Vuelta a Andalucía Ruta Del Sol 2015 – Stage 1a Preview

By David Hunter

La Rabida – Hinojos 118.3km

The race begins with a nice cycle by the coast.

The opening day is split in two with a short sprint stage and an ITT. The sprint stage is nice and straight forward. We do have a cat 3 climb, 10km from the end of the stage, but with no “pure” sprinters, this shouldn’t be a problem. It’s only 1.7km long at 3.2%. Nice and easy.

In terms of sprinters, we have: Degenkolb, Hofland, Lobato, Valgren, Ligthart, Silvestre, Farrar, Napolitano, Theuns, Vanbilsen, Ratto and Bole.

This is the opening race of the year for Moreno Hofland. This should put him at a disadvantage compared to the others.

Degenkolb, Lobato and Ligthart all have wins already this season. The lack of top sprinters can often lead to chaos in the closing kilometres. Lotto arrive with a team full of GC riders and no help for Ligthart. He might have to really upon Maxime Monfort as his last man.

With the ITT taking place after this race, watch out for clever riders trying to take bonus seconds. This will allow them a late start, which helps with time splits. Most of the peloton will be on equal time, so the starting order for the TT will be the reverse of the finish to stage 1a.

One thing that might concern the peloton is wind. We have a fairly strong wind coming from the North East. This means the prospect of crosswinds. Not what the riders want to here. Luckily, Etixx aren’t here but the Belgians from Lotto might just sniff a chance to create some echelons. Not something we often get in Spanish racing, but it did happen in Almeria on Sunday.

The end of the stage is straightforward, with the last corner at 1.5km from the end. The only team to bring a proper sprint train is Giant – Alpecin. They have Frohlinger, Fairly, Geschke and De Kort. This is a very formidable looking team and they will control the final kilometres. That means Degenkolb will be at the head of the peloton with 500 metres to go. Do any of the sprinters possess the power to come past him?

I have spoken before about the poor positioning of JJ Lobato before. If only he had a pilot fish, the boy would win so many stages. He needs someone to get him with 2km to go, take him to the front of the race and let him sprint from there. On too many occasions, Lobato has to launch a long sprint, from 10th wheel. His power does sometimes get him out of trouble, but not often enough.

There is a good chance to finish on the podium for some of the lesser known sprinters. Roy Jans has already won this season and as part of my Riders to Watch in 2015 list, I hope he’s on form here.

Prediction Time

With the lead-out he has, Degenkolb is the man for the stage. Lobato won’t be able to come round him. In the battle for the podium, watch out for Edward Theuns, a young man with huge potential.

Vuelta a Andalucía Ruta del Sol Overall Preview

David Hunter

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