Tag: enric mas

La Vuelta ’22 – Roglic throws it away

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, News, racing

One thing I would have been confident in writing last week was that a duel between stage-hunter Fred Wright and Primoz Roglic would not end up deciding the Vuelta’s general classification.

But we saw a bizarre stage 16 end the suspense as to whether or not Remco Evenepoel would win the Tour of Spain 2022.

We left the race in our last review at the final rest day with Remco starting to ship time every time the race went up hill.

Enric Mas but more importantly Roglic were taking time back. 10 seconds here, 25 seconds there and as we headed into the tough final week it looked a matter of time before the Jumbo/Visma man would take back the leaders red jersey.

However. Stage 16 bit back and caused drama in the way that only a Roglic capitulation could see.

The short uphill to the finish wasn’t too much of a gradient. This was shown by Mads Pedersen going on to win the stage.

But Roglic shot out of the pack like a rocket at the exact moment the red jersey was dropping back with a puncture.

It was inside 3km from the finish meaning the race jury would allocate the same time as the main peloton to Remco. But that would still mean a time loss as Rog powered up the finishing straight.

No-one truly knows if Rog had an inkling of the leaders woes when he attacked. But it soon became academic as he crashed into Wright in the final metres. Roglic bolted from one side of the road to the other and the two clashed handle bars before the Slovenian hit the deck.

His Vuelta was over and he has since pointed the finger of blame at Wright. Unfairly for me.

This left Mas the main challenger but over the next mountain stage, won heroically by Rigoberto Uran, he couldn’t get away.

The final true mountain stage ended up being won by Remco who put 2 more seconds into Mas and that was that.

Pedersen, Richard Carapaz and Juan Sebastian Molano won the remaining stages but it was the Belgian who ended his homelands long drought in three week grand tours.

Despite the anticlimactic last few stages it was a really decent race this and sets up next summer’s big races perfectly.

RnkPrev▼▲RiderTeamUCIPntTime
11– EVENEPOEL RemcoQuick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team85040016″80:26:59
22– MAS EnricMovistar Team68029023″2:02
33– AYUSO JuanUAE Team Emirates5752404″4:57
44– LÓPEZ Miguel ÁngelAstana Qazaqstan Team46022010″5:56
55– ALMEIDA JoãoUAE Team Emirates3802007:24
66– ARENSMAN ThymenTeam DSM32019016″7:45
77– RODRÍGUEZ CarlosINEOS Grenadiers2601807:57
88– O’CONNOR BenAG2R Citroën Team22017010:30
99– URÁN RigobertoEF Education-EasyPost18016022″11:04
1010– HINDLEY JaiBORA – hansgrohe14015012:01
from procyclingstats.com

La Vuelta ’22 – Evenepoel starting to show weakness

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, News, racing

After a week of dominance in the climbs and time trials, the most recent stages of the Vuelta will have left Belgian fans chewing their finger nails as Remco Evenepoel starts to shed time to the chasing pack.

I say pack. I really mean multiple defending champ Primoz Roglic and Spaniard Enric Mas.

The rest are too far back.

However, in the weekends mountain stages (ahead of the rest day today) both have taken time back from the race leader, something that looked unlikely a few days ago.

We left the race in the last post with a time trial in Alicante. It was dominated by Remco.

The following day was won by Kaden Groves in a sprint before we started to climb again.

Way down on time after a tough first few stages, Richard Caparaz was given free reign to leave the peloton in a breakaway and he took that chance winning in Estepona. The favourites came home together over seven minutes back.

Mads Pedersen had been in a number of breaks trying to build his lead in the points competition and won stage 13 in an uphill reduced bunch sprint.

It was the sort of finish we know the Dane has, but don’t see it often enough in the classics and stage races. This will have done wonders for him though although it was a shame to hear post stage that he wouldn’t be taking this form down to Australian for the upcoming world championships. I would have made him favourite.

Carapaz won again at La Pandera on Saturday with Evenepoel finally showing weakness and being dropped by Roglic and Mas.

The feat was repeated yesterday on a stage won by Thymen Arensman at Sierra Nevada.

The time gap between the leader and Roglic now down to 1m34s.

Its been tough for Remco, losing Julian Alaphillippe to another crash and shoulder injury. The reigning world champ would have been crucial to keeping the red jersey holder in touch on the last mountain stages.

It’s going to be an interesting last few days. I see Roglic as the likely winner though now I have to say. There are three uphill or summit finishes left for him to make the real breakthrough.

Remco looks tired and on the back foot without his team to defend him. It’s painful to watch.

Either way its going to be an exciting last few days of the final big stage race of the 2022 season.

Enjoy it!

