With the Vuelta back on the road after a well-deserved rest day, it was business as usual for the riders. While the parcours was fairly gentle to begin with, the pace certainly wasn’t, with fast racing throughout the day. After the Tinkoff riders held a blistering pace to pull in the escape, it was a hard push on the day’s main climb for Alberto Contador, taking 5th on the stage and maintaining his hold on 5th in the GC.
The rest day behind them, today’s stage would show who had recovered well and who would fall behind. While the 168.6km stage started out fairly flat, steadily easing riders into the race again as it skirted Spain’s northern coast, there was the sting in the tail in the shape of the Peña Cabarga – just 5.6km long, but an average gradient of 9.8% and maximum gradients of 18% both at the foot of the climb and the top, meant this was going to be where the excitement was going to take place – a climb where some of the GC favourites were bound to struggle on its constantly-changing gradient.
While the terrain suggested a gentle return to racing, the riders had other ideas, and at the drop of the flag the pace was fast and hard. The speed of the peloton discouraged breaks from forming, and it wasn’t until the race had covered 60km that a group escaped up the road. With 25 in the escape, the break was a strong one, but the GC riders were keeping a close eye on reserving their energy for the final climb.
The break’s advantage hit almost six minutes as the day went on, and the Tinkoff riders took up the chase, pushing a relentless pace to pull in the escapees as the race entered its final 60km. The speed of the chase was both reducing the gap on the break as well as putting the hurt into the GC riders in preparation for the climb to come. In less than 10km, the yellow jerseys of Tinkoff had brought the break below three minutes, and then approaching two, with Michael Gogl, Manuele Boaro, Sergio Paulinho and Ivan Rovny pushing hard, while Alberto Contador sat a few places back as the kilometres ticked down. With 15km to go, the break’s lead was well below a minute.
Sport Director, Steven De Jongh was thrilled with how hard the team worked to drive up the pace and bring the break back. “We knew we couldn’t let the break get to far and we closed the gap down to two minutes and then one minute. Hats off to the guys today – they did a great job.”
After setting a hard pace, the Tinkoff team delivered Alberto Contador to the foot of the final climb.
Hitting the Peña Cabarga, the pace ground to a standstill, as the first slopes hit almost 20%. The backmarkers of the break were quickly swallowed up, although one lone member strived to hold his advantage but to no avail. It was all back together from 3km out and the race was on to the finish. As the attacks came and the GC race started, Alberto held his own and stayed up there with his rivals, and as the final big ramps saw others dropped, the Spanish Tinkoff leader kept on, crossing the line in 5th spot, just a few seconds behind the stage winner.
From the finish, Alberto wasn’t sure how he would perform after the rest day, and while he had finished strongly, felt he didn’t have the legs. “Today we had a summit finish and we didn’t know how we would feel after the rest day. We tried to control the breakaway despite the fact it was composed of 25 riders, which made things complicated. We tried but then the legs didn’t respond. There were riders stronger than me.”
De Jongh was pleased with how the Tinkoff leader rode the stage – particularly given the high speeds and the tough climb – and was looking to see how he would perform in the later stages. “It was a fast race today. We tried to win the stage with Alberto and he did a very impressive job. It was very good from him – in the final, Froome and Quintana were strong, but Alberto was showing good signs and I’m happy for that, it’s promising for the stages to come.”
While the team’s hard effort didn’t result in a win, Alberto knew that taking risks was an integral part of cycling. “You have to take risks in order to know whether you can win or not. It is of no use to have 25 riders finish ahead and the only option for us to be in the group. We also have to seek other options and other goals.”
The Vuelta stays in the north for tomorrow’s 193.2km stage. The rolling parcours takes in a first and third category climb before the 100km point, before a finishing circuit around Bilbao that climbs the second category Alto El Vivero twice before the finish. The final kilometre is flat, but with the demanding 8.5% climb ridden twice, who knows who will take the win.
With the hard profile, De Jongh was expecting a strong breakaway effort on stage 12. “Tomorrow will be a hard finishing lap and also hard at the start – it could be a stage where the break stays away. We will see how the race goes.”
After today’s strong effort and good result, the Tinkoff leader was waiting to see what the day would bring. “Tomorrow is another day and we will see what we can do.”
Stage Result
1. Chris Froome (GBR) Team Sky 03:44:47
2. Nairo Quintana (COL) Movistar Team +00:00:00
3. Alejandro Valverde (SPA) Movistar Team +00:00:06
4. Leopold Konig (CZE) Team Sky +00:00:06
5. Alberto Contador (SPA) Tinkoff +00:00:06
40. Jesús Hernández (SPA) Tinkoff +00:03:00
154. Daniele Bennati (ITA) Tinkoff +00:13:44
155. Sergio Paulinho (POR) Tinkoff +00:13:44
156. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +00:13:44
157. Yuri Trofimov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:13:44
162. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +00:14:18
166. Michael Gogl (AUT) Tinkoff +00:14:18
GC After Stage 11
1. Nairo Quintana (COL) Movistar Team 42:21:48
2. Chris Froome (GBR) Team Sky +00:00:54
3. Alejandro Valverde (SPA) Movistar Team +00:01:05
4. Esteban Chaves (COL) Orica-BikeExchange +00:02:34
5. Alberto Contador (SPA) Tinkoff Team +00:03:06
39. Jesús Hernández (SPA) Tinkoff +00:24:39
51. Yuri Trofimov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:43:45
117. Daniele Bennati (ITA) Tinkoff +01:36:46
129. Michael Gogl (AUT) Tinkoff +01:43:41
131. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +01:45:17
141. Sergio Paulinho (POR) Tinkoff +01:54:08
151. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +02:04:26
