lost five seconds. Then he was dropped by the leaders on the first mountain stage (good for Movistar staying with Valverde and Intxausti who were obviously in better form). By the end of the race, Cobo had sunk to 67^th place, over 2 hours behind Contador. Just awful, but given his season, this result isn't that bad. If anything, it calls into question the result last year as Cobo had a sudden one year spike ending in a Grand Tour victory while riding for one of the most notorious team managers in the world. With that team gone and Cobo away from him, he was back to domestique level and didn't even reach that in this race.

What's next for the peloton? Some are racing right now at the Tour of Britain while others are in Canada for the second of the World Tour races there (Michael Albasini of Orica-GreenEdge won the first). After those, everyone will converge at the World Champioship's, starting with the new Team Time Trial next Sunday.

Vuelta a Espana Stage 1 TTT Review

There are two things wanted by most neutral fans in a Team Time Trial. A close, suspenseful race and unintentional comedy (who can forget Skil-Shimano riding with half their team in a ditch on a farm after overshooting a turn during the 2009 Tour de France TTT). Today, we got both as one team crashed (not seriously) and the final team to race won the stage after a number of close calls for potential lead changes.

The rundown, team by team in reverse order of finish with prospects for the rest of the race.

Caja Rural: As expected, this team finished last. They are pretty much allergic to the time trial as a discipline and also have no prospects for GC on the roster. This is the Spanish version of the Pro Continental team that is here to be sacrificed to everybody else. The goal is simply to get into breakaways and maybe steal a stage win somewhere.

Garmin-Sharp: Normally, this is one of the best TTT teams in the world. They won the TTT at the Giro and also recently at the Tour of Utah (though none of the Utah riders are here) and also finished 8^th with about a C- level team in the TTT at the Eneco Tour. Things started out nicely (early leader at the first time check) before a crash killed their chances (unintentional comedy checked off) and hurt Andrew Talansky's hopes for a top 10 on GC. Talansky is nearly 1'30 behind the leaders already.

Andalucia: The other Spanish Pro Continental sacrifice, Andalucia has few well-known riders and will be looking for breakaways the whole race. This was still a decent race for them despite 20^th place as they were within 10 seconds of Lampre and RadioShack.

Argos-Shimano: The former Skil-Shimano has improved greatly since the horrible TTT in the 2009 Tour de France referenced earlier, but they still aren't good. This team figures to be working hard tomorrow as they brought the best sprinter in the field (John Degenkolb) so it is likely they didn't work super hard on this stage, especially with no GC contender on the team.

FDJ: Only in this race because World Tour rules say they have to be, FDJ didn't send anyone of note to the race (Arnold Jeannesson is the best and his claim to fame is being the guy who got hurt allowing Thiabult Pinot to ride the Tour de France) and will be on the Caja Rural/Andalucia breakaway plan.

RadioShack: Good luck and Godspeed. This team seems like it is collapsing in on itself with all the insanity going on and no results to speak of outside of Fabian Cancellara's first week of the Tour de France. The team lined up here doesn't look great, but maybe that will be better for a team that hasn't looked much like a team for most of the season and has been even worse off since Andy Schleck was injured during the Criterium du Dauphine in June. Even with Maxime Monfort here, this appears to be a rudderless ship.

Lampre: They can't do TTT's. They showed that on home roads in the Giro. That and a team built around Cunego looks likely to disappoint, especially since Cunego is more likely to be targeting the World Championships (on a course suited for his talents) and the Giro di Lombardia. I have no expectations for this team. None, whatsoever.

Cofidis: An ok ride in this TTT, but this race is about one thing and one thing only: getting David Moncoutie one last Vuelta King of the Mountains victory before he rides off into retirement.

Liquigas: Question A for this team is if they are even going to exist two months from now. Given the exodus of riders and lack of those entering the team (that we know of), it seems like the team is collapsing with Liquigas pulling out as a sponsor next year. Question B is what on Earth are they doing here? The two star GC men of the team (Nibali and Basso) are in the United States for the US Pro Cycling Challenge starting on Monday and team leader Eros Capecchi has seemed to have maxed out as a domestique career wise. Also, Peter Sagan is in Germany and up and coming start Moreno Moser is in the United States with Nibali and Basso. Whatever, given the low level roster this team brought, Liquigas put in a good ride today.

