On paper a transition stage but it should offer a lively finish with an uphill climb to the line, one for the versatile sprinters but also for the puncheurs who can cope with the slope.
The Route: up and down all day and this continues to the finish line.
The Finish: the last 5km twist and turn through the small town of La Lastrilla before a final straight one kilometre that includes a roundabout.
The Scenario: breakaway or sprint? The sprinters seem to be winning in their arm-wrestle (leg wrestle?) contest with the breakaways and Daniele Bennati would be another good pick. He won yesterday and has won uphill sprint finishes in the Vuelta in years past too.
Weather: 26°c (78°F) and sunny skies with only a light breeze.
TV: 4.00-6.00pm Euro time.
Local rider: it should be Movistar’s long-serving Pablo Lastras as his name is where today’s finish town of La Lastrilla comes from, it means “little Lastras” but in fact he’s from Madrid. Instead let’s look to Pedro Delgado, the winner of the 1985 and 1989 Vuelta, plus the 1988 Tour de France. He’s linked to Movistar because he rode for the Reynolds team which became Banesto and then Caisse d’Epargne and is today sponsored by cellphone operator Movistar. Delgado was an exciting rider, a mountain climber capable of winning stage races. He animated the 1989 Tour because if Greg Lemond and Laurent Fignon duelled and finished the race with the narrowest victory margin of 8 seconds, Delgado turned up late for the prologue and spent the rest of the three weeks playing catch-up in the mountains and attacking everyone. But he wasn’t pure action, he won in 1988 following a positive test but the if the detected substance was on the banned list issued by the Olympics, the UCI hadn’t got round to adding the molecule to their list and it cast a shadow over the race. Today Delgado is a consultant for Spanish TV and seems to be one of those ex-riders who has not aged.
Mañana: “tomorrow” sees the big final mountain stage of the race with the Bola del Mundo summit finish at altitude. Some riders will spend the day trying to rest.
I’m still sulking for Purito 🙁 Gianni Meersman for me today
Gilbert!
Nice preview. Would be interesting if Valverde stole some seconds today. He could certainly win, but I think it’ll be Gilbert.
Valverde !
Mr. Gilbert should be up there today. The Worlds are getting closer and closer.
Delgados 1985 Vuelta win stolen from Robert Millar with some very dodgy dealings between the Spanish teams, possibly even organisers ;). Britain could (should) have had its first Grand Tour win way back then.
Some comparisons were made by Brian Smith yesterday between the Millar/Delgado situation and Contador/Rodriguez the other day, the difference being with race radios, live TV coverage etc, there can be no doubt about the legitimacy of Contadors exploit (well, beyond the unavoidable doping doubts), whereas Delgados will always be clouded by the suspicious circumstances.
I think the 2 climbs before Bola del Mundo this Saturday featured in that infamous stage back in 1985.
All of Delgado’s wins (and defeats) were full of strange circumstances. On the infamous 1985 stage, I happened to be by the road on the last climb: everyone in the public damn well knew what was going on, except apparently Millar, whom we saw soft-pedal his way up Los Leones, when his rival was already about 4 minutes ahead. His DS at Peugeot must have been out on the tiles. 3 Spanish teams for sure coalesced (not all: the Reynolds/Movistar structure was at odds with the others), but that’s always happened and is part of the game (there was a bit of non-Spanish coalition that year as well). Cycling is also a social game, and “politics” play a role in it.
And yes, the Morcuera-Cotos sequence of climbs featured that year.
On the subject of the 1985 Vuelta, it’s worth mentioning that there was an entire anti-foreigner sentiment going on in general. Francisco “Pacho” Rodriguez, a Colombian, was only 10s back from Millar at the start of penultimate stage but his Spanish DS decided to give him no support because he though it would be better if a Spaniard won the race (Delgado), even if said Spaniard was from another team. Poor Pacho Rodriguez was not part of the Spanish Coalition but, seemingly, the rest of his team was and he got screwed in the end
I’ll win today. No, I’ll work for my mate Davis who is likely to struggle when Gilbert puts down the hammer.
I’d like to see Nico Roche have a go at this finish. It should suit him and he’s no longer a GC threat.
He did indeed have a go, but there was Gilbert…
Is Nico Roche ever really a GC threat?!?