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 Stage 19 - An Entertaining Final Sprint after a Dull Stage

Today's Stage: A sprinter's day, but an uphill sprinter's day.

Who won today's stage? Philippe Gilbert (BMC) won his second stage of the Vuelta in an interesting tactical uphill finish beating GC sprinters Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha).

What matters in the GC race? Second place overall Valverde smartly got himself a few bonus seconds. He now trails leader Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) by 1'35” and leads third place Rodriguez 46”.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points) – With the uphill sprint and bonus seconds available, Rodriguez and Valverde did battle for this jersey with Valverde closing the gap to 3 points on the leader Rodriguez. After today, it is now a two-man race for this jersey.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains, it's blue in Spain, not red) – Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) retained his lead again. And he will until Saturday as there are no categorized climbs tomorrow before the final massive stage to Bola del Mundo. Rodriguez is second and Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil) is third. Expect both Clarke and De Gendt to try and get in the breakaway tomorrow searching for the points needed to take the final jersey as that is the only day remaining with points available.

White Jersey (Allround, instead of young rider, calculated by adding the rankings in GC, Points and KoM, lowest score wins) – Nothing has changed here since Tuesday. Rodriguez leads followed by Valverde and Contador.

Team Classification (top 3 times by team on each stage) – Valverde's Movistar team has blown this open. Barring a catastrophe, the team will win this prize as it now leads by over 17 minutes.

Biggest surprise: John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) got into a four man escape with under 3 km to go, changing the tactics entirely. His presence meant nobody wanted to pull as a sprint with him in that size group was never going to work and allowed the peloton being led by Alessandro Ballan (BMC) to pull the lead group back andput Gilbert in position for the win.

Biggest disappointment: Up until the last 20 km, this stage was like watching paint dry. Actually that would be being nice to this stage. It was raced about as slow as any stage I have ever seen. When you turn the tv on and you see the peloton 25 km behind the expected pace and there is only a two-man breakaway with a Caja Rural rider and an Andalucia rider, you know it will be dull. And it was until the very end.

Other items of note: Much of the rest of the peloton is still in North America after the US Pro Challenge a couple of weeks ago. This weekend is the Canadian World Tour races with one race in Quebec today and another in Montreal on Sunday.

What is coming tomorrow? The mountain stage to end all mountain stages, Three category one climbs, a category two climb and the finish atop the fearsome Bola del Mundo. Joaquin Rodriguez had hoped this would be his coronation and maybe it still could be. All it would take is the type of attack he has never had to make before, but there is no risk to trying it. If Rodriguez can attack from long range he could still win the Vuelta. If he tries and fails, he can still lose over 7 minutes and keep his place on the podium with a sure sprint finish coming tomorrow.

Tomorrow's Prediction: Thomas De Gendt (Vaconsoleil) will take the stage in a breakaway. Alberto Contador will seal his overall victory.

Vuelta Stage 18 - Degenkolb finally loses a sprint

Today's Stage: Sprinter's day. Days like this at this point in Grand Tours are often left for the breakaway, but with the sprinters having had few opportunities and the breakaway fulling a fast one on one of those opportunities, the sprint teams were always going to control this and hope they could beat John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano).

Who won today's stage? And beat Degenkolb they did. Daniele Bennati (RSNT) finally got his stage win after a couple of close calls with Bennati. Ben Swift (Team Sky) was second and Allan Davis (Orica-GreenEdge) was third. Degenkolb ended up fifth.

What matters in the GC race? Nothing. And it will be that way tomorrow too. With no climbing today and none tomorrow, the wait is now on for Bola del Mundo to decide the ultimate winner. Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) is the leader followed by Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha). Everybody else is at least 9 minutes behind Contador.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points) – If Degenkolb were to have a chance at a miracle comeback here, he needed to win the stage today. He did not. Rodriguez leads followed by Valverde and Contador.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains, it's blue in Spain, not red) – Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) retained his lead again. And he will until Saturday as there are no categorized climbs tomorrow before the final massive stage to Bola del Mundo. Rodriguez is second and Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil) is third. Expect both Clarke and De Gendt to try and get in the breakaway on Saturday searching for the points needed to take the final jersey as that is the only day remaining with points available.

