Vuelta a España 2014 – Stage 19 Preview
By David Hunter Stage 19 Salvaterra do Miño – Cangas do Morrazo 180.5km The last stage for the non-GC riders.
By David Hunter Stage 19 Salvaterra do Miño – Cangas do Morrazo 180.5km The last stage for the non-GC riders.
By David Hunter Exmouth – Exeter 177.3km The riders head in a loop around the South coast of England. They pass over 3 classified climbs.
By David Hunter Stage 3 Recap On The Tumble, Jack Bauer went first. He was quickly followed by Zardini and the two built a good gap. Bauer wasn’t able to help with the pulling, so Zardini went solo. Nico Roche was the man to attack from the GC group and he caught and past Zardini….
By David Hunter Etapa 17 Ortigueira – A Coruña Welcome to Galicia. Just one look at the map and you know this isn’t going to be an easy day.
By David Hunter Stage 2 Recap The climb proved hard enough to distance Kittel and we got the expected attack from Chavanel. Also in attacking mood was Alex Dowsett and Michal Kwiatkowski. With 1km to go, it was Dowsett and Chavanel, who were clear, but Wiggins closed the gap. In a very messy sprint, with…
By David Hunter Stage 15 Recap The break was only 5, but it managed to last until the end. Niemiec, took a brilliant win, as the the 3 amigos spent too long looking at each other. Contador, Valverde and Rodriguez went head to head, like in 2012, and couldn’t shake each other. They stop too…
By David Hunter Stage 1 Recap We got the expected sprint. A headwind meant that the sprinters were cautious and didn’t want to hit the front too early. apart from NetApp, who horribly misjudged the sprint and it cost Bennett the chance to have a go. The Giant boys lost Kittel, as they squeezed against…
By David Hunter Stage 14 Recap What a stage! A big break got away and it stayed away. On the gruelling 20% slopes of the final 2km, it looked like Oliver Zaugg, was going to take a famous win. However, Ryder Hesjedal had timed his move to perfection, and he took the lead with 150m…
By David Hunter The race begins with a circuit race, around the streets of Liverpool. We have 8 laps of 13.1km, so that’s 104.8km in total. The lap is fairy easy, with few corners.
By David Hunter Get ready, for the best ToB….ever! The organisers have changed the route and increased the spectacle. We now have a proper, hilltop finish. Quite a few stages with short, steep climbs near the end of the stage. A short ITT and some days for the sprinters. Only stage 1 and 8b are…
By David Hunter Stage 13 Recap We got a break of 11, which included LL Sanchez and Sagan. Orica held the lead at 3 minutes, before the GC teams took over….and FDJ! When we hit the final 10% climb, it was Daniel Navarro who attacked. With the top riders only interested in each other, he…
By David Hunter Stage 12 Recap What a boring stage! Break of 1, with no chance of success. Peloton went very slow, until the final 20km. There was a crash in the final corner, denying a few sprinters the chance of a win. It left Degenkolb with an easy job and he took the stage….
By David Hunter Stage 10 Recap The first, really fast time was set by Cancellara. His time looked very good and only one man was able to beat it….Tony Martin! He won the stage by 11 seconds, a close margin but it was never in doubt. The GC battle erupted! Froome had a disaster, Quintana…
By David Hunter Stage 9 Recap We got an enormous break of 31 riders as the peloton sensed that this was the day for a break. The closest on GC was Winner Anacona, at just 2:50. As we approached the penultimate climb, the break started to slim down and very quickly we were left with…
By David Hunter Stage 8 Recap 2 man break: Aramendia and Favilli. The Spaniard has now featured in 3 breaks, in just 7 road stages! They were brought back a long way to the finish, as the GC teams were getting ready for the crosswinds. With 30km to go, Tinkoff, OPQS, Sky and Trek decided to…
By David Hunter Stage 7 Recap After a very fast start, we eventually got a break of 15 riders: Millar, Lang, Kolobnev, Mondory, LL Sanchez, Clarke, Le Bon, Coppel, Jerome, Izagirre, Hansen, Arndt, Jungels and Quinziato. The peloton weren’t happy with this and they were brought back, before the first climb of the day. A…
By David Hunter Stage 6 Recap Another 2 man break, with KOM leader Mas and the crazy, Pim Ligthart. They got a lead of 13 minutes, but the peloton had the situation under control. On the climb, a variety of teams set the pace, but with 2km to go, Alejandro Valverde, put the hurt on….
By David Hunter Stage 5 Recap We got a small break today, just Tony Martin and Pim Ligthart. The presence of the big German, severely worried the peloton and they made sure the lead stayed at under 2 minutes. Big Tony, knew that it was pointless, so he gave up and returned to the peloton….