Vacansoleil: Lost 35 seconds which isn't great for Thomas de Gendt, but this team has brought a bunch of breakaway artists along with de Gendt. Not great support for a possible Grand Tour podium run (though de Gendt had basically no support for his podium at the Giro). I wonder what this team will do in the ongoing transfer season to support de Gendt as he is obviously far more talented than most imagined.

Ag2r: Considering the two stars of the team (John Gadret and Nicolas Roche, who hate each other by the way) can't time trial, only losing 34 seconds and finishing in 12^th place is a great ride for this team. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see what happens as Roche is leaving the team for Saxo Bank at the end of the season. Is Roche on his own, especially if Gadret is close to him in the standings, and will Roche work to support Gadret if called upon to do so?

Astana: Anything this team does here is gravy on top of an incredibly successful season. They won the Amstel Gold, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the Olympics and two stages of the Giro. Still, I expect at least a stage win somewhere long the line as Tour de France KoM runner up Fredrik Kessiakoff and early Giro contenders before fading Paolo Tiralongo are here.

Orica-GreenEdge: A disappointing result today after winning at Eneco. It shows the value of a top level individual time trialist (Svein Tuft who won the ITT at Eneco after pacing the team in the TTT). This team doesn't look super strong though and I expect little out of them here.

Euskatel: That Euskatel managed to finish a TTT in the top 10 with Samuel Sanchez not in the team is bordering on miraculous. This could mean good things for the carrots as team leader Igor Anton is not starting 90 seconds behind this year. The team should animate stage 3 as it is a home stage for them. The biggest question, other than Anton's form is his bike handling. He crashed out as the leader in 2010 and also crashed out in 2008.

Katusha: That they finished with a good result isn't as surprising as it was when they finished second in the Giro. Joaquim Rodriguez has obviously improved as a time trialist (even if he's still below average) and Denis Menchov is here to support him as well. This is one of the teams with legitimate GC ambitions as Rodriguez was second at the Giro. If he falters, Menchov has won three Grand Tours and Daniel Moreno has a similar skill set as Rodriguez and could factor into the equation as well.

Saxo Bank: It's a about Contador. Alberto Contador, coming off his suspension, rode at the front of the team all race today. The team is all in for Contador and will be hoping the long layoff without racing won't have hurt his explosiveness too much. With only two seconds lost to rival Chris Froome, this was a successful day.

Lotto-Belisol: The team of Jurgen Van Den Broeck did quite well today and Van Den Broeck will be happy not to have to share domestiques with a big sprinter like he had to with Andre Griepel at the Tour de France. Good start today.

Team Sky: It was a big shock when they didn't take the lead today with Chris Froome and Richie Porte on the roster. Still, this is a really strong climbing team with Froome as the lead man and Porte, Rigoberto Uran and Sergio Henao on the roster to try and control the race just as the Tour de France was controlled.

BMC: No major GC threats. Just redemption today after a crash filled debacle in the TTT at Eneco where they lost over 2 minutes. The team brings Philippe Gilbert and Alessandro Ballan building form for the World Championships and maybe an outside GC threat (top 10) with Brent Bookwalter.

Omega Pharma Quick Step (OPQS) – This team is mostly building form for the World Championships as well. Maybe Tony Martin would have a prayer on a flatter course, but this thing is most certainly not flat. Still a good result today for a team that has a lot of good time trialers on the roster.

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Rabobank: Team redemption is off to a good start with a second place today. Still, today isn't what ultimately matters on this team. It is keeping Robert Gesink and Bauke Mollema upright and getting the through to the finish both in the top 10 on GC with one of them preferably on the podium.

Movistar: The huge shock of the day. Nobody expected a TTT win from Movistar. Out of 36 fans on the podiumcafe predictor game, only one thought Movistar would finish in the top 5. Despite the win, there is still reason for Movistar to worry. Defending Vuelta champion JJ Cobo was dropped at the end and didn't finish with the team (he lost five seconds). This is troubling to say the least.

Vuelta a Espana (aka kill the peloton with climbs) Preview

It's Vuelta time

After the highs of the Tour de France and the Olympics and a long season already, the cycling peloton (minus a few top riders that either are done for the year or with US leanings) heads to Spain for the Vuelta a Espana. Normally, the Vuelta is the red-headed stepchild of the three Grand Tours, drawing a weaker field reserved for Spaniards who aren't going to ever win the Tour de France, riders that crashed out of the Tour de France and those that targeted the Giro d'Italia and need some late season racing. This year though, a combination of factors has seemingly elevated the Vuelta above it's normal perch.

