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The second sprint finish in Alcala de Guadaira saw Caleb Ewan (Orica GreenEDGE) prevail in a difficult uphill drag to the line on Stage 5 of La Vuelta a Espana.
The races first proper flat day was one where the sprinters were expected to dominate the finish, in which they did. Before then though they had 167 kilometres to deal with.
Three riders escaped early on today’s stage, with the breakaway consisting of ljo Keisse (Etixx Quickstep), Tshabu Grmay (Lampre) and Antoine Duchesne (Europcar). They were given as much as 7 minutes gap in the early part of the stage, but were kept on a leash by Giant-Alpecin who were working for their sprinter German John Degenkolb.
Nothing much happened until the final 25 kilometres, where the breakaway became disorganised as Giant – Alpecin stopped contributing to the work at the front. Duchesne attacked prior to the intermediate sprint, but was pulled back in by Keisse. At the 20 kilometres to go mark. the gap was a minute and 45 seconds back to the peloton.
A few kilometres later, Keisse attacked strongly before the intermediate sprint and went solo. He has form in these types of late breakaway finishes, with him winning the final stage of the Giro D’Italia this year in similar circumstances.
However, he was not given to much room as Tinkoff – Saxo came to the front and whipped up the pace. With 10 kilometres to go, Keisse only had 30 seconds on the peloton and he was caught soon after.
Coming into the final few kilometres, it was Orica GreenEDGE on the front protecting their man Caleb Ewan, and they put on a clinic in the lead out.
Matt Hayman did the work until the final kilometre, Jens Keukeleire who was not in the train at 3 kilometres to go then managed to get to the front and worked into the final left hand bend, before Mitch Docker did the final lead out. Ewan then finished it off fairly easily in the end, coming off the wheel of John Degenkolb to easily win the stage. Peter Sagan couldn’t repeat his heroics on Stage 3, and faded in the sprint to finish third.
In the happiness of it all for Orica Greenedge though, race leader Esteban Chaves was behind a split in the final kilometre, and lost the red jersey to Tom Dumoulin. Not that he or the team will feel to unhappy with the final result.
Stage 5 of la Vuelta a Espana should see a bunch sprint to the finish line. Join The Roar for live coverage from 12 midnight (AEST).
Today is the race’s first flat day, after each stage – bar the opening day team time trial – being lumpy.
Today’s 167-kilometre journey starts in the coastal town of Rota, and features an intermediate sprint 28 kilometres from the finish, before a final uphill sprint in Alcala de Guadaira.
The final 700 metres averages around five per cent gradient. As such the sprinters should have no trouble, but the lead-outs will need to be perfectly timed so as not to have their fast men on the front too early.
It’s the type of finish that suits John Degenkolb perfectly, as he has shown over the past few years at the Vuelta, although Peter Sagan also likes an uphill finish. Coming off an extremely impressive win on Stage 2, where he out-sprinted both Degenkolb and Nacer Bouhanni, and a hard-fought second place on the difficult finale yesterday, the green jersey wearer should be confident for the stage today.
Having fallen in the early parts of Stage 2, Bouhanni’s efforts to claim second in the final sprint were surprising and impressive. Having missed out on the Tour de France due to injuries sustained at the French national championships in late June, the Vuelta is Bouhanni’s main objective for the season, and a stage win could resurrect his season.
Other riders to watch out for include Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEDGE), Vicente Reynes (IAM Cycling), Carlos Barbero (Caja Rural), Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC), Ariel Richeze (Lampre), Kristian Sbaragli (MTN Qhubeka), Jasper Stuyven (Trek Factory Racing), Tom van Asbroeck (Lotto NL-Jumbo), Nikolas Maes (Etixx Quickstep) and Kris Boeckmans (Lotto-Soudal).
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