I had an angel on one shoulder, saying “don’t do this, they’re going to roll you over” and a devil in the other saying “go for it”. On this occasion, I didn’t listen to the angel. It was attack or die.
Alberto Contador attacked 55km from the finish on Stage 17 and rode on to win the stage and claimed the overall lead. If three weeks of racing are reduced to one moment, it was this audacious attack that won the 2012 Vuelta.
The final stage of the 2012 Vuelta and like the Tour de France, this is a victory lap style procession into the national capital that’s only 115km and so only the shortest preview is needed. It’s still fast and furious on the finishing circuit but the overall result is not expected to change.
Ahead of tomorrow’s procession into Madrid this is the last real day of racing and it’s a giant day with several big mountain passes coming before the steep climb to the highest point of the 2012 Vuelta. If there’s still any uncertainty about the winner of the race, it will all be settled later today.
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 longest stage of the 2012 Vuelta but it is only 204.5km, a sign that this has been a race of short and sharp stages. With no categorised climbs this looks like a sprint finish or a long range breakaway… but after yesterday’s tactical coup, who knows?
A summit finish? Yes but the final climb shouldn’t be a showdown for the overall contenders. Instead the gradual slope to the finish line is ideal for a breakaway to contest the finish.
Joaquim Rodriguez leads the Vuelta. Before the race he was a good pick for the podium but few thought he would outclimb Alberto Contador. But thanks to tactical riding and a fast finish he’s grabbed sufficient time bonuses to keep Contador away.
Like many cyclists he has a nickame and it’s “Purito”. It sort of means “clean” in Spanish, a diminutive term… but that’s not the origin of his name. Instead it’s because he smoked his team mates on a training camp.
The last of three mountain stages in a row and the biggest of the trinity with the Cuitu Nigru finish which has never been used before. It has been surfaced just in time for the race but this will hardly help as riders winch their way up slopes reaching 22% to finish the Queen Stage of the 2012 Vuelta.
After this comes the rest day and there is only one more big mountain stage. Can Alberto Contador find a way to beat Joaquim Rodriguez?
Today’s stage is all about the finish to the Lagos de Covadonga. The Vuelta has used this climb 17 times before making this finish the equivalent of the Tour de France’s Alpe d’Huez only it’s a far more irregular climb where the constant variations in gradient will help to prise apart the overall contenders.
The Vuelta has already visited the Pyrenees but today sees the start of the real mountain stages in the Vuelta with plenty of climbing and descending too.