The field: Last year, JJ Cobo (now Movistar, then the now defunct Geox-TMC) shocked the cycling world, coming from nowhere to beat out of nowhere Chris Froome (Team Sky) and a recovering from crash Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) on a course that didn't suit Wiggins nearly like the recent Tour de France course that Wiggins won on did. This year, Cobo is about the 6^th choice in the field. While part of that is Cobo (the guy has done basically nothing all season), part of that is the rest of the field. It is one of the strongest Vuelta fields I have ever seen.

Starting at the top, we have Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff). Contador hasn't raced all season because of his suspension, but he is still the best Grand Tour rider in the peloton and is also by far the most explosive attacker in the mountains. He enters as the favorite despite little racing up to this point (he did finish 4^th overall at the recent Eneco Tour in his first race back after the suspension).

Also, Froome is back and while he was beaten by Cobo last year, that was by a combination of time bonuses and Froome waiting for Wiggins on the Angliru climb allowing Cobo to get away. Beyond that, Froome is much more of a favorite than Cobo in part because he followed up his Vuelta breakthrough last year with an equally impressive result in the Tour de France (2^nd to his teammate Wiggins). The big question about Froome is how he will recover from his Tour de France effort and the Olympic effort that followed (Froome raced for Great Britain in the road race and then won the Bronze Medal in the time trial).

Beyond the two favorites and the defending champion Cobo, the two podium finishers from the Giro are also here. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) was likely salivating at the thought of this course, until Contador's suspension came down and allowed him to race here. Rodriguez does everything Contador does, just not as well. If Contador is off form, Rodriguez could find himself in a similar position to the Giro, battling for the race lead into the final days. The big difference here is that the time trial that cost Rodriguez the win at the Giro is much earlier, allowing him to retake time in the mountains that remain after that.

Giro 3^rd place Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil) is also here for his first meaningful riding post-Giro (he got married on the day of the first stage of the Tour de France). In his last two Grand Tours, de Gendt has been incredibly strong in the final week and especially the final days of the race (at the 2011 Tour, he was five on both the Alpe d'Huez stage and the time trial and then won the Passo del Stevio stage at the Giro and finished in the top five of the time trial there as well). If he can keep from losing time early in the race (no easy task, especially here), de Gendt could be a threat for the podium again in the final week.

Also, the crashed and wrecked contingent of the Tour de France is stronger this season than in recent years. In particular, Rabobank's Dutch pair of Robert Gesink and Bauke Mollema are both here. Gesink has long been tapped for Grand Tour success because of his incredible climbing ability (which he used to win the Tour of California on the Mount Baldy stage in May), but he generally struggles to stay on his bike, crashing with regularity. His teammate Mollema was 4^th in this race last season but was caught along with Gesink and entire Garmin team in the stage 6 crash in the Tour de France. He will be looking to rebound and save a particularly disappointing season.

The route: The other thing that has upped the Vuelta's prestige this season is the route, especially after a couple of average bordering on dull and totally uninspired routes at the Giro and the Tour. (Seriously, the Giro, while great in the final week was dull as can be for the two weeks before that and the Tour de France was suffocated by the two long time trials without enough mountains close to the finish to dent the Team Sky train).

Here, there are mountains and summit finishes pretty much everywhere. Enough that I expect everyone in the peloton to crack at least once during the race. The key thing is to manage the race, not crack on a key stage, and limit the time losses when the inevitable crack comes.

The mountains start right off the bat with summit finishes in stages 3 and 4. After that there is a mix of sprints, uphill finishes and a time trial (along with a summit finish in Andorra on stage 8). Then the race gets insane. Stages 14-16 are all summit finishes with the stage 16 finale a monstrous climb to Cuitu Negru that includes ramps up to 23% in gradient. Still, that is not the climax. The climax comes on the second to last day when the Bola del Mundo makes its return after a one year absence on a stage with three category one climbs and a category 2 climb before the peloton even reaches the foot of the fearsome Bola del Mundo. Needless to say, with 10 summit finishes in the race, this is a spectacle for the climbers (and one that likely will kill the legs of any serious contenders here before the World Championships and the Giro di Lombardia for those that will target those races).

Final pick: Contador. He will struggle early in the race, likely ceding time on stage 3 or stage 4 before getting his legs under himself and smashing the field on stage 14-16 and possibly again at Bola del Mundo.