White Jersey (Allround, instead of young rider, calculated by adding the rankings in GC, Points and KoM, lowest score wins) – Ho hum. Despite the issues today, Rodriguez retains the lead here and still won't be wearing the jersey (he will be wearing Green tomorrow). This jersey, worn by Contador will return to Valverde, at least during the race.

Team Classification (top 3 times by team on each stage) – Valverde's Movistar team has blown this open. Barring a catastrophe, the team will win this prize as it now leads by over 17 minutes.

Biggest surprise: Degenkolb was beaten. The only thing we hadn't seen was Degenkolb sprint after lots of mountains and it didn't go as well as earlier in the race. Still, when the only man to win a sprint stage during the race finishes fifth, it is a shock.

Biggest disappointment: Elia Viviani (Liquigas) was not there for the sprint at the end. Viviani was dropped and finished in the second group, six seconds behind the sprint. For Viviani, the race has been increasingly difficult in his quest to get a stage win as it becomes evident that his team doesn't care at al about this race. The top stage racers on the team (Vincenzo Nibali and Ivan Basso) both were sent to Colorado for the US Pro Challenge (where Viviani won two stages last year). Peter Sagan is on a different program for World Championships preps. Just an all around frustrating Vuelta for Viviani.

Other items of note: The topic of doping in cycling has been back in the public eye ever since the Lance Armstrong case came to the forefront of the discussion. Yesterday, Garmin-Sharp team manager Jonathan Vaughters, who previously confessed to doping during his career in a New York Times op-ed, outed three former teammates of Lance Armstrong who actively ride for his team: David Zabriskie, Tom Danielson and US Pro Challenge winner Christian Vande Velde. Beyond that former Lance Armstrong teammate Tyler Hamilton's book came out and while there is the usual stuff about Lance in there, the book also goes after Bjarne Riis, current manager of Saxo Bank-Tinkoff for organizing doping within his team at that time (Saxo Bank's precursor was CSC and Hamilton rode for it after leaving US Postal before ultimately getting caught after he changed teams again and went to Phonak and was caught in 2004)...In Vuelta news, we are down 20 riders to withdrawals now. Linus Gerdemann (RSNT) was involved in a crash today and had to abandon.

What is coming tomorrow? Sprint stage. No climbs. Boredom.

Tomorrow's Prediction: Degenkolb. He will recover after the beating he took today.

Vuelta Stage 17 - The return of El Pistolero. Contador takes the lead.

Today's Stage: Another uphill finish. But this one on a long but not steep category two climb and after more hills than mountains. Not expected to be major battling territory. We were wrong.

Who won today's stage? Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) got his first win since his suspension with a combination of insane long range attacking and incredible team tactics (more on that later).

What matters in the GC race? Contador is now the overall leader and he is the leader by a significant margin over Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), who pretty much emptied the tank to catch try and catch Contador on the final climb. He didn't quite make it, losing seven seconds after being down by two minutes at one point. The big loser was Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha). The former leader overall lost 2'38” to Contador today and fell to third place on a stage that didn't look all that troubling. As for the rest, fourth place Chris Froome (Team Sky) is now over nine minutes behind Contador.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points) – The GC men are now battling for this after having battled on today's stage, a likely breakaway stage that might a keep a sprinter in the competition. Rodriguez is still the leader followed by Valverde and Contador. Of the rest, only sprinter John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) and Froome have yet to be mathematically eliminated though that will certainly come for Froome tomorrow.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains, it's blue in Spain, not red) – Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) retained his lead again. And he will until Saturday as there are no categorized climbs either tomorrow or Friday before the final massive stage to Bola del Mundo. Rodriguez is second and Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil) is third. Expect both Clarke and De Gendt to try and get in the breakaway on Saturday searching for the points needed to take the final jersey as that is the only day remaining with points available.

White Jersey (Allround, instead of young rider, calculated by adding the rankings in GC, Points and KoM, lowest score wins) – Despite the issues today, Rodriguez retains the lead here and still won't be wearing the jersey (he will be wearing Green tomorrow). This jersey, worn by Contador will return to Valverde, at least during the race.

Team Classification (top 3 times by team on each stage) – Valverde's Movistar team has blown this open. Barring a catastrophe, the team will win this prize as it now leads by over 17 minutes.