RnkPrev▼▲RiderTeamUCITime
11– EVENEPOEL RemcoQuick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team206″56:40:49
22– ROGLIČ PrimožJumbo-Visma17″1:34
33– MAS EnricMovistar Team14″2:01
45▲1 AYUSO JuanUAE Team Emirates4:49
54▼1 RODRÍGUEZ CarlosINEOS Grenadiers5:16
66– LÓPEZ Miguel ÁngelAstana Qazaqstan Team10″5:24
77– ALMEIDA JoãoUAE Team Emirates7:00
811▲3 ARENSMAN ThymenTeam DSM10″7:05
910▲1 O’CONNOR BenAG2R Citroën Team8:57
1013▲3 HINDLEY JaiBORA – hansgrohe11:36
from procyclingstats.com

La Vuelta ’22 – Remco hits the turbo button

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, News, racing

“Vuelta mate? completed it!”

Not quite yet Remco. But week two of this years race sees the Belgian boy wonder on the edge of greatness having built a commanding lead during stages 4-10.

We left the race travelling from Breda in the Netherlands to Northern Spain on an early rest day with Jumbo passing the race leaders jersey around their riders, seemingly for fun.

Stage 4 with its medium mountains and reduced bunch sprint saw Primoz Roglic take both stage and jersey and that, we all assumed, was that.

The next day Jumbo let a break take a fair chunk of time and gifted the leaders role to Groupama-FDJ rider Rudy Mollard. He benefited from some selfless team work from Brit Jake Stewart on the road into Bilbao.

The stage was won by fiery Catalan Marc Soler. When he is on it he is unbeatable. When he isn’t he is slower than me*

*maybe

Stage 6 was the first proper mountain summit finish and Jay Vine, as Aussie, was too strong for his breakaway companions emerging from the fog to take a memorable win.

Behind Remco Evenepoel accelerated away from the favourites group and gained enough time to depose Roglic.

Only Enric Mas of Spain was able to stay in contact and they became the riders to watch in this Vuelta.

In a race of breakaways there was an emotion home win for Cofidis rouleur Jesus Herrada into Cistierna the following day. A tearful interview for the home tv channels showing how much this one meant.

Vine then won again on the second mountain top finish keeping up a 100% win rate on summits in this years race! He was benefitting from being far enough behind in the overall classification that none of the big teams were too bothered to chase him. But he was clearly on their radar now and would not be gifted the chance to ride in a breakaway again by the looks of things.

Sunday’s showpiece stage to Nava was one for the ages. Up front big Belgian Jimmy Janssens was toiling up the final climb which was Flemish in its steepness, yet almost alpine in its length.

Louis Meintjes, a much more suitable tiny climber, was reeling him in, and did with just enough space to then drop him on the 24% gradients into the finish.

Behind them the GC battle detonated. Remco sensed weakness in Roglic and dropped him compressively on a corner so steep that the tv motorbikes were stalling.

Mas was next to suffer, dropping off the back wheel of the race leader centimetre by centimetre.

Remco was 3/4 of a minute clear of his rivals by the line despite a late charge by Primoz.

We went into the second rest day on Monday which would have usually been the natural break point in my race review.

However I couldn’t post until today so I am including the time trial of yesterday.

Not much to add on that other than Remco dominated again and added to his lead going into this hilly second phase of the race.

What happens next? I think we will see the likes of Roglic and Mas have to try longer range attacks to get time back. Mas doesn’t have a great reputation as an attacker, more a follower so it will be Jumbo that have to instigate.

Evenepoel looks really strong. But we keep hearing he is unproven over three weeks so it will be interesting to see how his team try and manage the race in the coming days to give him an easier ride.

It’s either going to be really exciting or a dull procession to the finish now! I know which I want to see.

RnkPrev▼▲RiderTeamUCITime
11– EVENEPOEL RemcoQuick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team206″34:35:50
23▲1 ROGLIČ PrimožJumbo-Visma13″2:41
32▼1 MAS EnricMovistar Team8″3:03
44– RODRÍGUEZ CarlosINEOS Grenadiers3:55
56▲1 YATES SimonTeam BikeExchange – Jayco4:50
65▼1 AYUSO JuanUAE Team Emirates4:53
77– ALMEIDA JoãoUAE Team Emirates6:45
88– LÓPEZ Miguel ÁngelAstana Qazaqstan Team6:50
910▲1 SIVAKOV PavelINEOS Grenadiers7:06
from http://www.procyclingstats.com

2021 Vuelta week 2 and 3 review

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, News, racing

We left the Vuelta at the week 1 rest day with Primoz Roglic in the leaders red jersey and a situation that felt pretty similar to the Tour de France.

This Slovenian looked home and dry as the chinks in the armour of Richard Carapaz and Egan Bernal were starting to show.

But our Primoz had been burned a number of times in stage races, especially when it came to conceding the lead in the latter stages of big races (2021 Tour, 2022 Paris Nice etc.) so he reduced the level of pressure on his Jumbo Visma team and allowed a break to go clear containing Odd Christian Eiking who was still far enough away at the finish to take the race lead.

He didn’t win the stage, in-form DSM rider Michael Storer did, but this ensured that there would be a number of riders and teams now interested in keeping order and calm at the head of the race.

And as with the other grand tours of the year, once the peloton had settled, breakaways started to get bigger time gaps and stay away.

