Vuelta a España 2019 – Stage 21 preview
By David Hunter
Fuenlabrada – Madrid 106.6km
We’ve reached Madrid.
The race ends with the usual spin around the streets of the capital. One last chance for the sprinters.
Weather
Potential thunderstorms and lots of rain. Not the way we wanted to end the race.
Finale
It’s a finish we know well. The battle for position starts with 3km to go, as teams want to be on the front for the right turn. We then have a long straight, leading into a big 180. Once this opens up, we have one kilometre to go.
Contenders
Sam Bennett – two wins, three second places, it’s been a great race for the Irishman. He starts this stage as the overwhelming favourite, a well justified tag. At his side throughout the whole race has been Shane Archbold, easily one of the best lead out men in the world. You can bet they’ll be lining up another big performance to end this race on a high.
Fabio Jakobsen – the Dutch champion has survived his first grand tour, taking a win along the way. He’ll be feeling tired at this point, but these sprinters can always find some more energy when a sprint pops up. Unfortunately, Max Richeze is pretty banged up, meaning Jakobsen might not have him in the final kilometre.
Fernando Gaviria – is he still here? Apparently he is. He has one last chance to take a stage win, but I can’t see it happening.
Trek – Theuns or Degenkolb? Way back on stage 3, it was Eddie who pushed Bennett all the way, I hope he gets the nod for this one. Degenkolb will be reminding everyone that he won here in 2012 and 2014, that could persuade the DS to give him the leadership.
Marc Sarreau – 5th here last year, he’ll be eyeing up a spot on the podium. The French sprinter is one I like, but it will be very hard for him to win this stage.
Prediction Time
Got to be Sam Bennett.
All that is left for me to do is thank all of you for reading my work, over 10000 per stage, which is amazing. As always, another huge thank you to Pablo Palermo for editing and translating everything into Spanish. Vamos!
*Overall previewDavid HunterFollow us on @CiclismoInterJoin us on facebook: Ciclismo Internacional
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Thank you.
Great previews, very astute! Thanks! What was your prediction success rate? I had carapaz pogacar and chavez on my podium (I’ll take any movistar as a carapaz consolation prize, e.g. valverde)
great job
David, ti vedno zadaneš! Hvala za odlične napovedi.
You don’t understand?
Alk the best
From Slovenia
Janko Hrovat