Vuelta a Andalucía Ruta Del Sol 2015 – Overall Preview

By David Hunter

 After a couple of 1 day races, the Spanish calendar really gets going with a week in Andalucia. All the stages are hard, even the sprint days! They don’t do flat, dull stages in this part of the world.

The opening day is split in two. The first half is a relatively easy day, with an uphill sprint.

The second half is an 8.2km ITT.

Stage 2 has a cat 3 climb, very close to the end of the stage. It’s 2.6km at 6.5%. This is going to make it hard for any pure sprinters, although very few are here!

Stage 3 and it’s time for a mountaintop finish. 7.4km at 10%!!!!! This is a beast of a climb, especially so early in the season. Froome v Contador, round 1.

Stage 4 and we head to Jaen, I love this place. 14% for 2.9km! Jesus Christ!

The final stage isn’t easy either. It ends with 500metres at 13%. It’s short enough to still interest some of the sprinters.

For the sprint stages we have: Lobato, Lasca, Ligthart, Valgren, Degenkolb, Hofland, Farrar, Theuns, Ratto, Bole, Vanbilsen and Van Staeyen.

In terms of GC riders we have: Intxausti, Froome, Pardilla, Contador, Wellens, Van den Broeck, Geniez, Elissonde, Bardet, Mollema, Reichenbach, Kelderman, Rolland, Sicard, Brajkovic, Duarte, Torres and Navarro.

The long list is brilliant for the organisers. The difficulty of the route attracts the GC riders as they look to improve their form/fitness before the first objectives of the season: Paris-Nice, Catalunya and Tirreno Adriatico.

The route also scares the pure sprinters, of which we have none! Degenkolb, Lobato and Hofland will be all set to battle out the sprint stages.

All eyes will be on Froome and Contador, as they start their season long battle. Close behind will be Mollema and Kelderman. Mollema would have been worried about the ITT, in the past, but he’s been spending an awful lot of time on his new bike and I expect a big improvement.

It’s very easy to focus on the big name riders, but a few of the smaller riders have posted big results in 2015. Rodolfo Torres finished 2nd in Tour de San Luis, behind Dani Diaz but in front of Nairo Quintana. To often people can discount these results before thinking about them. This was a brilliant result, in some very demanding conditions. Yes, he might have trained specifically for the race and will now be on the decline, but he might not have. It might be the start of a purple patch. If it is, then he’s a threat on GC.

MTN – Qhubeka have the in-form Stephen Cummings as their leader. Cummings is always a very strong at the beginning of the season and beat Valverde to win in Mallorca. The short ITT is perfect for him. He is a candidate for a podium spot.

Jurgen Van Den Broeck is in the last chance saloon, with Lotto. His contract is up at the end of the season and he’s already been told he’s not doing the Tour. With Tim Wellens improving, VDB needs to get results. He usually goes well here and is returning from a period at altitude. He should be on form.

Due to the difficulty of stages 3 and 4, it’s hard to see any shocks. It will be good to see where Romain Bardet is. These younger riders find it hard to maintain a peak for a long time, so expect him to be a little below top form. He spent a day in the break on Sunday, in Almeria. In fact, his breakaway companion, Romain Sicard, is also here. The day in the break will help the legs.

As Contador and Froome have known they would be facing each other, both will be on top form. These guys are not just brilliant bike riders but hate losing to each other. Contador bossed Froome in 2014, Froome bossed Contador in 2013, what will happen in 2015? It’s the story every cycling fan is excited to see.

Prediction Time

Despite being a huge Contador fan, I think I’m siding with Froome for this one. The need for Froome to gain some ground back is huge and he’ll probably be in the better condition of the two. He also arrives with the strongest team, this is important. Expect the Sky mountain train to be in full operation. We have: Kennaugh, Kiryienka, Nieve, Roche, Siutsou and Zandio. Quite simply, what a team! Contador arrives with Basso, Valgren, Hernandez, Paulinho, Petrov and Tosatto. Considering the mountains, that’s a weak team. Everything points towards a Froome win.

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