A stage for the sprinters.
Vuelta
Vuelta a España Stage 5 Preview
Another sprint stage, another 2,500m of vertical gain. The climbing is guaranteed, the sprint isn’t and today could tempt more breakaways after yesterday’s success.
Vuelta a España Stage 4 Preview
A summit finish. Sunday’s stage had a hilly finish, today is mountainous and we should get more of a selection above Alfacar.
Vuelta a España Stage 3 Preview
A likely sprint finish but still a stage packed with climbing where a breakaway will barge clear.
Vuelta a España Stage 2 Preview
Stage 2 and already the race heads for the hills and an uphill finish by the Caminito del Rey.
Vuelta a España Stage 1 Preview
¡ Vamos a la playa ! The race starts with a quick tour of Malaga’s sea front and beach, today is a short time trial to give the GC some order.
Vuelta a España Preview
In his autobiography ex-pro Charly Wegelius likens the Vuelta to “the crew of a pirate ship“, “either riders didn’t want to be there or they were desperate to perform.” Thanks to its position as the last mountain stage race of the year the race offers redemption for some who haven’t had the season they want. For others the Vuelta a straight target, a prestigious goal and this year there’s the added twist of a training camp with several likely to hone form ahead of the World Championships in Innsbruck. We might question the motivations but it makes for a more lively race and increases the chance of surprise amid a field packed with strong contenders. Here’s a look at the GC contenders for the next three weeks…
Much Ado About Something
Chris Froome goes from persona non grata to all clear in the space of a couple of days, the UCI has announced the salbutamol case from last year’s Vuelta has been closed. The *asterisk of pending resolution is deleted, the Sword of Damocles sheathed and ASO suspend the action they began three weeks ago to block Froome from riding the Tour de France. But all the same things won’t return to the state they were when things were normal.
Chris Froome’s Salbutamol Case
The UCI has announced that Chris Froome has given an Adverse Analytical Finding for Salbutamol following a test during the Vuelta a España. The announcement alone is curious given two newspapers seem got a scoop to have got hold of the story but add in that it’s Froome, that he could be stripped of the Vuelta title, serve a ban and that the substance in question has particular rules make this a complex topic and Twitter today has seen more speculation than a Bitcoin chatroom. Let’s try to explore the matter at hand…