Vuelta a España Daily – Cobo finishes off his surprise Grand Tour win

Today's stage: 94 km into Madrid to complete this year's Vuelta a España

Who won today's stage? Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) got the better of the remaining sprinters to take his third stage win of the race.

What matters in the GC race? Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC) finished in the front group to confirm his overall victory. Chris Froome (Team Sky) officially finishes second and Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) completes the podium in third.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) finished ninth on the stage today to gain seven points, enough for him to overtake Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and steal the green jersey on the final day.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – No mountains today so Daivd Moncoutie (Cofidis) confirmed his victory here yesterday. All he had to do was finish, and he did.

White Jersey (Allround) – No more other people wearing the jersey. Cobo gets to take it home as the winner of this competition over Froome and Mollema.

Biggest surprise: Surprise? On the last stage of a Grand Tour? When it's not a time trial (as often happens at the Vuelta and the Giro)? No surprises. Bunch sprint, no major time gaps. The usual. Remember that it was much the same at the Tour de France (the Giro did have a time trial in the final stage).

Biggest disappointment: The break was allowed to get away, even for a small lead of under a minute, depriving us of more Rodriguez against Mollema showdowns at the intermediate sprint points. Of course that didn't matter as Rodriguez couldn't hang with the peloton's pace and got spit out the back, losing 30 seconds and allowing Mollema to steal the Green Jersey uncontested at the finish.

Other items of note: This is the first Grand Tour victory for Cobo who had an awful season riding for the Movistar Team last year... Cobo's Geox-TMC team also handily won the team classification (computing by taking the top 3 finishers on each team on each stage) with plenty of help from fifth overal Denis Menchov and 20^th overall Carlos Sastre... Cobo ultimately won the race because of time bonuses. Given in small amounts at intermediate sprint points and large amounts at the finish line, Cobo took 19 seconds in bonuses more than Froome, who was working the first two weeks for Wiggins and let Wiggins get those bonuses early. Under Tour de France rules with no time bonuses, Froome would have won the race... Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) ultimately finished 7^th. He sits wondering where everything went wrong. Of course one only needs to look at this year's ridiculously hard Giro d'Italia where Nibali finished third. Other than him, only 10^th overall Mikel Nieve (Euskatel) and Menchov recovered enough from riding the Giro to place well here... We only had 31 retirements from the race this year, a low number for the Vuelta because many use it for World Championship prep and withdraw at a pre-determined point like Fabian Cancellara (Leopard-Trek) did after stage 16.

What is coming next, cycling wise here? World Road Race Championships. The Women's and Men's time trials and the Road Races. Festivities get under way in just nine days.

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Vuelta a España Daily – A surprise sprint rules the day

Today's stage: 185 km in the Basque Country with plenty of climbing but a long flat section at the end.

Who won today's stage? Daniele Bennati (Leopard-Trek) got over the mountains where many of the other sprinters did not and took the stage in a bunch sprint.

What matters in the GC race? Nothing. Barring catastrophe tomorrow, Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC) is going to win over Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky). Tomorrow's stage is a bunch sprint stage.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) both contested the sprint looking for points and are now tied going to the final stage. In the event of a tie, Rodriguez owns the tiebreaker by virtue of his two stage wins during week 1.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – David Moncoutie (Cofidis) locked the competition up as soon as Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale) failed to get into the breakaway. Moncoutie wins this for the 4^th year in a row and heads off to retirement with a happy and successful Vuelta with a stage win and the KoM.

White Jersey (Allround) – Same as it's been. Cobo leads, Froome wears the jersey, Mollema is 3^rd. Cobo will take this home tomorrow as long as he finishes the stage.

Biggest surprise: Bennati survived to contest the sprint. Most of the other sprinters have already left the Vuelta. In addition, the few remaining sprinters other than Bennati all ended up in the Grupetto 15 minutes behind because the final cat. 1 climb was too tough.

Biggest disappointment: Nobody in any of the other competitions got into the break. It would have made for a much more entertaining stage.

Other items of note: There are other races taking place all over the world as World Championship preparation gets into full swing. Yesterday, Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) won again taking the GP Cycliste de Quebec. He goes for the Canadian double tomorrow in Montreal. Also, Denis Galimzyanov (Katusha) took a bunch sprint to win Paris-Brussels... The Movistar Team virus claimed another victim. They have just four men left for the final stage and a couple of them are sick too.

What is coming tomorrow? Sprint stage to finish the Vuelta. I peg Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) as a big favorite with JJ Haedo (Saxo Bank-Sungard) and today's stage winner Bennati having a good chance as well.

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Vuelta a España Daily – Anton saves his (and his team's season)

Today's stage: 158 km with more mountains and a category 2 climb just 14 km from the finish

Who won today's stage? Igor Anton (Euskatel) saved his season by winning from the breakaway today. Anton had built his entire season around winning the overall competition in the Vuelta and his trials (especially during week 1) have been well-covered here. For Anton, this is the biggest victory of his career as it comes on the home stage for his Euskatel team in the first Grand Tour stage raced through the region in over 30 years. If the Vuelta was not to be won, this was, by far, the most important stage for Anton's Euskatel team.

What matters in the GC race? Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC) was able to match the attacks of Chris Froome (Team Sky). With only one stage of any consequence left and that one flat for the final 50km, Cobo has likely locked up the overall victory.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – It is now a two man race between Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Bauke Mollema (Rabobank). Just two points separate them with two stages to go. I give the edge to Rodriguez because of Mollema's overall standing. Rodriguez could get into the breakaway tomorrow while Mollema is close enough to Cobo and the Sky riders that the peloton will never let him go. Way on the fringe sits Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale). To win this, he likely needs to find the breakaway tomorrow, win the stage and then win the sprint on the final stage. Not likely, but still possible.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Tomorrow has the final mountains of the race to decide the competition between David Moncoutie (Cofidis) and Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale). Montaguti is a long shot at best. Nobody of consequence gained any points on today's stage.