There were memorable stage wins for Magnus Cort (multiple), Romain Bardet and Rafal Majka.

Eiking retained the lead thanks to the composition of those breakaways not having a rival for his jersey, but it always felt on loan to Roglic. And so it was.

It took the fearsome climb to Lagos de Covadonga to shake the Norwegian off, but it was definitive.

The best day of the race saw Bernal give it an all or nothing attack which Roglic was equal to. When the time came the Columbian was dispatched and no other riders could get within a minute and a half of the defending champion who took the jersey back, and for good.

Movistar showed their incredible ability to mess something up with two riders in the top three going into the penultimate day of the race.

But as Bernal faded, Miguel Angel Lopez, a stage winner two days before, got stuck in a group with him losing his podium place in the process (on the road).

As the time gap drifted over seven minutes Lopez abandoned with less than 100km of the race to go. A sad end to a Vuelta that had started to look like it would end on a high for him, but ended in a team car.

The stage was won by an opportunist in the breakaway (which is so 2021!!!) Clement Champoussin who bagged a third stage win for France. In contrast Spain won zero.

Roglic secured the final days time trial, although the incredible Cort tried to take that off him, ending up with close to a five minute gap on Enric Mas who was the best of the rest and the best of Spain.

An honourable mention to Jack Haig who came third after coming under intense pressure from Adam Yates on the final mountain of the race. He suffered terribly and was dropped many times but came back each and every one.

I wouldn’t say this Vuelta was that interesting in terms of a GC battle. But that was the case in the Tour and to a lesser extent Giro.

What has made this year so special has been the baroudeur spirit of breakaways and their ability to time their run to the line just right and hang on for valuable stage wins.

It started in Italy with Taco Van der Hoorn and carried on here with Corts stage wins being evolutions of that tactic. It’s made a number of key stages in grand tours like one day classics and that is 100% no bad thing.

For now we move on to the Worlds and the end of season classic campaigns, so there is still plenty to get excited about and enjoy.

See you on the road!

2021 Vuelta Week 1 Review

by James Warrener, posted in Blog, News, racing

There is an overused word to describe the feelings riders and fans have towards the Vuelta.

Its ambience.

People often write or speak of the specific relaxed, end of term vibes of the Vuelta. It’s a unique ambience they say.

It certainly works for me.

I spend many a happy hour watching the Vuelta imagining life as a hardened pro cyclist getting to the end of their season and riding round the humid, windy interior of Spain to get a nice tan to take into the winter.

The first week of this year’s race has certainly done nothing to diffuse that stereotype.

There were a couple of flat stages where the organisers prayed for high winds to get the echelons forming. But there was barely a breeze and the riders enjoyed the sun and several sprint finishes.

Where there have been climbs there has been excitement. But Primoz Roglic is in control with rivals such as Egan Bernal clearly going backwards.

Hugh Carthy is sadly at home in Preston by now after abandoning.

Alessandro Valverde suffered a terrible crash before being forced to quit the race. It will be interesting to see how the race develops with his bickering team mates Enric Mas and “Superman” Lopez battling to lead Movistar in his absence.

Sadly, it appears there is no series 3 on their fly on the wall documentary on Netflix. The episode featuring this week’s racing would be a must see.

If this was the Tour de France and if it was Tadej Pogacar in the lead of the race, I would be declaring this one over in terms of a GC battle.

But Roglic has previous (see 2020 Tour, 2021 Paris-Nice) of grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory.

He might be going for a hat-trick of Vuelta wins but in both 2019 and 2020 he was close to losing the race in the closing days. Once through a needless crash when Movistar pushed on and once on the final summit finish when Richard Carapaz went after him.

For those of an English and Ineo bias, the race seems to be slipping away.

Carapaz is fading after his Olympic road race glory and with Bernal losing time on the last summit finish before yesterday’s rest day it might be that Adam Yates gets the responsibility of leading the team now.

However, he is over two minutes behind Roglic and that seems very unlikely a gap that he will cross. Even with two weeks of racing left.

So, let’s enjoy this weeks stages, some sleepy looking towns and wave lashed beaches with the riders swooping past. All mirrored Oakley’s and sun cream as they get through the final grand tour of the 2021 season.

RnkPrev▼▲RiderTeamUCITime
11– ROGLIČ PrimožTeam Jumbo-Visma2034:18:53
23▲1 MAS EnricMovistar Team0:28
34▲1 LÓPEZ Miguel ÁngelMovistar Team1:21
47▲3 HAIG JackBahrain – Victorious1:42
56▲1 BERNAL EganINEOS Grenadiers1:52
610▲4 YATES AdamINEOS Grenadiers2:07
711▲4 CICCONE GiulioTrek – Segafredo2:39
88– KUSS SeppTeam Jumbo-Visma2:40
92▼7 GROßSCHARTNER FelixBORA – hansgrohe3:25
1014▲4 DE LA CRUZ DavidUAE-Team Emirates3:55