Vuelta a España 2014 – Stage 5 Preview

By David Hunter

Stage 4 Recap

The break was 4: Joeaar, Aramendia(again), Engoulvent and Turgot. They never got a big lead and when Movistar upped the pace they almost brought them back, before the first climb. Sensing the opportunity for points, Amet Txurruka bridged and took the 3 points. He was brought back before the final climb, so had to settle for just the 3 points. The final climb was hard and the peloton lost riders, in ones and twos. Of the big sprinters, Nacer Bouhanni never looked like staying with the bunch and he lost contact with 2km left of the climb. As we crested, Winner Ancona and Adam Yates attacked. Soon after, Damiano Caruso tried to bridge but failed. Then Sicard tried his luck, before the surprise attack of Valverde. The Spaniard was never allowed a large gap, with Katusha and Tinkoff making sure his attack failed. With the race heading for a bunch sprint we had a couple of late attacks, by Adam Hansen and Tony Martin. Both failed, as Giant delivered the perfect lead-out. IAM’s Vincente Reynes, launched his sprint early, but he was easily passed by John Degenkolb. Reynes hung on for second, with Matthews in third. A great win for Degs!

Stage 5 Priego de Cordoba – Ronda 180km

Another hot day in Andalucia!

The riders travel South-West, heading close to the popular city, Malaga.

There’s only 1 categorised climb, the cat 3 Puertos de Montana, but there are plenty of little lumps along the way. The climb is 12.5km at an average of 3.2%, however, the last couple of kilometres are much steeper. The climb crests with 15km remaining, allowing plenty of time for the sprinters to get organised.

This stage has the potential to be the most boring in the whole race. The riders stay on a big highway for most of the stage, including the climb. The long, straight road makes it very difficult for a break to stay away and I think we’ll see a big, bunch sprint. Despite it’s length, the climb isn’t hard enough to drop the sprinters. One problem, is the heat. After the recent, hot stages, a lot of the riders will be tired and the long climb, might see them suffer.

The final 600 metres is uphill but the downhill run, into it, means the peloton will be going very fast and the uphill won’t matter.

The road for home is very easy, apart from this roundabout, with 800 metres to go. It’s important to be at the front of the peloton, with 1km to go.

This is a day for the sprinters. We have Bouhanni, Degenkolb, Ferrari, Debusschere, Stuyven, Gatto, Hofland, Hutarovich, Hofland, Guardini and Matthews.

Did any of these riders go into the red today? Will it have an impact on their sprinting speed?

Prediction time…

The Giant time will get it right today, not like on stage 2, and Degenkolb will double up

[poll id=”19″]

David Hunter

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