White Jersey (Allround) – Cobo has sthis all but locked up. Froome continues to wear the jersey as the second placed rider, but he is unlikely to catch Cobo even if he somehow overtakes and wins the overall.

Biggest surprise: Nobody was able to hang with the Euskatel riders. It was obvious with this being their home stage and it having not appeared for over 30 years Euskatel would do anything and everything to control the race and win it. They did exactly that in part because everyone else allowed them to without question.

Biggest disappointment: Where was this Anton earlier in the race? He won easily today and was with the top group on the Angliru stge on Sunday. Where was he before that? I still think the Giro took too much out of him as he pretty much dropped off the face of the Earth after winning the Zoncolan stage there.

Other items of note: Thankfully, the Basque region did not protest today. There have been delicate political issues enveloping the region for much of the last decade and there were fears that there would be a race disrupting protest that thankfully, never came to pass... Geox-TMC still leads the team competition by over 10 minutes over Leopard-Trek... Movistar Team is now riding with only five men with two of those sick after a virus hit the team. Hopefully next season is better for this snakebitten team.

What is coming tomorrow? Exiting the Basque country and one last major climb. It comes too far from the finish to really remake anything though. I think the points battle between Rodriguez and Mollema and the KoM battle between Moncoutie and Montaguti take center stage tomorrow. I also expect Rodriguez, Montaguti and Moncoutie to all be in the breakaway or attempt to get into the daily breakaway searching for points.

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Vuelta a España Daily – It's Transitional Breakaway Day

Today's stage: Every Grand Tour (except this year's Giro) has one of these: a 174 km mountain stage with a long flat at the end built for breakaway artists

Who won today's stage? Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-ISD) took a two man sprint over Kristof Vandewalle (QuickStep) after riding in the breakaway all day.

What matters in the GC race? Nothing at all. The peloton largely took the day off, coming home well over 7 minutes behind the breakaway. Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC) continues to lead Chris Froome (Team Sky) by 13 seconds

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) showed some fight after his crash injuries and got in the breakaway toady. He took both intermediate sprints and moved back into the points lead over Bauke Mollema (Rabobank).

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – David Moncoutie (Cofidis) retains his lead, but it is much smaller now after Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale) got into the breakaway and took points on most of the climbs. Montaguti is now in striking distance of Moncoutie with just stages to go.

White Jersey (Allround) – This competition often closely follows the order of the GC standings and that's no exception here. Cobo leads. Froome wears the jersey in second. Mollema is third because of his high standing in the points competition.

Biggest surprise: Montaguti was allowed into the break by the Cofidis team. I would have thought Cofidis would chase him down as the only way Moncoutie was going to be losing the King of the Mountains fight was for Montaguti to get in a breakaway and take a bunch of points. That is exactly what happened and there is still a battle to be fought.

Biggest disappointment: Froome's Team Sky didn't try to keep the peloton together to get Froome some bonus seconds at one of the intermediate sprint points. Those points are the only way he will be catching Cobo in the overall standings, so not making the effort to go after them was a mistake.

Other items of note: Tomorrow's stage visits the Basque country of Spain for the first time in over 30 years. Tensions will be high and there is a possibility of protests. Also, Euskatel will work very hard for a stage win given it's their home region... The lack of a finishing time trial really detracts from the race this year. We are three days from the end in a close race that is already pretty much decided barring something insane happening

What is coming tomorrow? The Basque country and the final chance for Froome as the Cat. 2 Alto El Vivero is climbed just 14km from the summit. Remember that in the Tour de France, Andy Schleck lost nearly a minute on a similar descent finish into Gap and earlier in this race, Liquigas-Cannondale had four of the top five finishers and took time on everyone on a similar finish. Should be interesting, especially with desperate Euskatel riders hunting for the home stage win.

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Vuelta a España Daily – Froome gives it the old college try... and gets his stage win

Today's stage: 211 km marathon stage with the final summit finish of this year's Vuelta

Who won today's stage? Chris Froome (Team Sky) beat overall leader Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC) to the line after dropping everyone else on the final climb.

What matters in the GC race? Froome pulled within 13” of Cobo with his time bons while his teammate Bradley Wiggins surrendered his chance at overall victory. He still is likely for the podium, currently sitting in 3^rd, 24” ahead of Bauke Mollema.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Mollema took the lead in this competition from the injured Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha). Cobo is now second.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – David Moncoutie's (Cofidis) lead remains nearly insurmountable. Cobo is now 2^nd.

White Jersey (Allround) – Cobo is the leader here, but Froome has passed Mollema for 2^nd and will wear the jersey tomorrow as Cobo will be in the leaders Red jersey.

Biggest surprise: Team Sky finally worked for Froome. For this whole race, Team Sky had been working for Wiggins. Even when Froome was the leader. It likely cost them the overall victory in this race.

Biggest disappointment: Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana) finished his implosion from being in contention for the victory to irrelevant. He lost over 17 minutes today and he now is in 30^th overall, over 40 minustes behind Cobo.