Biggest surprise: Katusha fell asleep at the wheel when their leader needed them most. At one point early on, Contador and Valverde got ahead of the peloton together. This should have been the warning bell that something different might be happening. Katusha didn't heed it. What they ended up with was multiple groups on the road when Contador attacked and Saxo Bank riders in every one of them and Movistar riders in every one of them. Meanwhile, Katusha was ground down to nothing quickly. Rodriguez had to work all alone in his group to try and bring Contador back, so much so that he couldn't go when Valverde attacked out of his group. Had he managed to hold Valverde's wheel, he would have made up some of the time he lost (and Valverde would have sat up). Given all of this, where were the likes of Daniel Moreno and Denis Menchov. Those guys are the mountain domestiques for Rodriguez. Moreno has been good, but not there at all on the business end of stages despite being in fifth place overall. Menchov has been in his usual invisible man act, nowhere to be seen. Unlike past races, that means he is never seen instead of never seen before the finish. Obviously, Rodriguez didn't have great legs today, but that happens to a lot of riders coming off the rest day. His team needs to pick him up and it was surprising that in his time of most need, they were nowhere to be seen.

Biggest disappointment: Contador's armada of other helpers showed up today. Back at the 2011 Giro, I bemoaned the tactics as every non-Italian team in the field either did nothing at all or helped Contador even though he was dominating the race. Today, it was the same. Yes, there were Saxo Bank riders all over the road, but the man who did the biggest pull for Contador was Paulo Tiralongo (Astana). Yes, Astana. Tiralongo is a former Contador teammate who testified on Contador's behalf at his Court of Arbitration for Sport doping hearing. Last year, Tiralongo helped Contador quite a few times and was gifted a stage win for his efforts. This year, it was so blatant that Tiralongo was getting water from the Saxo Bank team car. Ridiculous. If I'm Vincenzo Nibali and I have signed with Astana next season, I'm worried. If Contador is in the race, Tiralongo has shown he will work for Contador. What happens when his teammate and his friend are battling. Who does Tiralongo help? The answer was clear today. That is Contador.

Other items of note: So why did this work today whereas everything in the higher mountains fail? Simple. Different kind of climb, different kind of stage. Contador became the best stage racer in the world by winning at the Tour de France, famous for long, grinding climbs. The Alps with its 20 km climbs at 6% gradient, not the steep monsters we have seen all race thus far. Today, with over 20 km at an average of 3.9% was a more Alpine climb and Contador took advantage... Some had bemoaned the lack of another time trial, but the riders do indeed make the race. Contador and his team essentially made today's stage a time trial and Contador was of course going to win that over Rodriguez... With four days to go, some of the weak field of sprinters that showed up here have to be thinking why they bothered. While the next two days and the final day look like sprints, it also looks like John Degenkolb territory. Degenkolb has won every bunch sprint of the race so far and there is no reason why he shouldn't win a couple more over the next four days.

What is coming tomorrow? Sprint stage. No climbs. Boredom.

Tomorrow's Prediction: Degenkolb.

Vuelta Stage 16 - Rodriguez extends his lead further

Today's Stage: Circle of Death – Part 3. By far the hardest stage of these three days in the mountains and quite possibly the 'Queen Stage' (that would be hardest stage) of the race (Stage 20 up the Bola del Mundo is also under consideration for 'Queen Stage')

Who won today's stage? Dario Cataldo (OPQS) and Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil) battled together for the stage win as the only breakaway survivors. Cataldo was able to drop De Gendt on Cuitu Negru and then survive one of the slowest stage finishes ever. Both Cataldo and De Gendt nearly fell off their bikes in exhaustion just at the sight of the finish line and the final three km took them over 15 minutes to complete.

What matters in the GC race? Overall leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) took the sprint for third over Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff), taking the time bonues and extending his lead again, now up to 28 seconds. Just behind them was Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) who confirmed his podium place in part because Chris Froome (Team Sky) finally exploded, losing over two minutes to the leaders.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points) – More points for Rodriguez. His lead is now 52 over 4^th place John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano), the main contender considering the other two in between are Valverde and Contador. Rodriguez can seal the jersey with a win on Wednesday or a win atop the Bola del Mundo on Saturday. Even without those, Degenkolb likely needs to win all three remaining possible sprint stages on Thursday, Friday and Sunday to take the jersey. Looks unlikely.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains, it's blue in Spain, not red) – Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) is now holding on for dear life as the GC men continue to take points on all the uphill and summit finishes. In addition, stage runner De Gendt has appeared in 3^rd place and De Gendt has been very strong in week three of the last two Grand Tours he has entered. I suspect he will be in the breakaway looking for the King of the Mountains win on the Bola del Mundo stage with its three category one climbs before the final run up the huge climb at the end.

