Alcaudete, 29th of August – 2014
Today’s 169 kilometer long seventh stage of the Vuelta a Espana brought the peloton from Alhendin to Alcaudete and another but less steep uphill finish suitable for the punchy riders of the field. For Tinkoff-Saxo, the day was all about protecting Alberto Contador who demonstrated surprisingly strong form on yesterday’s demanding mountain finish and climbed to third overall.
Four riders, Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), Hubert Dupont (AG2R), Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) and Johann Tschopp (IAM) formed a promising breakaway and with 50 kilometers to go, they had more than 6 minutes to the chasing field where Trek controlled the pace.
Due to safety precautions, the Tinkoff-Saxo riders took the front on the descents but besides from that, Trek were busy chasing the front group who was down to two riders as Dupont couldn’t keep and Hesjedal crashed with 13 kilometers to go but Trek were unsuccessful. The break was down to just De Marchi at the foot of the slightly uphill finish and he took a beautiful solo win.
Tinkoff-Saxo’s Alberto Contador finished 9th in the bunch and preserved his energy for Sunday’s mountain top finish and thereby remained third overall.
DS, Steven De Jongh was happy about the teamwork throughout the stage:
“The stage was actually harder than the profile suggested it would be in terms of climbing. It was relentlessly up and down and even though it was slightly cooler than the previous few days, it was still hot for out there. But the boys did a fantastic job for Alberto during the stage without having to do the hard work in front of the peloton and we’re ready for a similar stage and similar tactics tomorrow before Sunday’s mountain top finish,” said De Jongh after the stage.
Alejandro Valverde leads overall.
