STAGE 18 is the first of three major climbing days, which will decide the winner of the Tour of Spain.
Time is running out for people to attack current race leader Vincenzo Nibali although Monday will have given them all a lot more confidence.
The race is now arguably between four men. Nibali, Chris Horner, Alejandro Valverde and Joaquin Rodriguez.
Two minutes 29 seconds separate the quartet with Horner now just 28 seconds adrift.
With time bonuses on the line can these four allow a breakaway to get too far up the road.
The stage is a total of 186.5km long and travels northwards from Burgos to Pena Cabarga.
It takes in four categorised climbs. The first three are 3rd Cat, the Alto de Bocos (3km long & 6.6%), Alto Estacas de Trueba (10.9km & 3.2%) and Puerto de la Braguia (6.1km & 6.3%).
The next up is the second category Alto del Caracol, 10.6km and 5.6%.
They will be perfect places to soften up the field and for the challengers to try and isolate Nibali from his Astana team.
However the decisive moves should all come on the final climb.
At 5.9km long it doesn't sound too bad until you look at the gradients that it will tackle.
An average of 9.2% it only has around 1km where the gradient drops below this. And as the riders head under the red kite it maxes out at 20%.
All four are more than capable of handling that type of gradient but for me Rodriguez looks the strongest right now.
He has a habit of riding himself into a tour and he seems to be doing so again. He also has the most time to claw back so I imagine he will be very active on the climb.
If the four look at each other and ignore everyone else then look to the likes of Nico Roche, Domenico Pozzovivo, Thibault Pinot and Leopold Konig could all be involved.
But the top four will want the time bonuses. And if that is the case look to Purito to steal the day.
Showing posts with label Domenico Pozzovivo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Domenico Pozzovivo. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Vuelta a Espana 2013 : Stage 12 Preview
" I DON'T expect him to lose the leaders jersey however".
So spoke this 'oracle' about today's stage. Chris Horner actually produced a decent ride yet Vincenzo Nibali produced a even better one.
Nico Roche was also impressive but probably the star of the stage was the diminutive Domenico Pozzovivo who produced an absolutely sensational and still somewhat unbelievable ride to finish third on the stage.
It means the time gaps covering the top 10 is now 3.56. However the top four are separated by just 46 seconds.
But this time I'm going to say it. The leaders jersey should not change hands tomorrow. And that's because of one thing. One big, imposing, colossal thing.
The Pyrenees.
Saturday sees the first foray into the famous mountain chain and with that in mind the organisers, for once, have been relatively kind to the peloton.
Stage 12 is a straight run to the Mediterranean. We start in inland at Maella before travelling 164.2km to Tarragona, just 100km south of Barcelona, where we head tomorrow.
There is just one climb along the route, the 3rd Cat Alto del Collet, a 7.5km climb which rises 275m at an average gradient of 3.6%.
It's summit is still 73.7km from the finish and with nothing between it and there, other than two sprint points, it should mean another bunch sprint and a day off for the GC riders, if such things actually exist in this Vuelta.
Because the route drops towards the sea it should mean a quick stage and the opening hour could be interesting as the 'right' break tries to get away.
I've predicted bunch sprints before only to see someone jump clear and deny them their day.
The run in does have a couple of tricky corners. With 1.5km to go there is a sweeping left hand hairpin followed by a tight left 90 degree corner just under the flamme rouge.
And with around 300m to go there is a roundabout which while not a tight bend will still cause some problems.
It's going to be require someone to be a little bit brave as they are going to have to be towards the front from the last 2km at least.
Michael Matthews has been the quickest around and with some sprinters having already gone home, he will go into this stage as favourite.
Again the likes of Lampre's Maximiliano Richeze and Omega-Pharma-Quicksteps Gianni Meersman should make top 10 without too much problems.
Also look out for the likes of Geoffrey Soupe, Tyler Farrar and Ramon Sinkledam from Argos-Shimano.
However I'm going to go for Edvald Boassen-Hagen.
Now I know that may seem like a strange choice. He hasn't been having an impressive tour so far considering he left the Tour de France early due to an injury.
He hasn't achieved a top 5 in a sprint yet either and today's TT wasn't up to his usual high standard. But I do think that on a day like tomorrow he could produce a strong enough effort to snatch a good result.
But then I was wrong today!
So spoke this 'oracle' about today's stage. Chris Horner actually produced a decent ride yet Vincenzo Nibali produced a even better one.
Nico Roche was also impressive but probably the star of the stage was the diminutive Domenico Pozzovivo who produced an absolutely sensational and still somewhat unbelievable ride to finish third on the stage.
It means the time gaps covering the top 10 is now 3.56. However the top four are separated by just 46 seconds.
But this time I'm going to say it. The leaders jersey should not change hands tomorrow. And that's because of one thing. One big, imposing, colossal thing.
The Pyrenees.
Saturday sees the first foray into the famous mountain chain and with that in mind the organisers, for once, have been relatively kind to the peloton.
Stage 12 is a straight run to the Mediterranean. We start in inland at Maella before travelling 164.2km to Tarragona, just 100km south of Barcelona, where we head tomorrow.
There is just one climb along the route, the 3rd Cat Alto del Collet, a 7.5km climb which rises 275m at an average gradient of 3.6%.
It's summit is still 73.7km from the finish and with nothing between it and there, other than two sprint points, it should mean another bunch sprint and a day off for the GC riders, if such things actually exist in this Vuelta.
Because the route drops towards the sea it should mean a quick stage and the opening hour could be interesting as the 'right' break tries to get away.
I've predicted bunch sprints before only to see someone jump clear and deny them their day.
The run in does have a couple of tricky corners. With 1.5km to go there is a sweeping left hand hairpin followed by a tight left 90 degree corner just under the flamme rouge.
And with around 300m to go there is a roundabout which while not a tight bend will still cause some problems.
It's going to be require someone to be a little bit brave as they are going to have to be towards the front from the last 2km at least.
Michael Matthews has been the quickest around and with some sprinters having already gone home, he will go into this stage as favourite.
Again the likes of Lampre's Maximiliano Richeze and Omega-Pharma-Quicksteps Gianni Meersman should make top 10 without too much problems.
Also look out for the likes of Geoffrey Soupe, Tyler Farrar and Ramon Sinkledam from Argos-Shimano.
However I'm going to go for Edvald Boassen-Hagen.
Now I know that may seem like a strange choice. He hasn't been having an impressive tour so far considering he left the Tour de France early due to an injury.
He hasn't achieved a top 5 in a sprint yet either and today's TT wasn't up to his usual high standard. But I do think that on a day like tomorrow he could produce a strong enough effort to snatch a good result.
But then I was wrong today!
Friday, 30 August 2013
Vuelta a Espana 2013 : Stage 8 Preview
STAGE Eight sees the focus switch from the sprinters back to the overall contenders.
The riders will travel a total of 166.6km from Jerez de la Frontera to Estepona - Alto Penas Blancas.
The climb up to the finish climbs 960m at an average gradient of 6.6% although after 2km it maxes out at a gradient of 12.5%.
It does level out somewhat after this but the final 8km has an average gradient of 7.8%. And it climbs for the last 5km at an average gradient of 6%.
It means that if one team can get the speed high and keep it at that level, then it will be a very reduced peloton.
Movistar are the obvious team to do this. They have brought a squad filled with climbing super-domestiques, the likes of Sylvester Szmyd, Eros Capecchi and Pablo Lastras.
They should be able to keep the speed up to allow Alejandro Valverde to make his move.
The problem will be how many of his rivals will they get rid of.
Vincenzo Nibali should be able to stay with them. Joaquin Rodriguez should also manage to handle the intensity. However after that it depends on how much people have recovered.
The likes of Sammy Sanchez, Sergio Henao and Carlos Betancur have all been suffering with various ailments. Henao blamed stage two's travails on the 'knock'. Betancur has been ill and not raced since the Giro. Sanchez is another that hasn't raced much and is struggling for form.
But they have now had a week to recover and have the ability for certain to be close.
It will be very interesting to see how the Saxo-Tinkoff trio of Nicolas Roche, Roman Kreuziger and Rafal Majka go. All three, and Roche in particular, have looked very good so far. Roche is having his best tour of his life and this may not be the stage he struggles on.
Others to look out for are Euskatel's Mikel Nieve, who may be heading towards the leadership of his team, and Caja-Rural's David Arroyo. This shouldn't be the stage where we see them make their big moves but if they are there for the finish, expect them to have a go for the stage win.
Belkin's Laurens Ten Dam, by his own admission, found the opening climb tough. He has been coming into form so may look at this as being a stage to go for.
Lesser names to look out for are Domenico Pozzovivo and Ivan Santaromita.
But for outsiders look towards the Sky duo of Henao and Rigoberto Uran. The younger Colombian lost a lot of time of stage two and is now in 41st position, 2.59 behind Nibali. His more experienced team mate has taken the de-facto leadership of Team Sky and sits 7th, just 28 seconds behind. If anybody wants to disrupt Movistar's train then these two could be the ones to do it.
Expect Henao to go and if he gets caught close to the line, expect Uran to jump and go for the win.
The riders will travel a total of 166.6km from Jerez de la Frontera to Estepona - Alto Penas Blancas.
The climb up to the finish climbs 960m at an average gradient of 6.6% although after 2km it maxes out at a gradient of 12.5%.
It does level out somewhat after this but the final 8km has an average gradient of 7.8%. And it climbs for the last 5km at an average gradient of 6%.
It means that if one team can get the speed high and keep it at that level, then it will be a very reduced peloton.
Movistar are the obvious team to do this. They have brought a squad filled with climbing super-domestiques, the likes of Sylvester Szmyd, Eros Capecchi and Pablo Lastras.
They should be able to keep the speed up to allow Alejandro Valverde to make his move.
The problem will be how many of his rivals will they get rid of.
Vincenzo Nibali should be able to stay with them. Joaquin Rodriguez should also manage to handle the intensity. However after that it depends on how much people have recovered.
The likes of Sammy Sanchez, Sergio Henao and Carlos Betancur have all been suffering with various ailments. Henao blamed stage two's travails on the 'knock'. Betancur has been ill and not raced since the Giro. Sanchez is another that hasn't raced much and is struggling for form.
But they have now had a week to recover and have the ability for certain to be close.
It will be very interesting to see how the Saxo-Tinkoff trio of Nicolas Roche, Roman Kreuziger and Rafal Majka go. All three, and Roche in particular, have looked very good so far. Roche is having his best tour of his life and this may not be the stage he struggles on.
Others to look out for are Euskatel's Mikel Nieve, who may be heading towards the leadership of his team, and Caja-Rural's David Arroyo. This shouldn't be the stage where we see them make their big moves but if they are there for the finish, expect them to have a go for the stage win.
Belkin's Laurens Ten Dam, by his own admission, found the opening climb tough. He has been coming into form so may look at this as being a stage to go for.
Lesser names to look out for are Domenico Pozzovivo and Ivan Santaromita.
But for outsiders look towards the Sky duo of Henao and Rigoberto Uran. The younger Colombian lost a lot of time of stage two and is now in 41st position, 2.59 behind Nibali. His more experienced team mate has taken the de-facto leadership of Team Sky and sits 7th, just 28 seconds behind. If anybody wants to disrupt Movistar's train then these two could be the ones to do it.
Expect Henao to go and if he gets caught close to the line, expect Uran to jump and go for the win.
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