Vuelta - Stage 14, sat Sep 7,Baga / Andorra. Collada de la Gallin, **Unmasked Spoiler

Bukman13

Stage 14: Baga / Andorra. Collada de la Gallin 155.7Km

Big day for the GC, there are four climbs all in the latter part of the stage, I don't think a break has any chance tomorrow, the GC is still too close and the likes of Valverde and JRod will want to keep the bonus seconds in play.



The first climb, The special Cat "Port of Envalira" (26.7km @ 5.2%) is too far from the finish to make any serious selections in the GC, but it will thin down the peloton.



Two cat 2 climb follow, the second of which could be used as a launch pad for some GC riders further down the order to attack, the summit is only 16km from the finish.

The final climb "Collada de la Gallina" is only 7km and is fairly steady throughout but a steep 15% section with 4km to go could be where we see the big attacks, (Horners attack on stage 10 was with about 4km to go)



I think the 7km final climb should suit Roche, he tends to struggle on longer climbs, and it looks fairly steady. My hope would be Astana have enough men to be able to set a good pace up most of the final climb, and then if he happens to be dropped when the attacks start, he is not going to lose massive time. if he can hold onto 2nd overall it would be fantastic.



An extra dimension to tomorrow is the weather, it likely be foggy and rainy all day long, I would like to think Roche would be better suited to those conditions than some of the other GC guys.

sonnky

About what time will it start tomorrow?

letape

Cheers Bukman - was waiting for this!

themandan6611

foggy and rainy maybe if you lived in ireland all your life, I reckon france is warmer and more sunny than tomorrow will be

Bukman13

sonnky wrote: »

About what time will it start tomorrow?

According to the Eurosport site, coverage will start an hour earlier than usual, so 2pm for us, but given its the Vuelta, we will be lucky to get an extra 30mins coverage.

themandan6611 wrote: »

foggy and rainy maybe if you lived in ireland all your life, I reckon france is warmer and more sunny than tomorrow will be

Well I was more referring to the fact he is a bigger build to most of the other GC riders. A lot of the smaller riders struggle in cold and rainy conditions, just look at how the conditions impacted both The Giro and Tirreno-Adriatico this year.

Unrelated note, the first rider over the top of the Port of Envalira will get 20 points as opposed to the usual 15points for a "Special cat" climb. Any non GC rider who is targeting the KOM jersey will have to be in the break both Saturday and Sunday if they want to have a chance of winning it. So expect Edet and Ulissi to be in the break tomorrow.

Darkglasses

Thanks for the preview bukman, nice job!

manafana

a classic day, thats a pretty long climb to stick in middle of stage, and the final climb just gets harder km by km.

pelevin

Nibali 8/1 seems enticing.

Glass Prison 1214

I'm really looking forward to this one, today should show us if Nico really does have podium credentials.

Rovi

It's raining on them at the moment, and the weather forecast for the whole stage is pretty poor

Reginald P. DuM

5 riders off up the road, 4 mins plus gap, LL Sanchez, Brown, Chainel, Ratto and Phillpe Gilbert.. Shortly approaching Port de Envali.

Bukman13

So looks like LL Sanchez will make a run at the KOM, he picked up one point yesterday when he jumped out of the peloton at the top of the Cat 3. He also has a team mate in the break, if he gets maximum points over the first 3 climbs, he will have 31 points which should be enough to lead the classification.

Reginald P. DuM

Sanchez, Ratto and Gilbert up front now, a lead of over 12 minutes..

Bukman13

"Wouter Poels (211) abandoned"

No surprise really, he has been hanging onto the back of the peloton on most of the stages.

Bukman13

Katusha setting the pace in the peloton, only 40 riders left.

Glass Prison 1214

Bukman13 wrote: »

Katusha setting the pace in the peloton, only 40 riders left.

how far into the stage is it?

Bukman13

Glass Prison 1214 wrote: »

how far into the stage is it?

They are nearing the top of the first climb.

BQQ

Bukman13 wrote: »

Katusha setting the pace in the peloton, only 40 riders left.

Yeah, Rodriguez has targeted this stage (finish is near his house).
Expect Katusha to keep chasing down this break.