Other items of note: We had six retirements today. Notable among them Fabian Cancellara (Leopard-Trek) who didn't take the start to prep for the World Championship Time Trial and stage 14 winner Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) who has been ill and abandoned... Geox-TMC has locked up the team competition now There are no more summit finishes and Geox has a 10 minute lead. Only two Leopard-Trek riders surviving a breakaway could possibly reel in Geox.

What is coming tomorrow? A medium mountain stage with the final cat. 3 summiting 40km from the finish. I expect no changes in the GC and a breakaway to own the day.

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Vuelta a España Daily – Cobo Unbelievably Rides Away Again

Today's stage: 142 km stage with the fearsome Angliru climb to finish the stage

Who won today's stage? Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC) rode away from the field, Armstrong style, and won the stage easily the ay after finishing second after attacking on the final climb.

What matters in the GC race? The whole GC leaderboard changed entirely. Cobo's stage win moved him into the race lead. He now leads Chris Froome (Team Sky) by 20” and Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) by 46”. Further down, Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) was dropped again and now sits 3'27” behind. At this point, the race is really a 3-man race though.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – No changes here as leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) was dropped on the Angliru and scored no points. Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) also scored no points and Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) didn't either.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – David Moncoutie (Cofidis) attacked on the climb before the Angliru to extend his lead further over Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale).

White Jersey (Allround) – Cobo now leads this competition as well. Of course he is in red, so second place Mollema will wear the jersey Tuesday when the race resumes.

Biggest surprise: Cobo's ride. Cobo attacked yesterday and dropped everyone. It was thought to be a risky attack because of the presence of the Angliru today. No worries necessary though. Cobo attacked again and nobody could match him on the Angliru as it was a sufferfest where nobody attacks.

Biggest disappointment: Nobody could stay with Cobo. Wiggins couldn't match and was dropped, even sending teammate Froome up the road without him. Denis Menchov (Geox-TMC) might have been able to match Cobo, but he wasn't going to carry the others back up to his teammate and everyone else really had no answers.

Other items of note: We had an Anton sighting today. Igor Anton (Euskatel) attacked on the lower slopes of the Angliru, but was reeled in by Cobo. He ultimately finished the stage with Wiggins, over a minute behind... Geox now has a stranglehold on the team competition. Cobo, Menchov and Carlos Sastre are a truly formidable combination on mountain stages for the team competition... Leopard-Trek also has a debate about team leadership like Team Sky, just a bit further down. Jakob Fuglsang has been the leader, but he was dropped and fell behind teammate Maxime Monfort in the overall standings. Who will be supported ?

What is coming tomorrow? Rest day tomorrow. Then a pure sprint stage Tuesday. Then Wednesday is the final summit finish of the race.

Vuelta a España Daily – And the GC Stalemate Finally Ends

Today's stage: 172 km with the second half all climbs to a new summit finish at La Farrapona.

Who won today's stage? Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) recovered from his sickness earlier in the race to get in a 17-man breakaway and then be the only one to survive to the finish for his first career GT stage win.

What matters in the GC race? Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome (both Team Sky) dieseled their way up the final climb and dropped many of the other contenders. Among the carnage was defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), Fredrik Kessiakoff (Astana), Jani Brajkovic (Radio Shack) and Haimar Zubeldia (Radio Shack). In addition, Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC) attacked the GC group and took second on the stage.

The new top five is:

1 Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky)

2 Chris Froome (Team Sky), +7”

3 Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), +36”

4 Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC), +55”

5 Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard-Trek), +58”

Needless to say, things look good for Team Sky. They could actually finish 1-2 on the GC. We haven't seen that in a long time. I believe the last time was in the 2008 Vuelta with Alberto Contador winning and Levi Leipheimer second.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Rodriguez is still the leader and he needs to go for this classification to salvage something considering he is now nearly out of the top 20 on the GC and over 4 minutes back. Mollema got a few points to close within 3 of Rodriguez and pass Peter Sagan (Liqugas-Cannondale) for second place.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Leader David Moncoutie's Cofidis teammate Taaramae absorbed most of the points in the breakaway meaning no changes in this competition today.

White Jersey (Allround) – The GC remaking allowed Mollema to catch Daniel Moreno (Rabobank) once again and regain the jersey. Mollema and Moreno are tied but Mollema leads by virtue of being placed higher on GC.

Biggest surprise: The GC group let Cobo go, allowing him to get back into the overall race. Don't know what Wiggins was thinking. He dropped everyone but Mollema and his teammate Froome, but he still has nearly as many threats because of letting Cobo get free for a small gap and a time bonus.

Biggest disappointment: Nibali's collapse. The others who lost time had either shown vulnerabilities at some point or were largely unknown contending for the first time. Neither was the case for Nibali. He hadn't been dropped on a climb except by Rodriguez on the steep finishes to otherwise flat stages where everyone got dropped and he is the defending champion with two additional podiums in the Giro d'Italia. His time loss was totally unexpected, especially considering most thought of him as the true race favorite despite Wiggins' presence in the lead. Nibali is now 7^th overall, 1'25” behind.

Other items of note: There was a big crash today that caused Karsten Kroon to abandon after he went over a guardrail and into the forest below... Geox-TMC is now ahead by a significant margin in the team competition after David de la Fuente finished 3^rd on the stage along with Cobo's 2^nd and a top 15 finish by Denis Menchov. Leopard-Trek is second, 2' 26” behind and everyone else is cooked, 18 minutes or more behind.

What is coming tomorrow? Angliru. The most fearsome climb in Spain with gradients as high as 23%. The GC will likely be decided here as there is only one summit finish left and nobody seems able or willing to attack.

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Vuelta a España Daily – Disbanding HTC gets another win

Today's stage: Hilly, mountainous something or other with five categorized climbs, but a long flat run in to bring everything back together.