White Jersey (Allround, instead of young rider, calculated by adding the rankings in GC, Points and KoM, lowest score wins) – Same as it ever was. Even Froome cracking today changed nothing. Rodriguez still leads (as expected). Valverde is second and Contador is third. Froome is fourth but falling further behind every day as he is in the GC battle.

Team Classification (top 3 times by team on each stage) – Movistar has really extended this out the last couple of days. With three riders in the top 11 on the stage, they are now over 12 minutes ahead of second place Katusha.

Biggest surprise: Froome exploded as bad as he did. We have seen the signs that this was coming, but it looked like Froome was doing a good job of limiting his losses to a few seconds. Today, that was just not the case. As soon as the leaders went, Froome was with the second tier GC group and was beaten by many of them including Gesink, Ten Dam, Anton and Talansky.

Biggest disappointment: With the exception of Movistar domestique Nairo Quintana, nobody has stayed with the leader the last three days. Just once in this race, I would like to see the likes of Gesink and Talansky attacking with the leaders. Of course that would means risking positions if the attack failed so those riders are content to grind away.

Other items of note: Another two men dropped out of the race today. Pablo Lechuga (Andalucia) and Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge) were the two and there are now 17 men out of the race. As a whole, this has been a low-attrition race. The eventual toll of the stage 6 crash in the Tour de France alone was 12, when including those involved who dropped out on later stages.

What is coming tomorrow? Rest day tomorrow and then a long but not very steep ascent up a category 2 climb to finish.

Tomorrow's Prediction: Breakaway. Someone from both Caja Rural and Andalucia will be in it along with those in the mid-teens region on GC looking to sneak away and move into the top 10.

Vuelta Stage 13 Review - Breakaway stay away as High Mountains Loom

Today's Stage: A transitional sprint stage before the mountains. Breakaway or sprint was possible instead of the inevitable sprints of previous flatter stages.

Who won today's stage? Steve Cummings (BMC) attacked from the breakaway with four km to go and made it stick as someone with his track background should if in a breakaway.

What matters in the GC race? Nothing. All the contenders finished in the main group. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) continues to lead Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) by 13 seconds.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points) – Sadly for John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano), the breakaway consisted of a group of really strong riders and they stayed away. This cost him a chance at another stage win and it cost him in the points chase as he still trails overall leader Rodriguez going into three high mountain days where he will never score points and Rodriguez will.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains, it's blue in Spain, not red) – The day was climbless. Therefore, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) continues to lead over Rodriguez before the next three days remake the classification. Expect David Moncoutie (Cofidis), the four time defending champion in this category, in the break tomorrow looking for points and his annual stage win.

White Jersey (Allround, instead of young rider, calculated by adding the rankings in GC, Points and KoM, lowest score wins) – With Rodriguez leading or second in every category, he will lead this until he cracks. If he does crack, Valverde is the likely beneficiary.

Team Classification (top 3 times by team on each stage) – Flat stages just don't do much in this category. Rabobank still leads.

Biggest surprise: The break stayed away. All day long, the breakaway never got a huge advantage. Still, they stayed away as nobody wanted to help Degenkolb's Argos-Shimano team get another win. Among the other sprinters at the Vuelta, Ben Swift (Team Sky) is freelancing on a team built around Chris Froome, Allan Davis (Orica-GreenEdge) had two teammates in the breakaway, Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) left the race injured after being involved in the big crash yesterday and Elia Viviani (Liquigas) went into the break himself (he was dropped by the other six in the final 10 km).

Biggest disappointment: Disappointment? No way. There is no disappointment today. Degenkolb's wins have been of the soul-killing boredom variety. So having a tension filled finish where the break stayed away and no GC men lost time means a happy stage today.