Bukman13

"Nick Nuyens (117) and Lieuwe Westra (219) abandoned".
I think we'll see a few more before the end of today.

No live pictures so far... Poor weather conditions to blame.

DominoDub

Rovi wrote: »

It's raining on them at the moment, and the weather forecast for the whole stage is pretty poor

And it is effecting the relay of TV pictures for Eurosport

pelevin

DominoDub wrote: »

And it is effecting the relay of TV pictures for Eurosport

Ah so that's why they've this Watts rubbish on. Eff

AnotherView

Nibali likes the bad weather...he is good on the descending in the rain

BQQ

Basso dropped by peleton apparantly

Bukman13

Apparently Basso and Moreno have been dropped from the peloton, on the descent.

Henlars67

Luis Leon crashed on the descent. Had him backed at 100/1 for the stage. Balls

Bukman13

"#LaVuelta - @LLEONSANCHEZ has abandoned the Vuelta: Hypothermia..."

Reginald P. DuM

Tennis?? I missed a few mins there, knew we had no live images but is that it for the day??! Say it aint so...

dastardly00

Reginald P. DuM wrote: »

Tennis?? I missed a few mins there, knew we had no live images but is that it for the day??! Say it aint so...

Carlton said they would cut back to the cycling as soon as they get live pictures.

sbs2010

Reginald P. DuM wrote: »

Tennis?? I missed a few mins there, knew we had no live images but is that it for the day??! Say it aint so...

No
They'll be back when the pics are available again.

SlinkyKittin

Reginald P. DuM wrote: »

Tennis?? I missed a few mins there, knew we had no live images but is that it for the day??! Say it aint so...

Commentators said they would switch back when the live feed returns.

Henlars67

sbs2010 wrote: »

No
They'll be back when the pics are available again.

Which will be the last 5 or 6 meters of the stage

DominoDub

Live stage info stream

http://www.lavuelta.com/13/en/online/index.html?e=14

Conditions not getting any better

dastardly00

I'm predicting that as Eurosport finally get live pictures, we see Carlos Betancur emerging from the clouds, and wins the stage by over 2 hours and 18 minutes, and takes command of the red jersey :pac:

Bukman13

Pinot attacks before the penultimate climb, with 3 Euskatel riders.

sbs2010

Bukman13 wrote: »

Pinot attacks before the penultimate climb, with 3 Euskatel riders.

Eurosport
Back for a bit now.

DDC1990

According to the Vuelta site, Ratto is 8.40 ahead of the Peleton and 2 mins ahead of Gilbert with 30k to go.

Should be enough over the Pelaton anyway surely unless he totally bombs?

decisions

Live pictures

Bukman13

Valverde 35 seconds behind the peloton.

dastardly00

Bukman13 wrote: »

Valverde 35 seconds behind the peloton.

According to cyclingnews:
"It seems he stopped for a natural break but had to chase hard to get back on."

DominoDub

Bukman13 wrote: »

Pinot attacks before the penultimate climb, with 3 Euskatel riders.

The Euskatel guys maybe looking forward to riding for "Ferrari Colnago" next year

Bukman13

Reports suggest Basso has abandoned.

Edit: Valverde losing more ground, 43seconds behind the main group.

AnotherView

Jasus those descents look dreadful ....scary

Sinbad_NI

On now.

Darkglasses

Wow! Sorry for old basso.

I'm missing yet another stage due to travel. Thanks a lot for the updates.

Sinbad_NI

Descent looks very slippery. Ratto over 9 mins out now.

dastardly00

Nico is wearing a white rain jacket I think.

decisions

dastardly00 wrote: »

Nico is wearing a white rain jacket I think.

I thought that might have been him in the main group, but I'm not 100% sure.

Gallant_JJ

That was nerve racking watching Ratto descending, very brave cycling.

dastardly00

Europsort have live coverage of the Tour of Britain, nice one

Itziger

So, Valverde in a spot of bother. Should come back on the climb you'd think. Going to be messy. Might suit Roche though, dampen a few spirits, literally and otherwise.

retalivity

no updates on where gilbert is....somwhere between ratto and the peleton