Who won today's stage? Michael Albasini (HTC-High Road) was the strongest rider on the flats at the end, marking every attack and taking a sprint victory over his companions in a 20 man breakaway that survived until the end of the stage.

What matters in the GC race? Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) took a page from the Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) playbook from yesterday and got himself an intermediate sprint victory and the six bonus seconds that come with it. Nothing else among the top 6 is changed. By positioning on the road, Daniel Moreno (Katusha) was in the break and passed teammate Joaquim Rodriguez in the overall race. I wonder if he has or will supplant Rodriguez as the GC leader before the end of the race?

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Not much change here at all. Rodriguez still leads, followed by sprinter Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Mollema

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – David Moncoutie (Cofidis), 3-time defending champion in this classification, was in the breakaway again, as usual. He absorbed quite a few point and took the lead in this race by a fairly large 12 point margin over Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale)

White Jersey (Allround) – By moving up in the GC and taking the second intermediate sprint, Moreno regained the lead in this competition from Mollema and will once again wear the white jersey tomorrow.

Biggest surprise: The GC leaders let a break with the likes of Moreno and Chris Anker Sorenson (Saxo Bank) go in the first place. The presence of top 20 placed riders meant there wasn't a huge leash like there often is on this type of stage and made for a much harder day for the top five guys and their teams. Just not great tactics to let those guys go and made for a much more interesting chase.

Biggest disappointment: This route was unfortunate. Not every mountain stage needs to be a summit finish, but the finish was way too far away from the last mountain to have any effects other than forming a grupetto behind the break and the GC group. What we has was the breakaway, then the GC, then stragglers, then grupetto and no time gaps of note except between the break and the GC guys. A good stage with a boring result.

Other items of note: The break started with 28 riders including four from Euskatel, but 8 including Igor Anton were popped off on one of the climbs... Poor Rodriguez has no way to attack. The entire peloton knows he needs to attack, but his presence in the green jersey is basically a neon green highlighter that says “Look at me, I'm attacking, now come get me” whenever he goes. No way to disguise attacks... Marcel Kittel (Skil-Shimano) did not take the start today and Taylor Phinney (BMC) abandoned during the stage. Both are headed to the World Championships and left to regain energy before the Worlds at the end of the month. There are now 17 riders out of the race.

What is coming tomorrow? A new summit finish. La Farrapona has never been used in the Vuelta before. Before the peloton gets there, there is a category 2 climb and then a category 1 climb. The GC battle really resumes tomorrow though I wonder if some will be trying to save energy with Angliru on tap Sunday.

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Vuelta a España Daily – Sagan takes 2nd stage win of race in bunch sprint

Today's stage: 167 km stage with lots of rolling hills expected to end in a bunch sprint despite a late hill.

Who won today's stage? Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) got his second stage win of the Vuelta. Most impressively, he did it with no teammates as all of them were back in the peloton with team leader Vincenzo Nibali.

What matters in the GC race? Not much. The very top was unchanged. Bauke Mollema did pick up 11 seconds from a combination of winning the intermediate sprint and being in the front group of a small peloton split at the end. Mollema is still 6^th, now 36” behind leader Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky).

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) scored no points today and Sagan did with the stage win. Rodriguez still leads, but Sagan is now second and close enough to consider making a move for it. Of course Sagan will have no team support given the presence of Nibali on the roster.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – None of the leaders got any points on either of the early category 3 climbs today. The top three are still Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale), David Moncoutie (Cofidis), and Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervelo)

White Jersey (Allround) – No changes here either. Mollema is still the leader, followed by Daniel Moreno (Katusha) and then Rodriguez.

Biggest surprise: Nothing. This was a bunch sprint stage from the start and nothing was going to be changing that.

Biggest disappointment: Many of the sprinters, most notably Marcel Kittel (Skil-Shimano) are leaving the race tonight after racing this stage. I know there isn't much for them to do for the rest of the race, but I still think they should try and get to Madrid and the finish.

Other items of note: Adam Hansen (Omega Pharma-Lotto) most certainly made a tactical error today. Hansen was in the days breakaway with three others. He attacked them late in the stage while they were holding a 2 minute lead. He briefly dropped his break companions, but then watched them claw back and drop him because he expended too much energy attacking them. Ouch... No major changes in the team competition. Mollema being in the positive end of the split along got his Rabobank team a few seconds, pulling them to 1'58 behind Radio Shack.

What is coming tomorrow? A mountain stage that is not a summit finish. It looks like a slightly more difficult version of the Tour de France Col d' Aubisque stage won by Thor Hushovd. The breakaway is likely to get away tomorrow and there is space for GC guys to take some time, especially strong descenders like Nibali.

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Vuelta a España Daily – Huge breakaway gets away for stage win

Today's stage: 167 km stage to the summit finish at the Manzaneda ski resort. First time Manzaneda has been included in the Vuelta.

Who won today's stage? David Moncoutie (Cofidis) attacked his other companions in the breakaway, all 18 of them, early on the climb up to Manzaneda and continued to attack until one stuck. He then pedaled away to an easy stage win by over a minute. The win is his 4^th straight year with a stage win.

What matters in the GC race? We have a new leader. Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) displaced his teammate Chris Froome from the race lead. Wiggins now leads Froome by 7 seconds. 2^nd place entering the day Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard-Trek) finished in Froome's group and fell to 5^th overall, 19 seconds behind Wiggins. Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) attacked late in the stage, but he only gained 7 seconds on Wiggins. He trails by 2'56” and is still 14^th.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Rodrgiuez still leads this competition by a large margin over Bauke Mollema (Rabobank). The top actual sprinter is Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale), 3^rd place on the stage.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale) was in the breakaway and took points on the early climbs. He now leads the competition by one point over stage winner Moncoutie. Former leader Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervelo) was not in the break and therefore scored no points.

