Finally a flat stage! 189 kilometres from Villa Romana la Olmeda to Haro, with only 1100 height metres. WHat a relief for the cyclists!
9km to go
We tried to be part of the BOTD today, especially Lieuwe Westra was very active. But no breakaway managed to stay in front of the peloton for more than 20 kilometres. All teams were chasing every single attack, sometimes Dexia, sometimes Dexia, sometimes even Caja Rural.
After the Intermediate sprint about 30km before the finish, Cavendish, Ciolek, Greipel and Rojas stayed in front of the peloton. Lars Boom bridged the gap and left them behind. We started to chase them, but barely came closer. So with 9km to go, Lars Boom is leading the race, with the 4 sprinters at '40 and the peloton at 1'05. Robert Gesink is showing his brand new leaders outfit, designed by Maddrengen!
Strange stage, 160 kilometres without a succesful breakaway, and in the end Sagan with Sp 82 getting outsprinted in a flat stage by a guy with Sp 67.....
And another exteremely difficult stage, the longest of this Vuelta. Well, the first 140 kilometres are easy, before the riders start to ascend the Portillo de la Sia. After a long descend, the Puerto de Alisas awaits (8.6km at 5.9%) as a appetizer for the Peña Cabarga. 5.9 kilometres at an average gradient of 9.2%, with a maximum gradient of 18% in the final kilometre.
33km to go
Gregory Bernard has tried a few times to take part in a breakaway, but just as yesterday, everytime the breakaway has been caught quickly by the peloton. Whether it was Rabobank (why???), Movistar, Caja Rural or Dexia leading the chase, no breakaway had any chance.
So a big group of 69 cyclists is ascending the Puerto de Alises, forming the leading peloton. AndalucÃa's Amets Txurukka (GC's 7th) is the first to attack, 7km before the summit.
26km to go
It's the start of a spitfire of attacks, causing many riders to get dropped. Also Robert Gesink, of course without domestiques left, has problems in finding his rhythm and arrives at the summit of the Puerto de Alesas 25 seconds behind the leading group with Txurukka, Rein Taaramäe (15th), Carlos Barredo (4th), Bradley Wiggins (13th), Javier Moreno (5th), Ezequiel Mosquera (9th), Stefan Denifl (16th) and ALberto Contador (2nd). A 2nd group with Kiserlovski (3rd), Nieve, Kennaugh (14th), Siutsou (6th), Cobo (12th), Kreder and Albasini follows at '53.
10km to go
Gesink descends like a daredevil, and bridges the gap to the 8 leaders. But also the 2nd group is coming back from behind. So with 10km to go, we have a leading group of 17, with only Thomas De Gendt (10th) missing.
7km to go
Even before the foot of the climb to Peña Cabarga, Txurruka attacks again. This time, Taaramäe and Moreno counter, with the others waiting, knowing what gradients are waiting for them.
3km to go
Team Movistar does the work in the chasing group and the 3 are caught again. But then, Kanstantsin Siutsou hits the back wheel of his team mate Carlos Barredo in a moment of unattentfullness, and hits the tarmac. His carsh causes a split in the leading group, with Moreno, Barredo and Taaramäe having a small gap to the others, that had difficulty in avoiding the Belarussian.
1km to go
Barredo uses this opportunity to attack, and with 1 kilometre to go, he has a gap of '7 to Txurukka and Moreno. Robert Gesink follows at '14, and the group Contador is loosing ground, now '30 behind.
500m to go
Gesink has refound his good legs, and has closed the gap to Moreno and Txurukka. Still, Barredo seems to be out of reach, with a gap of 19 seconds.
Finish
But it's too late in preventing Carlos Barredo to take his 2nd stage win this Vuelta. And this one sure is more beautiful than the solo ride to San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Gesink takes the 2nd place at '14, with Txurruka and Moreno following at '23. Contador follows at 1'20 and GC's 3rd Kiserlosvki at 1'39, meaning he looses his 3rd place in the GC to Barredo.
I was expecting more of Suitsou, for me he usually is first to fall off the back of the peloton in the early part of the year then he always ends up winning the Vuelta .
Almost gave me a heart attack, that Gesink. Is he making it a show or what? First dropping out, coming back, dropping out, coming back, nearly winning?
Great 16th stage with an amazing ride from Gesink, well done. Siutsou may look insane with that attack but i´ve seen already in pcm some riders making such attacks and at the end managed to win the stage, so no risk no fun.
