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Stage 6 in the 2015 La Vuelta a Espana, which was another uphill stage saw Esteban Chaves (Orica GreenEDGE) once again reign supreme and take back the red jersey from Tom Dumoulin (Giant – Alpecin).
The day started with an extremely fast pace over the first hour and a half as it took the breakaway over 60 kilometres to form. Once it did, the six man leading group included Cyril Gauiter (Europcar), Miguel Rubiano (Colombia), Peter Velits (BMC), Kristian Durasek (Lampre), Steve Cummings (MTN Qhubeka) and Niki Tepstra (Etixx Quickstep). They formed a very strong group at the front of the race.
Once the breakaway was settled, they worked well together, but the gap between them and the peloton was kept on a relatively tight leash by the teams of the general classification favourites.
With 55 kilometres to go, the break crested the third category climb of the Alto de Baeza. It was Cyril Gautier who went over the top in first place, with Miguel Rubiano in second, and Kristian Durasek in third. At this stage, the break had a gap of just under three minutes, but this was continually whittled down and at the intermediate sprint in the town of Peal de Becerro with only 16 kilometres to go, the gap was around 40 seconds.
At the intermediate sprint it was Rubiano who passed through the point first, with Terpstra in second and Durasek in third. The gap was now 30 seconds.
With 12 kilometres to go, the cohesion in the break was ripped apart as Rubiano attacked, but was countered by Cummings who immediately got a gap. and heading into the final 5 kilometres, and the final climb, he still had a gap of 45 seconds.
As the riders hit start of the climb at 3 kilometres to go, Rubiano left Cummings stood still, whilst former race leader Chaves attacked on the steepest section and was never troubled as he took another stage win.
He was perfectly positioned into the climb by Daryl Impey, and took advantage of that position to go solo. Another fabulous team performance from Orica Greenedge.
Behind, it was Tom Dumoulin who attempted to keep his red jersey by attacking over the flatter section of the climb after having used up his teammate Lawson Craddock who did the pace making up the steeper sections on the climb. However, the Dutchman could not catch Chaves, finishing only 5 seconds back, and he himself was beaten to the line for second by Dan Martin (Cannondale – Garmin).
So with that win, Chaves again retakes the leaders jersey before the first real alpine test tomorrow, and it will be interesting to see if he can hang on.
Although the peloton will not have to overcome any notable mountain passes, this stage could easily be called a “leg breaker”, and with that, expect an exciting day’s racing. Join The Roar‘s live coverage of the sixth stage of La Vuelta a Espana from 12 pm AEST.
The race starts in Cordoba, and will head over 200 kilometres to the final hilltop finish in the town of Sierra de Cazorla. In between these two points is lumpy roads. There are practically no flat areas in this stage; the riders will have to go up and down the entire time, which will obviously take its physical toll on them.
Due to the lumpy nature of the stage, we could see general classification teams want to let the breakaway go, to ensure that the racing is not as intense and to protect their main riders, or we could see the big teams like Astana put pressure on the peloton to isolate the general classification riders before the final climb.
Whichever alternative, today’s parcours should give us a race of attrition; the riders who can conserve the most energy over the rolling terrain will be the ones at the pointy end at the finale of the stage.
The riders will set of from Cordoba with a flat start for about 25 kilometres before the rode starts to become lumpy. Therefore, a breakaway may not get away before this point.
The first real difficulty on today’s stage comes after 145 kilometres, with the third category climb of the Alto de Baeza. The climb is the second longest of the race to date, at just over 12 kilometres. The average gradient is fairly easy, being at just under four per cent, however, the last three kilometres of the climb are above five per cent.
This climb is crested at 55 kilometres to go, and the riders will face a gentle down hill run for the next 30 kilometres until the riders start to hit a period of false flat (around three per cent in gradient) before the solitary intermediate sprint of the day in the town of Peal de Becerro at 15 kilometres to go.
This false flat again continues at around the same gradient until we get to the final climb of the day, the Alto de Cazorla for another hilltop finish. The finishing climb is 3 kilometres long at just under 7 percent. However, the last 1.5 kilometres average out to be at only six and a half per cent, with the first half of the climb being around eight per cent.
Looking at the route, today’s stage finish should be less selective than on Stage 2, but with the consistent rolling terrain, time gaps between the main general classification riders could open up. Or we could see a rider like Sagan survive and take a reduced group finish.
It will be down to the general classification teams as to what finish they want out of a stage like today.
Therefore, my favourites for this stage are exactly the same as on Stage 2.
Alejandro Valverde won the uphill finish on Stage 4 in strong fashion, and would like to take a little bit more time on the other general classification favourites on today’s finish, whether that be through time bonuses in the final sprint, or genuine time gaps.
The same could be said for Joaquim Rodriguez, who as of yet has really featured in the finale of the stages to date. Today’s stage offers him a launching pad for his first success of the tour.
Once again, the same could be said for Dan Martin, who look in decent form on Stage 2. He attacked at the same time as Esteban Chaves, but was not able to get on the wheel before the Colombian rode off. All could have been different for the Irishmen if he was able to stick with Chaves.
Other riders to look out for today include Chris Froome, Fabio Aru, Esteban Chaves, Domenico Pozzovivo, Tejay van Gardaren, Daniel Navarro, Nairo Quintana, Louis Meintjes Pierre Roland, and Rafal Majka.
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