White Jersey (Allround) – Mollema is still the leader in this competition. In a rarity, the person leading this competition doesn't have another jersey and therefore doesn't need 2^nd (or 3^rd) to wear it. Daniel Moreno (Katusha) is second followed by Rodriguez.

Biggest surprise: Team Sky didn't have Froome try and protect the red leader's jersey. Wiggins is the leader of the team and assumed the race lead, but it was still surprising to see Froome pacing the peloton for Wiggins just as it was to see Thor Hushovd leading a sprint out for this teammate at the Tour de France.

Biggest disappointment: The peloton didn't respond quick enough. I'm all in favor of breakaways despite my usual proclamations on twitter that they are doomed. That said, this was a stage where the breakaway getting reeled in would have made the attacks that much more desperate with the time bonuses at the top.

Other items of note: The team competition continues to be in full swing. Radio Shack leads Rabobank by 2'08” and Leopard-Trek by 2'23”... The race is headed towards consecutive summit finishes with the crown jewel Angliru stage on Sunday before the Monday rest day.

What is coming tomorrow? Sprint stage, probably in the rain. The Galicia region where the race is currently at is known for raining quite a bit, so the expected field sprint could be interesting.

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Vuelta a España Daily – Time trial remakes everything

Today's stage: 47 km time trial. That is longer than most are used to riding.

Who won today's stage? Tony Martin (HTC-High Road) backed up his Tour de France time trial victory with another here, beating World Champion Fabian Cancellara (Leopard-Trek) again and installing himself as the co-favorite for the World Championships with the four-time champ Cancellara.

What matters in the GC race? Chris Froome (Team Sky) finished 2^nd on the stage, beating his teammate Bradley Wiggins who was expected to challenge for the race lead. Froome's position put himself into the overall lead over his teammate Wiggins who is now 3^rd. Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard-Trek) is now 2^nd overall, looking to regain the red jersey he held after the day 1 Team Time Trial. Defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) is now 4^th overall. Further back, are the overall leaders from the last two days. Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) wore the red jersey and started last. While he caught and passed Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), he still lost enough time to fall to 7^th overall, 1'07” behind the new leader Froome. As for Rodriguez, he now is in 14^th, 3'23” behind and is likely to have to make long distance attacks on the remaining mountain stages to get back into the race.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – No changes here as Rodriguez still leads. Given his positioning so far back in the GC, he might want to consider targeting this competition this year instead of the GC. Normally it is for the sprinters, but there is a lack of sprint stages and four more summit finishes for Rodriguez to accumulate points.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – No changes here as Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervelo) still leads. Once again, he might want to consider targeting this competition as lost a ton of time and is now in 24^th, 4'58” behind Froome.

White Jersey (Allround) – Mollema still leads here. He will wear the jersey for the first time Wednesday as he was in the red leader's jersey today.

Biggest surprise: Froome's ride was so impressive. He has been good in the time trial, but Wiggins beat him by over a minute and a half at the British Time Trial Championship. There was no way to predict he would beat Wiggins and certainly no thought that he could finish 2^nd on the stage, beating Cancellara along the way.

Biggest disappointment: Rodriguez lost so much time. I know its better than last season, but he was just terrible today. Considering he is now well over 3 minutes back, the GC is most likely out for him, even with all the summit finishes. I expected a little better, not getting passed on the road by an average TT'er like Mollema.

Other items of note: Cancellara and Martin were using this race to prep for the World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark next month. Wiggins is too, but the GC here is his first priority... Taylor Phinney (BMC), the only American in the field as the rest of the Americans are either injured or raced in Colorado at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, finished 5^th in this, his specialty... Sebastian Lang finished safely in 38^th in his quest to be the only man to finish all three Grand Tours... The team competition is really starting to get going now. Leopard-Trek leads Radio Shack by 7 seconds and Rabobank by 2'07”.

What is coming tomorrow? Rest day tomorrow and much needed. When racing resumes Wednesday, there will be bad weather (rain in forcast) and a summit finish new to the Vuelta to start remaking the GC again.

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USA Pro Cycling Challenge Final Race Review

Race Winner: Levi Leipheimer (Radio Shack) won stage 1 on the climb to Crested Butte to take the lead, lost it on the Independence Pass descent in the rain and then regained it on the Veil time trial the next day. After that, he held on for a victory by 11 seconds over Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo)

Best stage: Stage 5 from Steamboat Springs to Breckenridge was one of the best days of racing of the entire season. It's not often riders the caliber of Andy Scheleck (Leopard-Trek) and Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale), normally Grand Tour contenders, are in breakaways working together to stay away from the peloton. Then, neither was the strongest man as Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) was attacking in the end after recovering from his horrifying Tour de France crash. Ultimately, none would win as the peloton took advantage of the attacks and feigning attacks to catch the break with under 1 km to go giving Italian sprinter Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale) the chance to win a second stage after his stage 4 victory.

Worst stage: The stage 4 run to Steamboat Springs was about as dull and by the number as can be. My opinion may very well be colored by having watched a similar stage at the Vuelta a España earlier that morning, but there was a feeling of inevitability here. Race starts. Attacks happen until breakaway gets away. Breakaway gets lead up to five or six minutes over leisurely peloton. Peloton wakes up and chases break. Stage ends in sprint finish. Many stages in many races all over the world play out like that and this was no exception. Viviani got the stage win.

Biggest surprise: Patrick Gretsch (HTC-High Road) takes the prologue time trial. Gretsch is a good time trialer, but he was not a favorite at all with strong American time trialists and Tour de France champion and time trial specialist Cadel Evans (BMC) in the field.

Biggest disappointment: The coverage had all sorts of issues, especially early on in the mountains. On the big early stages, the camera feed froze many time and was very jumpy. Most notable among the problems was something largely uncontrollable: the airplane relaying the feed to the satellites from the race had ice on its wings. The ice caused the plane to have to leave, making coverage impossible on the descent from Independence Pass. While coverage was out, Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-High Road) attacked in the rain and when coverage resumed, Van Garderen, George Hincapie (BMC) and Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo) were driving a small group to the finish having dropped Leipheimer and Evans. Hincapie ultimately took the stage.

Other competitions:

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter competition): Viviani won this competition easily, doubling his nearest competitor. After his impressive showing, he will likely head to the World Championships in Denmark next month.

Red Jersey (King of the Mountains): Rafael Montiel (Gobernacion de Antioquia) took the win in this competition on the final climb up Lookout Mountain during the final stage. All of the top four riders were Colombians.

Blue Jersey (Best young rider): Van Garderen took this jersey on the prologue and held it all the way to the end. His only day not wearing it was because he was the overall leader wearing the yellow jersey.

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USA Pro Cycling Challenge Stage 6 Report

Today's stage: Finishing stage into Denver with an early climb to soften the legs a little bit. Probable bunch sprint stage.

Who won today's stage: Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale) was so quick on his leadout for double stage winner Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale) that they gapped the field and Viviani gifted his teammate Oss the stage win as a thank you for the lead outs to victory the last two days.

What matters in the GC race? Levi Leipheimer (Radio Shack) finished 6^th on the stage to confirm his overall victory. Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo) finished second overall and Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-High Road) finished third overall and easily took the young riders competition.

Biggest surprise: Rafael Montiel (Gobernacion de Antioquia) got away on the Lookout Mountain climb and got enough points to steal the King of the Mountains jersey.

Biggest disappointment: Nobody challenged Oss and Viviani. I enjoyed their team up over the last few days, but I also enjoy chaotic bunch sprints. Today was not that as Van Garderen broke the field in the final km and no other sprinters were left to contest the stage win at the end giving the Liquigas guys an easy 1-2 finish.

Other items of note: Viviani easily won the points competition with his two stage wins and a second... Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek) put in a good ride again today, trying to bridge to the breakaway very late in his attempt to get a stage win...

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Vuelta a España Daily – Summit finishes blows field up, again

Today's stage: 183 km to a summit finish at La Covatilla.

Who won today's stage? Dan Martin (Garmin-Cervelo) took a mountaintop sprint from a small group of six to take the win.

What matters in the GC race? We have a new leader in race. Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) finished second on the stage and in the process swiped the leader's red jersey from Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) who cracked on the climb and lost time. Rodriguez is now second, one second behind Mollema and defending champion Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) is third, nine seconds behind Mollema. The stage today also compressed the GC going into the time trial. 13 riders are within a minute of the lead and and additional five riders are within two minutes.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Rodriguez retains the lead he had here despite losing the overall lead. Mollema is now second.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Martin took the lead in this competition with his summit victory. Former leader Daniel Moreno (Katusha) is now in third as co-leader yesterday Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale) also passed him in the standings.

White Jersey (Allround) – Mollema also took the lead in this competition, followed by Rodriguez. Moreno, who has lead the competition for much of the race, finally will wear the jersey as he no longer is the leader in one of the other competitions like he has been since the stage 4 mountain finish as Sierra Nevada.

Biggest surprise: Team Sky was the team to shatter the race. Sky is riding for Bradley Wiggins and while he is a good climber, he specializes in the time trial. Seeing him and teammate Chris Froome driving the front of the race to drop Rodriguez and many others was a big shock.

Biggest disappointment: A lot of favorites were dropped on the climb relatively early. In addition to Rodriguez's struggles, his teammate Moreno was dropped early on. Moreno ultimately regained his legs, caught Rodriguez and paced him to the finish. Michele Scraponi (Lampre-ISD) led early and had good legs on the lower slopes, but he was also dropped and lost time, falling to 18^th place overall. Finally, Igor Anton (Euskatel) had looked to be regaining his legs yesterday. It appears that is not the case as he struggled the entire time until being dropped. He sits 30^th overall, 4'31” behind.

Other items of note: Juan Jose Cobo (Geox-TMC) is likely the new leader on the road for his team. His more accomplished teammates Denis Menchov (3 GT wins including 2 Vueltas) and Carlos Sastre (2008 Tour de France winner) both cracked again today and only Menchov sits anywhere near the top of the standings... Sebastian Lang (Omega Pharma-Lotto) was the main animator of the breakaway today. He is attempting to be the only man to start and finish all three Grand Tours this season before he retires at the end of the season.

What is coming tomorrow? Time trial. The only one of the race and the most important day thus far. Bradley Wiggins enters as the top GC man for the race while Fabian Cancellara (Leopard-Trek) is the favorite to win the stage in preparation for his World Championship defense a month from now. Also amongst the GC guys, Joaquim Rodriguez is in danger of losing a ton of time tomorrow. He lost last year's Vuelta in the time trial when he finished 105^th, over 6 minutes behind stage winner Peter Velits. A similar performance would leave him as nothing more than a stage hunter for the rest of the race.

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USA Pro Cycling Challenge Stage 5 Report

Today's stage: Uphill run from Steamboat Springs to Breckenridge expected to decide the overall victory or end with a successful break.

Who won today's stage? Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale) took his second straight stage in a surprising bunch sprint after a big name loaded breakaway stared at each other and allowed the peloton to catch them in the final km.

What matters in the GC race? Nothing and everything. There were no changes in the GC. At the same time, there is little chance of changes tomorrow so it appears Levi Leipheimer (Radio Shack) will win the race overall.

Biggest surprise: This stage finished in a sprint. That is just a shocking outcome on such an uphill stage with a late climb.

Biggest disappointment: The breakaway threw it away. There was a four man breakaway that looked like it was going to win and it had some of the bigger names in the sport in it. Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek), Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale), Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) and Tom Peterson (Garmin Cervelo) were the leaders and they gave it all away by staring at each other allowing the peloton to catch them. Also, which name doesn't fit with the others there...?

Other items of note: Viviani likely has this competition locked up. Only Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-High Road) can possibly catch him and it's not likely considering he is not a sprinter and tomorrow's stage is a likely sprint finish.

What is coming tomorrow? Sprint stage to finish the race, but with an early mountain that could cause it to be a smaller, more select group though that mountain is very early in the stage. I expect a full bunch sprint with Viviani favored to take stage win number 3.

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Vuelta a Espana Daily – Purito makes it pay off in second stage seemingly designed for him

Today's stage: 177 km stage with 3 climbs on it and a brutal final finishing kick with a 27% gradient on one part over cobblestones.

Who won today's stage? Joaquim 'Purito' Rodriguez (Katusha) was seemingly made for this kind of stage (or the stage was made for him...) and he won easily on the final climb.

What matters in the GC race? Rodriguez is now the overall leader after previous leader Sylvain Chavanel (QuickStep) was dropped on the finishing hill and lost over a minute. Chavanel is still 8^th overall, but he is no threat for overall victory. Rodriguez's teammate Daniel Moreno is now 2^nd overall, 32 seconds behind, followed by day one leader Jakob Fuglsang and defending champion Vincenzo Nibali.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Rodriguez regained the lead in this competition with his stage win and is emerging as the most likely winner given the lack of sprint finishes and the number of summit finishes to help him out. Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) is second and will wear the jersey tomorrow.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – Moreno retains his lead and his jersey, but Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r La Mondiale) was in the breakaway and has moved into a tie. Moreno wins the tiebreaker because of

White Jersey (Allround) – Moreno is also the leader here, followed by Rodriguez. Former leader Chavanel will wear the jersey tomorrow given his 3^rd place standing and riders in front of him wearing other more important jerseys.

Biggest surprise: Igor Anton (Euskatel) revived a bit. The prerace co-favorite had a few awful days and dropped out of the running for the overall victory. I thought he would continue to drop big time until after the rest day on Tuesday, but he finished 6^th on the stage, beating many of the favorites including Nibali.

Biggest disappointment: Nobody even bothered to challenge Rodriguez and his Katusha team. Katusha controlled the entire stage and there was never anything other than a feeling of inevitability from the beginning today. With the exception of one ill-timed move at the foot of the final hill by Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD), nobody even made a significant attempt to stay with Rodrgiuez. All were trying stay on Rodriguez's wheel and not lose time instead of trying to gain time. Considering many of these same riders did the same thing and got destroyed by Alberto Contador at the Giro d'Italia, one would think they would try something different.

Other items of note: Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) surprisingly took the start today, but he was forced to abandon early in the stage because he was coughing up blood... Oscar Freire (Rabobank) also abandoned because of his lingering sickness that had plagued his preparation and the first few stages of the race... The intermediate sprint points were both in odd places. Both were on uncategorized climbs late in the stage and were absorbed by the breakaway... Also interesting was the presence of late uncategorized climbs that blew the field up anyway. Had they been in the Tour de France, they likely would have been cat. 3's.

What is coming tomorrow? More opportunity for time gains and losses with a summit finish. Before the big mountain, the stage is largely undulating but not overly difficult.

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Vuelta a Espana Daily – A True Sprint Finally Happens, and So Does the Big Crash

Today's stage: 187 km stage with no categorized climbs expected to end in a sprint finish. It did.

Who won today's stage? Marcel Kittle (Skil-Shimano) continued his incredible run of form taking his first career Grand Tour stage. He previously won four stages earlier this month at the Tour of Poland.

What matters in the GC race? In the standings, nothing whatsoever. There were no changes at all. There was a big crash during the sprint and Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD), who has been quiet thus far but finished second overall in the Giro d'Italia, was caught up in it. We will see how it affects him going forward. Sylvain Chavanel (QuickStep) still leads.

What matters in the other competitions?

Green Jersey (Points, Sprinter Competition) – Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) took over the lead in this competition after his second place on the stage. Sagan has taken advantage of nobody having placed highly on two stages other than Daniel Moreno (Katusha) who sits 3^rd in this competition.

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains) – No changes from yesterday here as there were no climbs today. Moreno is still the leader.

White Jersey (Allround) – Moreno is also the leader here, followed by his teammate Joaquim Rodriguez.

Biggest surprise: Nothing at all. This was, in every way, a by the books pure sprint stage as it appeared to be all along.

Biggest disappointment: The big crash. It was triggered by a Vacansoleil rider and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo) touching wheels and going down. Farrar took the worst of it hitting the pavement hard and then getting run over by another rider. Scarponi was also involved, but no other GC guys were involved. There were also a lot of unidentified riders from various teams involved in the crash. As the day goes on and tomorrow, the identity of everyone involved will be known.