Other items of note: Other than Bouhanni, two other riders left the race today. They were Morris Possoni (Lampre) and Hayden Roulston (RSNT)... Interestingly, today's stage winner Cummings was the only British rider entered at the Tour de France who failed to win a stage. The others (Wiggins, Froome, Cavendish and Millar) all won at least one in France.

What is coming tomorrow? Circle of Death, part 1. Three small climbs before a category one climb and then a finish atop the category one Puerto de Ancares. Last year, the race climbed the Puerto de Ancares in the middle of stage 13 won by Michael Albasini (then HTC-High Road, now Orica-GreenEdge).

Tomorrow's Prediction: Alberto Contador will finally show his true power and win the stage, but Rodriguez and Valverde will be close.

Vuelta Stage 9 - Degenkolb wins the Degenkolb Invitational (aka bunch sprint)

Today's Stage: Sprint stage coming off a rest day. This doesn't often happen but then again, what about this route has been conventional.

Who won today's stage? It was a bunch sprint stage. If you've been reading during this race, you know that John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) was the favorite. And the favorite won...again. For Degenkolb, the sprint win was his fourth of this Vuelta in four attempts to sprint.

What matters in the GC race? Nothing matters today. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), Chris Froome (Team Sky), Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) remain the top four in that order.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points) – Degenkolb was wearing the Green Jersey on this stage, but only because those in front of him were wearing other jerseys as leaders in those classifications. That won't be a problem tomorrow as Degenkolb regained the lead with his stage win. He also picked up a couple of extra points on the road as the breakaway only had two riders in it leaving the 3^rd point at the intermediate sprints available to the peloton. Overall leader Joaquin Rodriguez is second and Alejandro Valverde is still third.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains, it's blue in Spain, not red) – Another climbless day leaves Valverde in the Polka Dots for another day. This Vuelta semms to go back and forth. It's either a ton of climbs and a summit finish or no climbs whatsoever.

White Jersey (Allround, instead of young rider, calculated by adding the rankings in GC, Points and KoM, lowest score wins) – Rodriguez is going to lead here for the foreseeable future over Valverde. Other than them, only Froome and Contador are even close.

Team Classification (top 3 times by team on each stage) – No time gaps of note here. Rabobank still lead Ag2r La Mondiale by 2'27”

Biggest surprise: Everyone allowed Degenkolb's Argos-Shimano team to not be the main team chasing the breakaway. At this point, nobody, even the other sprinter teams should do any work. Make argos tire themselves out, even if it means giving a stage away. That's the only way to beat Degenkolb here.

Biggest disappointment: Only two riders went into the breakaway and they were from the dead weight teams of Andalucia and Caja Rural. At this point, I wonder why they are in the race. They just can't compete at this level unlike the French and Italian Pro Continental teams.

Other items of note: The USA Pro Challenge finished with a time trial on Sunday and got a surprise overall winner in Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp). Behind Vande Velde was Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and then Levi Leipheimer (OPQS)... For those not at the Vuelta, there is some time off before the Canadian World Tour races in Montreal and Quebec. Philippe Gilbert (BMC) won both of those last season but won't be defending those titles as he is racing the Vuelta.

What is coming tomorrow? Time trial. The race of truth and a huge day that will determine tactics for the massive mountains days that are coming this weekend. Oh, and there is a category 3 climb on the TT course. Since we can't have an important day in this Vuelta without climbing of course.

Tomorrow's Prediction: Tony Martin is the only TT specialist in the field so he is a good pick as are Chris Froome and Alberto Contador.

Vuelta Stge 7 - An odd sprint on a motorcycle racing course

The stage finish was on this thing, somewhere. Not a normal finish.

Today's Stage: A sprint stage, but one far more interesting than the circuit race in stage five. The finish on a motor racing course made for something interesting that we normally don't get on sprint stages.

Who won today's stage? Still, despite the difference in sprint stages, John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) just wins. Today's stage win was his third of the Vuelta in three sprint stage attempts.

What matters in the GC race? Normally the answer on these sprint stages is nothing. Suprisingly, that is not the case today. Former 4^th place Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) was dropped on the run in to the finished and dropped to 12^th place. Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) still leads Chris Froome (Team Sky) by 10 seconds overall.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points) – Degenkolb's win moved him into an even bigger lead. To win he will still need to take nearly every opportunity as there are still seven uphill or summit finishes that he will not figure into at all along with a couple of transition stages where breakaways are likely to win. Still, the lead is more than a stage win is worth right now.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains, it's blue in Spain, not red) – No changes again with no categorized climbs on the course. Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) is still the leader. Expect this to change tomorrow with a summit finish to deal with.

