A do or die attack in the final kilometres from Daniele Bennati set up a nail-biting finish on a very hot 16th stage of the Vuelta today, but despite a huge effort from the Italian, he was passed by the sprinters with just 200m left to race. Making his move with 2,200m to go, Daniele came up just short of his seventh Vuelta stage win, eventually crossing the line in 26th place.
For Tinkoff’s GC leader, Alberto Contador, it was a safe day before the race heads into its second rest day. Despite the searing heat and the threat of crosswinds, Alberto was kept near the front of the peloton and came over the line safely within the bunch after a hectic, twisty run-in to the line at Peñíscola.
“It was another tough day, a very hard stage with the speed and the heat, but all the boys did a good ride, and nobody had any problems,” explained Sport Director Steven De Jongh from the team bus. “The boys in yesterday’s break suffered a bit, but we just wanted to stay out of trouble for much of the stage. With Benna we had somebody for the sprint, and he saw an opportunity to place an attack in the final kilometres. It was well-timed and he very nearly made it – it was the guys that made the decision there and it’s good to see them thinking like this in a hectic finish like today.
“Tomorrow we have a rest day. With the warm weather and the hard days in the legs we’ll have an easy ride, really trying to recover. Then after that we have some more very tough days ahead.”
Staying hydrated was again of high importance on today’s hot stage. Photo by Bettini Photo
The 156.4km stage was ear-marked by the sprinters, but with strong winds to negotiate, teams were still eager to try to take control of the race. After just a few kilometres the day’s break was established, with six riders pulling clear. They quickly gained a few minutes, but their advantage was well controlled by the chasing peloton who kept a high pace all day long, aided by strong tailwinds in the first half of the stage.
With just one small categorised climb on the parcours, the peloton only threatened to break up when the tailwind turned to crosswinds with just over 50km to go. However, it wasn’t strong enough to cause any real damage and the race came back together soon after. The pressure on the front of the bunch saw the break’s gap fall quickly, and with 12km it was gruppo compato again.
Tinkoff took control of the race on the run in, anticipating a succession of roundabouts and tight corners, looking to keep Alberto safe, and it was this technical finish that gave Daniele the belief he could stay clear. After his attack he only ever had a handful of seconds, but he held this onto the long finishing straight before being swallowed up with 200m to go.
Alberto commented on the stage, saying: “It was an impressively hot day – on the descent the temperature was something close to 90 degrees. In the final part of the stage we were doing 90km/h and we could still feel the heat! We were sweating and I wouldn’t exaggerate if I said that sweat evaporated before even coming out.
It was a safe day for Contador after yesterday’s hard efforts. Photo by Bettini Photo
“It was really fast and I was focused on what I was doing, especially after yesterday’s great effort. My legs responded well today even though it was a more mentally than physically demanding stage, as we had to be very attentive.
“We now head into the second rest day and we will see what will happen in the final week. I am left with very little margin by the other teams, so it will be complicated. Again, we will take it day-by-day and see how my body keeps recovering, assessing each stage and seeing where we can get in the GC.”
Stage Result
1. Jean Pierre Drucker (LUX) BMC Racing Team
2. Rudiger Selig (GER) Bora-Argon 18 +00:00:00
3. Nikias Arndt (GER) Team Giant-Alpecin +00:00:00
4. Gianni Meersman (BEL) Etixx-Quickstep +00:00:00
5. Lorrenzo Manzin (FRA) FDJ +00:00:00
26. Daniele Bennati (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:00
34. Alberto Contador (SPA) Tinkoff +00:00:00
38. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:00
107. Jesús Hernández (SPA) Tinkoff +00:02:01
132. Sergio Paulinho (POR) Tinkoff +00:04:35
134. Yuri Trofimov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:04:35
136. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +00:04:35
162. Michael Gogl (AUT) Tinkoff +00:04:45
GC After Stage 16
1. Nairo Quintana (COL) Movistar 64:57:27
2. Christopher Froome (GBR) Team Sky +00:03:37
3. Esteban Chaves (COL) ORICA-BikeExchange +00:03:57
4. Alberto Contador (SPA) Tinkoff +00:04:02
38. Yuri Trofimov (RUS) Tinkoff +01:12:17
48. Jesús Hernández (SPA) Tinkoff +01:26:06
71. Michael Gogl (AUT) Tinkoff +02:18:45
97. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +02:46:54
107. Daniele Bennati (ITA) Tinkoff +02:52:56
118. Sergio Paulinho (POR) Tinkoff +03:09:31
156. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +04:05:53
