Vuelta; Stage 10 (Aug 28): Ponteareas - Sanxenxo; *contains unmasked spoilers*

dastardly00

Stage 10 (Aug 28): Ponteareas - Sanxenxo
Distance: 166.4km
Highest point: 414m
Category: Flat

Sitting between the first rest day and the race’s only individual time trial, this is one of the route’s easiest days. Starting in Ponteareas, which hosted its first Vuelta stage start last year, the riders will head over the only categorised climb of the day after 30km. The route then sticks close to the sea, climbing over some headlands before a run in to the finish. The sprinters will naturally fancy this one but any breakaway riders should have a good chance of battling it out between them as plenty of riders will be holding back for the time trial. The wind could be a key factor, too, given the proximity to the Atlantic.

Stage profile:


Live coverage on Eurosport2 from 3pm.
Highlights on Eurosport2 at 7.45pm, and on ITV4 at 10pm.
Stage betting: Degenkolb 5/6; Bouhanni 8/1; Swift 8/1.

Peterx

Jean Gadret is out of the Vuelta so a chance of more support for Nico from Ag2r.
The only hope for excitement today is a strong crosswind apparently.

dastardly00

5km left.
Sky are leading the peloton at the moment at a furious pace, and a few riders have been dropped. It looks like it's going to be a bunch sprint at the finish.

Rovi

I see some AG2R jerseys up towards the front, hoping/assuming one of them is Roche!

Rovi

1km arch looking a bit limp

corny

You'd wonder why they put so much into taking Swift to the line. He doesn't have it.

dastardly00

And another win for Degenkolb! He took to the front from a long way out! By far the best sprinter in the Vuelta this year.

Stage result:
1 John Degenkolb (Ger) Argos-Shimano
2 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ-Big Mat
3 Daniele Bennati (Ita) RadioShack-Nissan
4 Gianni Meersman (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team
5 Manuel Antonio Leal Cardoso (Por) Caja Rural
6 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
7 Pim Ligthart (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
8 Davide Vigano (Ita) Lampre - ISD
9 Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling
10 Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale

No changes to the top of the GC.

dastardly00

corny wrote: »

You'd wonder why they put so much into taking Swift to the line. He doesn't have it.

yeah for sure. Out of the 4 stages that ended in a bunch sprint, he's finished 3rd, 21st, 10th and 9th (today). For the amount of effort Team Sky are putting in, he's nowhere near delivering the results.

retalivity

not having degenkolb in my fantasy vuelta team is killing me on points.

where the hell is rojas????

corny

dastardly00 wrote: »

yeah for sure. Out of the 4 stages that ended in a bunch sprint, he's finished 3rd, 21st, 10th and 9th (today). For the amount of effort Team Sky are putting in, he's nowhere near delivering the results.

Didn't Froome take it up to lead out in one of those sprints. Fine if you're just touched off in a sprint but Swift is dying a death when he hits the wind.

dastardly00

retalivity wrote: »

not having degenkolb in my fantasy vuelta team is killing me on points.

where the hell is rojas????

He's finished 8th, 14th, 16th and 23rd in the bunch finishes so far! Poor performance!

I wish I had Degenkolb too, I had him in my team but swapped him out last minute