White Jersey (Allround, instead of young rider, calculated by adding the rankings in GC, Points and KoM, lowest score wins) – No change. Rodriguez still leads Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) though Valverde continues to wear the jersey with Rodriguez in the leader's red jersey.

Team Classification (top 3 times by team on each stage) – No change here on a sprint stage (there very rarely is). Sky still leads Rabobank by 1'09”.

Biggest surprise: Uran was dropped. Nobody really knows why, but Uran gave up over a minute today and just like that Sky has no back up card to play for the GC. Uran and Sergio Henao are now 10^th and 12^th overall instead of their expected positions in the top five to seven riders.

Biggest disappointment: Nobody is really challenging Degenkolb in the sprints. Sprint stages are problematic as it is. They are long and often dull and boring. To have the same winner on all of them makes it that much worse. Somebody in this field of admittedly weaker sprinters needs to step up and beat Degenkolb once, just to add some flavor and intrigue here.

Other items of note: The bigger story in cycling today is the Lance Armstrong affair. Other than this blip, I'm not writing about it. Armstrong was stripped of his Tour titles and banned for life. While I have always maintain he doped, I maintain that basically everyone else in the peloton did. I'm happy the sport seems to be cleaner now but there is no need to retroactively change the results. Let's face it, if we gave the Tour de France wins to the second place rider in those Tours, we have a list of convicted and suspected dopers. He couldn't be busted then, leave it alone. Prosecute him and ban him if you want (I have no problem there) but leave the tainted results alone, just as we have done with the steroid era in baseball... At the USA Pro Challenge, Jens Voigt (RSNT) escaped for an incredible solo win yesterday. Below him, Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) finished on the same time again, but the jersey switched back to van Garderen by virtue of his higher finish on the stage.

What is coming tomorrow? Another summit finish. If you haven't figured out what this year's Vuelta is about, this should be the final clue. This is the third summit finish in only eight stages with another stage having had an uphill finish. This kind of relentless climbing pace just continues the whole race.

Tomorrow's Prediction: Race leader Joaquin Rodriguez trains on the roads to Andorra and therefore will want the win. That means a breakaway victory is unlikely. Prediction is Alberto Contador, Rodriguez, Chris Froome.

Vuelta Stage 5 - Degenkolb makes it 2 sprint wins

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

Vuelta a Espana Stage 2 Review - Sprinty Sprint

Today's Stage: Sprint stage in extreme heat. Temperatures in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Who won today's stage? John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) is the fastest sprinter in the field at the Vuelta this year and he proved it with a stage win. Allan Davis (Orica-GreenEdge) was second followed by Ben Swift (Team Sky) and Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale).

What matters in the GC race? Nobody crashed in advance of the first mountain stage tomorrow. Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) retains the red jersey.

What matters in the other competitions? This section will be hiatus until after the summit finish on stage four.

Biggest surprise: Nothing at all. This was a by the books sprint stage contested by the very few sprinters in the race this year.

Biggest disappointment: The number of mountains scared all of the big sprinters off, making days like today that are going to end in a sprint all the more dull.

Other items of note: Most of the big sprinters were in Hamburg today for the Vattenfall Cyclassics. Arnaud Demare (FDJ) surprised the field for the biggest win of his young career... Much of the rest of the peloton that isn't at the Vuelta and didn't go to Hamburg is at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado. It starts tomorrow with a lot of climbing and elevation that remains very high throughout both the stage and the entire race... Yesterday was filled with crashes that nobody saw because of spotty television coverage. We knew Garmin-Sharp had hit the deck yesterday. Now, we know that Astana crashed (with Enrico Gasparatto out of the race entirely with two broken clavicles) and OPQS had riders follow a wayward moto right off the course (including Tony Martin who just can't seem to catch a break in a Grand Tour this season).

What is coming tomorrow? Mountains, already. This Vuelta is getting down to business immediately with a mountain stage in the Basque Country.

Tomorrow's Prediction: Igor Anton (Euskatel), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol)