The Vuelta reaches Spain and a calmer stage awaits, a likely sprint.
Vuelta
Vuelta a España Stage 3 Preview
Monday, day three, and the Vuelta heads for the Pyrenees and altitude with a stage to Andorra. This is far from the most selective of stages but it should ensure a new overall leader and some late action as the race reaches the microstate principality.
Vuelta a España Stage 2 Preview
Flat? Yes. But featureless this is not as the race takes the coastal road past many of France’s best wind and kitesurfing spots and the wind is forecast to blow meaning this will be part bike race, part sailing regatta.
Vuelta a España Stage 1 Preview
The Vuelta starts in France, in Nimes which is one of those cities where in the untranslatable lyrics of Claude Nougaro “l’Espagne pousse un peu sa corne“. As for the racing this is a challenging technical course that passes all the cities postcard monuments.
Vuelta a España Preview
As Nairo Quintana enjoys some deserved rest and recovery the 2017 Vuelta a Espana podium is open to many with a very strong start list assembling in Nimes for the annual race of surprises and contrats where many line up hoping to win yet few have been on stage recons, where everyone says the Gir-Tour double is impossible but the Tour-Vuelta approach is a well-beaten path. Here’s a brief look at the course and run through of the overall contenders.
Highlights of 2016 – Part V
How to choose a fifth highlight from the year? Easy, pick several instead. There are plenty of exciting moments during the year and if it feels reductive to limit it to five, then even sticking with 10 means leaving out plenty of good times. We might find overlapping races incongruous but this can mean twice the action. Here are some more of the joyous moments from 2016.
Shrinking The Peloton
Less is more. Yesterday ASO, RCS and Flanders Classics announced in concert that they would shrink the team size for their events down by one. The grand tours go from nine riders per team to eight and the major classics from eight to seven riders. The race owners say it is to improve safety and enhance the sporting spectacle.
Going The Distance
What was longest event at the Olympics this year? The answer is the men’s road race, six hours and ten minutes and by some margin. That’s roughly double the duration of the 50km walk and three times longer than the marathon, the 10km open water swim and the triathlon. Games like tennis or cricket can last for days but they stop for lunch. Cycling’s unique selling point isn’t distance but this is big part of its identity, race names like Paris-Nice evoke distances normally done by plane, train or automobile and even the combination of all three.
Only now some races are being shortened to make them snappier for TV. Are we in danger of losing something?
The Moment The Vuelta Was Won
Alberto Contador and Nairo Quintana break away right from the start of Stage 15 and aided by their team mates in the same move caught Team Sky having a siesta. Froome gave chase but quickly ran out of team mates and could only manage to limit his losses as Quintana went up the road and Sky’s plans went up in smoke. This was the moment the race was won.