Stage 17th presented another great ride from Gesink, he´s really a show man.
@ The Rider: The best rider with the best form (Contador shuld be as strong, but is lacking fitness). Siutsou did pretty well, untill his crash in stage 17. In the next stage, he'll loose 23 minutes (finishes as 131st of 147 riders), and drops to 18th in the GC.
@ sutty: And the opponents get worse and worse!
@ Ian & baia: Absolutely no show, the pace set by Movistar at that penultimate climb was killing. Gesink had to ride at dot 85 to follow them. Apparantly all but Barredo had wasted their energy there.
The Vuelta stays in Cantabria for the 18th stage for 175 hilly kilometres from Solares to Noja. In this hilly stage, over 3000 height metres await.
49km to go
Just as yesterday, the Puerto de Alisas has to be climbed. This time, the summit is 49km before the finish. The 4-rider BOTD arrives with a margin of 4'14 to the peloton, with Robert Vrecer (BMC), leading Eros Capecchi (Lampre), David Jai Crawford (Qantas) and Matthew Lloyd (Astana).
34km to go
The first attack out of the peloton takes place at the non-categorized Alto de Cruz Usaño. With 34km to go, Rein Taaramäe (GC 14th), Thomas De Gendt (10th), Carlos Barredo (3rd), Javier Moreno (5th), Sylwester Szmyd (21st) and Peter Kennaugh (15th) are the first atatckers.
33km to go
1 kilometre later, the first attack is followed by a 2nd one, initiated by JoaquÃm RodrÃguez. He gets countered by Mikel Astarloza (11th), Juan Mauricio Soler (7th), Alberto Contador (2nd) and Bradley Wiggins (12th). And Robert Gesink? Still surrounded by team mates, he continues in his own pace, not getting worried yet.
27km to go
Afte a short descend, the Puerto de Fuente las Varas awaits, 5.7km at 5.3%. Capecchi, Crawford, Lloyd and Vrecer are still in the lead, with Thomas De Gendt 1'23 behind them. At 1'47 follows a group with Barredo, Kennaugh, Taaramäe, Moreno, Szmyd and Soler. The chasing peloton follows at 2'27 (the 2nd attack with Astarloza and Contador got reeled in at the summit of the previous hill).
Then Amets Txurukka attacks, and gets countered by Stefan Denifl, Wiggins, Philippe Gilbert and again Alberto Contador. Our domestiques can't help Gesink anymore, so he has to do it all by himself again.
22km to go
Due to some sattelite disturbance, we can't follow what happens in the next 5 kilometres of the ascend. At the summit of the Puerto de Fuente las Varas, the tv-connection has been reset, so we can see what the current situation is.
A group of 3 arrives at the summit as first: Barredo, Gilbert and Capecchi. They are followed by Txurukka and Crawford at '5. A bigger group of 17 riders with Gesink and Contador follows at '35. With a long descend and flat part to Noja to go, all is open for the stage win.
8km to go
The 5 leaders get caught in the descend. And back on the flat we have one final attempt to prevent a bunch sprint. Again Carlos Barredo attacks, getting countered by De Gendt, JJ Cobo and Soler.
1500m to go
Also this attack is unsuccesful, so the stage will end in a sprint by 20 riders. Contador is the first to start the sprint on the right side of the road. Gesink has observed his opponents here, and decided that Philippe Gilbert has the best sprint qualities, so he has taken the wheel of the former world champion.
Finish
And it is the right wheel to choose! But Gilbert is too strong in the sprint for Gesink and takes his 2nd stage win in this Vuelta. Gesink takes the 2nd place, and increases the gap to Contador in the GC by 12 seconds due to the bonus seconds. The 3rd place is for Peter Kennaugh in the white jersey.
These silly Spanish riders.... They keep on attacking, but they can't crack Gesink, even when he has no more teammates to help him. 2 difficult stages in Basque country to go!
Gerald Ciolek
Edvald Boasson Hagen
José JoaquÃn Rojas
Romain Feillu
Grega Bole
Mark Cavendish
Manuel Cardoso
Francesco Gavazzi
Rein Taaramäe
Stefan Denifl
Philippe Gilbert
Robert Kiserlovski
Juan Mauricio Soler
Kanstantsin Siutsou
Michael Albasini
What are his stats?
