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 20 Review - Climbing Bola del Mundo confirms victory for Contador

Today's Stage: Bola del Mundo. One of the craziest climbs in professional cycling.

Who won today's stage? Katusha sent two men into the breakaway to assist Joaquin Rodriguez later in the stage. That breakaway ended up staying away as it had 20 men in it, so former double Vuelta overall winner Denis Menchov (Katusha) took the stage win instead of helping his teammate.

What matters in the GC race? Though Rodriguez dropped Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) who in turn dropped Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff), everyone stayed in their same positions. The final top 10 is also complete as the last stage is mostly ceremonial until the final sprint. This is the final GC barring something crazy though Valverde and Rodriguez's Green Jersey fight could play a role in the battle for second as they battle for the Green Jersey:

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) – Rodriguez extended his lead further by a point. Still, this will go to tomorrow as the final sprint will determine the winner. With two intermediate sprints before that, the Rodriguez-Valverde battle will continue from mid stage all the way through the final sprint.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains, it's blue in Spain, not red) – Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) got himself into the breakaway again and took enough points that the Bola del Mundo did not matter in the race of the King of the Mountains. With no climbs tomorrow, Clarke has won the jersey. Special note that four-time defending champion of this classification David Moncoutie (Cofidis) finished 10^th.

White Jersey (Allround, instead of young rider, calculated by adding the rankings in GC, Points and KoM, lowest score wins) – There is still a battle to be waged here as well. If Valverde steals the Green Jersey on the final day he would be tied with Rodriguez as Rodrgieuz lost a spot in the King of the Mountains today bringing Valverde in range. Just something else to watch on the final stage.

Team Classification (top 3 times by team on each stage) – Movistar lost over 8 minutes today to Euskatel, but they had over 17 minutes to spare so they still clinched the team victory.

Biggest surprise: No Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil) in the breakaway. De Gendt is a talented climber and the King of the Mountains jersey was in range as was a possible stage win (remember that De Gendt won the Queen Stage at Stage 20 of the Giro d'Italia in May), but De Gendt didn't get himself in the breakaway today.

Biggest disappointment: Rodriguez didn't attack early enough. He was unlikely to pull back over 2 minutes today, but he should have made the effort as his podium position was never going to be at risk, even if he exploded and lost a ton of time. As it turned out, had he attacked earlier, he might have pulled enough time to pass Valverde.

What is coming tomorrow? Processional stage into Madrid to finish with a bunch sprint.

Tomorrow's Prediction: John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano) will remind everyone why he was the best sprinter in the field early in the race with an easy win.

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 15 - Breakaway succeeds, Favorite wait for Tomorrow'

Today's Stage: Circle of Death – Part 2. The easy one of the three. Only three climbs, but the final one was the fearsome Lagos de Covadonga.

Who won today's stage? Antonio Piedra (Caja Rural) finally chose a correct break for his team (i.e. one that stays away) and paid it off by attacking at the bottom of the Lagos de Covadonga, winning the stage by over 2 minutes.

What matters in the GC race? Overall leader leader Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha), Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) finished together, but without Chris Froome (Team Sky) who was dropped and hung on for dear life just to stay with the second group of GC men. Froome lost 35 seconds more on the leaders and saw his chances at the podium start to slip away.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points) – The breakaway picked up most of the points, but Rodriguez and Valverde did a score a small amount to extend further away from John Degenkolb (Argos-Shimano). Rodriguez is the leader but Valverde will be wearing the jersey as Rodriguez is the overall leader.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains, it's blue in Spain, not red) – Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge) didn't get himself in the breakaway today, but he retains his lead here. Rodriguez is 2^nd and Valverde 3^rd as none of the contenders scored points.

White Jersey (Allround, instead of young rider, calculated by adding the rankings in GC, Points and KoM, lowest score wins) – 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) – The entire race was remade today. Movistar had a man in the break and then had another with Valverde. They now lead by 2'52” over Euskatel who also had a man in the break and a domestique with team leader Igor Anton. Former leaders Rabobank have seen their hopes here explode with the cracking of Bauke Mollema the last two days. The team is now over six minutes behind and will need to find a successful breakaway to get the time back.

Biggest surprise: The breakaway got away and stayed away. With the exception of stage four, no breakaways have been allowed to go the whole race. The peloton has limited matters and then swept up the break up with plenty of time to go (Stage 12's breakaway win was an exception to this, but it was never allowed much time and Argos-Shimano just failed in its attempts to pull it back). Today, it just didn't care. The top riders rode tempo until the end and the break enjoyed a huge lead that including Piedra gaining over nine minutes on the leaders (not that it really helps him there as he is still over an hour behind).

Biggest disappointment: Nobody can make an attack stick. While this has been very entertaining, we are most certainly into a pattern with the racing: Contador or Valverde attacks, Rodriguez pegs it back, yo-yo with that for awhile, sometimes Valverde is dropped, Rodriguez wins uphill sprint unless Valverde is still there, then there is a battle for the win. It would be nice to see an attack go and work (see Thomas de Gendt at Giro d'Italia).

Other items of note: Two more casualties of the race bring the total to 15 men out of the race. Olivier Kaisen (Lotto-Belisol) and Rafael Valls (Vaconsoleil) both are out of the race.

What is coming tomorrow? Circle of Death, part 3, the hardest of this circle of climbing. Tomorrow starts with a simple category 3 climb, then climbs two category one climbs before finishing atop the beyond category Cuitu Negru for the first time ever.

Tomorrow's Prediction: Rodriguez will win stage and likely the Vuelta followed by Contador and Valverde, same as its been.