A big breakaway took charge on the Vuelta’s hardest day, with a large group riding off the front and the eventual stage winner in their midst. All eyes were on the final climb of the day – the Col d’Aubisque – where the GC race was likely to unfold. Riding confidently on the final climb and responding well to changes in pace, Alberto Contador finished shortly after the GC top two in 19th position.
The Vuelta’s Queen Stage was finally upon us after two hard weeks of racing. While the GC riders had tried to take it easy on yesterday’s stage, there was no amount of rest that could prepare them for the race’s hardest day. Four cateorised climbs dotted the stage, with three of these being first category and the final – the Aubisque – being the race’s highest category. Spending almost the entire day in France, this 196km parcours had the potential to have a huge impact on the shape of the overall standings by the end of the day.
From the off, there were multiple attempts to break away, Groups made up of only a few riders were quickly pulled back in and it wasn’t until a stronger group made the jump that an escape succeeded – and what a group this was. Made up of forty-one riders, with Daniele Bennati in their midst, this was the group that would have the sheer numbers to make good their escape. While the move panicked some other teams, who desperately tried to pull them back in, there was no stopping such a large group.
Ahead of the riders was a mix of different climbs – key to making this stage such a difficult one. Some of the ascents were steep, while others were less steep but long, meaning some climbs would suit some of the GC riders but not others. The key then was strategy, and making sure there was enough energy left in the tank to contest the final climb – the 16.5km long Aubisque, where the average gradient was 7.1%, but with ramps along its length of up to 10%.
As the day went on, riders began to drop off the escape group, the efforts on the climbs taking their toll on already tired legs. The descents were as demanding as the climbs and some riders had close calls, while others hit the deck and retired to the peloton. For the GC riders, the aim was to stay safe, and the guys were doing a sterling job of this for the Tinkoff leader, Alberto Contador. The gap to the break was hovering around six minutes, but this wasn’t insurmountable for a peloton chasing GC glory.
With 20km to go, the chase was taken up, with the guys pushing the pace to ensure none of the break impacted on Alberto’s position in the GC. With the race on the final climb, the fireworks started and as the GC riders decided to push the pace, Alberto went with them with an amazing pace on the demanding climb, holding the wheels of the top two GC riders. Attacking in the final 3km, the Spanish leader was just unable to escape and resorted to riding at his own pace as his rivals fought it out just ahead of him. The breakaway riders took the stage win up the road, with Alberto coming in 19th spot, twenty seconds after the top two in the GC.
The Tinkoff leader summed up the final climb from the finish. “I tried to sit with Froome and Quintana, but the changes in rhythm and pace made it hard to follow them. On the other hand, it wasn’t that difficult to follow the other riders. Maybe people will find this surprising, but I’m feeling well. I focussed on Froome and Quintana and for a long time I was riding easily with them, but there were a lot of attacks from dangerous riders that I also had to control – because only for me they were dangerous and not for them.”
While the Spanish rider dropped a place in the GC, it had been a hard day for the entire team, and there were still several days to race. Sport Director, Steven De Jongh, summed up the day. “It was a really hard day today. It was good to see Benna in the strong breakaway and he fought really hard all day – as did the rest of the team. All of the boys put in a lot of work to support Alberto and he toughed it out well on the Aubisque. It was a shame he was chased down in the final – he tried hard and was looking strong up until then.”
With riders going slow on the Aubisque, Alberto found it hard to find a good rhythm. “When Chaves attacked, we were going really slow. The way we rode up the climb didn’t really suit me – we had many slow moments and when Chaves attacked, we were really, really, really slow, so it was hard for me to accelerate. The truth is that I felt well and I attacked, but that was only to change the rhythm and to switch to a constant climbing pace. I tried to have a stable power output so that the riders that were ahead of me couldn’t go, but at the end I wasn’t able to get to the finish with Nairo and Froome.”
Tomorrow stage 15, at 118.5km, is one of the shortest, but this doesn’t mean the race is letting up – quite the opposite. The whole day is undulating, and riders will be taking on three categorised climbs, increasing in difficulty as the day goes on. The final climb – the Sallent de Gállego Aramón Formigal – won’t allow riders to get into a rhythm, shifting from false flats to inclines as steep as 10% in a matter of a few hundred metres. De Jongh saw that, as has been the theme for this race, it was going to be another difficult day in the saddle. “Tomorrow will be another short, but hard day. The climbs get progressively harder, so we’ll see how things unfold on the day.”
Stage Result
1. Robert Gesink (NED) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 05:43:24
2. Kenny Elissonde (FRA) FDJ +00:00:07
3. Egor Silin (RUS) Team Katusha +00:00:09
4. George Bennett (NZL) Team LottoNL-Jumbo +00:00:31
5. Simon Yates (GBR) Orica-BikeExchange +00:00:39
19. Alberto Contador (SPA) Tinkoff +00:02:07
35. Jesús Hernández (SPA) Tinkoff +00:07:18
52. Yuri Trofimov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:15:31
80. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +00:29:13
99. Sergio Paulinho (POR) Tinkoff +00:34:08
103. Michael Gogl (AUT) Tinkoff +00:36:49
147. Daniele Bennati (ITA) Tinkoff +00:39:28
158. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +00:39:34
GC After Stage 14
1. Nairo Quintana (COL) Movistar Team 58:41:40
2. Chris Froome (GBR) Team Sky +00:00:54
3. Esteban Chaves (COL) Orica-BikeExchange +00:02:01
4. Simon Yates (GBR) Orica-BikeExchange +00:02:17
5. Leopold Konig (CZE) Team Sky +00:02:38
6. Alberto Contador (SPA) Tinkoff +00:03:28
33. Jesús Hernández (SPA) Tinkoff +00:30:10
47. Yuri Trofimov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:57:29
91. Michael Gogl (AUT) Tinkoff +01:54:58
123. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +02:32:08
127. Daniele Bennati (ITA) Tinkoff +02:33:52
135. Sergio Paulinho (POR) Tinkoff +02:45:54
158. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +03:11:56