Other items of note: There was an earlier crash involving Greg Van Avermaet (BMC). His crash kept him from contesting the sprint despite his status as BMC's top sprinter... The 3km rule had to be applied today. That rules states that riders involved in crashes or held up by crashes in the final 3km of sprint finishes get the same time as the winner. The rule saved a lot of riders from losing time, including Moreno in 2^nd overall and 3^rd overall Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale).

What is coming tomorrow? Another stage like stage 5. There is a category 1 climb early, then a cat. 2 later on in the stage followed by a finish with a 27% wall of a hill in the final km. It seems this will favor the strengths of Joaquim Rodriguez once again. Is it just me, or did the organizers not want Nibali, an Italian, to win again? This route runs pretty much entirely counter to Nibali's (and Scarponi's) strengths, at least other than the time trial (which had to be included to keep credibility).

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USA Pro Cycling Challenge Stage 3 Time Trial Report

Today's stage: Time trial day. Uphill. There aren't too many of these normally so it was an interesting day.

Who won today's stage? Levi Leipheimer (Radio Shack) took the stage by under a second from Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Cervelo), who rode the best time trial of his career.

What matters in the GC race? Leipheimer is now the leader again followed by Vande Velde in second place. Overnight leader Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-High Road) is now 3^rd after finishing the stage in sixth place.

Biggest surprise: Vande Velde's ride. When he was on course, he was visibly faster than everyone in front of him including Tour de France champ and time trial specialist Cadel Evans (BMC). Considering he had not shown form anywhere near this level since 2008, the high placing is a total shock.

Biggest disappointment: Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek) once again was underwhelming. Considering he needs to be working on his time trialing and the uphill nature of this should have given him some help, getting beat by brother Frank is just an awful result considering that Frank is a terrible time trial rider (If Frank could do anything at all in the time trial, he would be the likely Grand Tour winner instead of brother Andy).

Other items of note: Whether he wins the race or not overall, Leipheimer appears to have locked up the Green Points jersey... Van Garderen has pretty much done the same with the Blue Young Riders jersey though he wasn't wearing it today because he was the overall leader... Versus still is having some technical problems with its broadcast, but it was generally much better today.

What is coming tomorrow? A largely downhill stage to Steamboat Springs that is likely to end in a sprint finish, if in fact there are any sprinters in this race.

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USA Pro Cycling Challenge Stage 2 Report

Today's stage: The queen stage. Independence Pass followed by a rainy descent into Aspen.

Who won today's stage? George Hincapie (BMC) took the stage win with a well-timed sprint from a small six man group after the Independence Pass descent.

What matters in the GC race? Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-High Road) took over the race lead by finishing second behind Hincapie and dropping previous race leader Levi Leipheimer (Radio Shack) on the descent. Hincapie is now second and third on the stage Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo) is now in third overall. Leipheimer falls to fourth, but he is still within a minute of Van Garderen.

Biggest surprise: Van Garderen and Danielson got loose on the descent. There were issues with the television feed all day and the feed went out just as a group led by Cadel Evans (BMC) rejoined a four man leading group. When the feed returned, Van Garderen and Danielson had led a six man group clear of Leipheimer and Evans in the rain.

Biggest disappointment: Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek) was dropped on the Independence Pass climb and once again will not win. Back at the Tour de France, I said Schleck should really race some of these smaller races to learn how to win. He isn't doing it here and it won't help him in the future. Remember that he has never won a stage race in his career despite his favorite status.

Other items of note: The feed issues today were caused by the plane carrying the satellite feed having ice on its wings so it had to depart the race for a little while... There was a large crash early on today. Among the headliners involved were Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale).

What is coming tomorrow? The dreaded uphill mountain time trial. Outside of the Giro d'Italia, riders don't see too many of these so it will be interesting to see how everyone reacts.

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USA Pro Cycling Challenge Stage 1 Report

Today's stage: 99 mile stage with a climb over 11,000 ft finishing with the only summit finish of the race.

Who won today's stage? Levi Leipheimer (Radio Shack) attacked on the final climb gaping the field to take the win over Sergio Henao (Gobernacion de Antioquia) and Frank Schleck (Leopard-Trek).

What matters in the GC race? Leipheimer took over the race lead by winning the stage. He also took a 10 second time gap over the other contenders to establish himself as the overwhelming favorite in this race right now.

Biggest surprise: Leipheimer's attack. He even said it himself in the post race interview. He has never won a race in that fashion with an explosive attack. War of attrition, yes. Time Trial, yes. Explosive mountain attack, not until today when he followed Frank Schleck's wheel and realized they had gapped everyone else leading to his own attack.

Biggest disappointment: The race itself was long and boring until the end. Having a huge early climb can sometimes cause a great race, but sometime it ends up like today. Breakaway escapes, peloton meanders until they need to chase, peloton catches break before the end, sprint/climb to the finish. It ended up a by the books stage in every way.

Other items of note: Robert Gesink (Rabobank) along with Leipheimer continued the redemption from France we have seen at the Vuelta in Spain. Gesink and Leipheimer both had an awful time of it in France because of crashes... Former leader Patrick Gretsch (HTC-High Road) was with the group until halfway up the climb before being dropped. He lost over a minute on the day, but the GC was never his target.

What is coming tomorrow? A difficult stage headed to Aspen. The climbs include Cottonwood Pass and Independence Pass. Looks like a stage for a climber who can descend considering Independence Pass is 20 miles from the finish.

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