Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2016 – Stage 5 Preview
By David Hunter
Valencia – Valencia 120.7km
The race finishes with a little trip around Valencia. At 120km, this is nice and short and should end in another sprint. Time for Cofidis to see if they can get it right.
They almost got it right on Friday, but Christophe Laporte, let the team down. Acting as the final man for Bouhanni, he had everything in his own hands. The early work form Bozic and Soupe had set him up perfectly, as he hit the front with around 600m to go. The job of the final lead-out man, is to create a nice and steady pace, but not too fast. You don’t want to go too slow, as you will get swamped, but going too fast is just as bad.
Laporte made the mistake of lifting the pace too high and burning himself out. Had he lasted another 50m, Bouhanni would have won the stage. Given the pace of the Frenchman, if he launches at 150m, no one will come round him.
Going too fast wasn’t the only mistake Laporte made. He started the sprint against the barriers, but decided to move into the centre of the road. If he had stayed on the barriers, it would have forced riders to come around Bouhanni, but all Groenewegen had to do, was go straight on.
Take nothing away from the new Jumbo sprinter, he looked fast. Winning your first race for a new team is always special and he’ll be super motivated to make it two from two. He was put in a good position by Paul Martens, but that is all the others can do against Cofidis. The strength of their train means that the others are just fighting for Bouhanni’s wheel. If Cofidis get it right, Bouhanni wins. The other teams will be hoping they get it wrong, again!
It was great to see Tom Boonen sprinting to fourth place. After the bad crash in Abu Dhabi, most feared for old Tom. However, he looked in great condition and could count upon his old mate, Niki Terpstra, to give him a solid lead-out.
Katusha were visible at the front of the bunch, but fell away at the end. Alexander Porsev is a quick rider and should be thinking about another podium position. He certainly isn’t the most prolific sprinter, with just 1 pro win, but he is fast, especially in a field like this.
Another quick sprinter is Jakub Mareczko. He finished down the bunch, on Friday, clearly losing position in a frantic finale. He won the final stage of San Luis and will hope for something similar here. The Southeast team is nowhere near the standard of previous years and he might have to do a lot of work himself. If put in the right position, we all know he is quick.
Jonas Van Genechten was disappointed with his 6th place finish. Given the riders at his disposal, he really should be doing much better. IAM are a good team and know how to deliver their sprinter, but he really does have to step up. With just one win in 2015, the pressure is on him to earn a new contract. There are plenty of young sprinters, eager for a chance with a team like IAM.
The top ten should again be filled with Kreder, Fortin, Ruffoni and Torres.
Prediction Time
Just can’t see past Cofidis. They should get this one right and Bouhanni will take the win.
David Hunter
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