- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
In the first mountain top finish of the 2015 La Vuelta a Espana, it was Bert Jan Linderman (Lotto NL – Jumbo) who outlasted his fellow breakaway companions and the fast moving general classification men to take the win atop of the Alto de Capileira on Stage 7.
After another heroic performance on yesterdays uphill finish, all eyes were on Overall race leader Esteban Chaves (Orica GreenEDGE) as to whether he could sustain his outstanding performance on the first major general classification day of the race.
An early breakaway got away with five riders looking for an early attack. These riders included Carlos Quintero (Colombia), Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural), Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre-Merida), Bert Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Antoine Cousin (Europcar).
Back in the peloton, the gap grew quickly for the leaders as Orica Greenedge riding in defence of the leaders jersey on the shoulders of Esteban Chaves kept the pace low in the peloton. Today they would rely on the larger general classification teams like Astana, Sky, Katusha and Movistar to do the lion’s share of the pace making.
The first difficulty on the days stage was the third category climb of the Puerto de los Blancares. Amets Txurruka was the first man over the top, with Bert Jan Lindeman in second, and Ilia Koshevoy in third. At this stage the gap was over 12 minutes, and the breakaway looked good value for the stage win.
The riders then descended gradually before rolling through the intermediate sprint point, where it was Bert Jan Lindeman through in first, with Jérôme Cousin in second, and Amets Txurruka in third. At this point in the stage, both Movistar and Astana had reduced the gap to under 9 minutes.
The breakaway worked well all day, and hit the final 18 kilometre test with a gap of just under 6 minutes. This quickly evaporated as Movistar hit the front to set a high tempo at the base of the climb.
This pace had an immediate effect, as the gap rolled down to just under 4 minutes as the break hit the flat section of the climb at 13 kilometres to go.
Over the next four kilometre flat period, the gap only fell around 40 seconds, so with the road ramping up again at 9 kilometres to go, the gap was 3 minutes and 15 seconds.
As the break once again starting going upward, Cousin attacked from Europcar, with Txurruka and Linderman easily able to get across to him. Koshevoy slowly rode back to the group and attacked as he got back to the group. He was caught soon after, but he attacked once again, and none of the other riders immediately followed.
With 4 kilometres to go, the break had a gap of still over 2 minutes.
Cousin with 3 kilometres to go caught Koshevoy, with both riders then working together to open up the game to their other breakaway riders. However with 2 kilometres to go, Linderman made it back to make a leading group of three.
Cousin immediately attacked and dropped both the riders, but was again caught, and the dropped by both Koshevoy and Linderman.
Back in the peloton, Martin attacked but was caught, then Aru got a big gap and was able to stay away near the end to claim third but there still was a race for the win unfolding.
Coming into the final 300 metres, Linderman attacked strongly, and was never challenged. Koshevoy took an outstanding 2nd place in his first grand tour.
The main contenders finished in the leading group, except for Tejay Van Gardaren (BMC) and Chris Froome (Sky) who both lost precious time that could be hard to come back from. Esteban Chavez put in a magnificent ride to keep his overall lead of the race on the first big mountains day.
The first high altitude stage of the race greets the riders today. Join The Roar for live coverage of Stage 7 of La Vuelta a Espana from 12 midnight (AEST).
While the riders have faced lumpy roads throughout the race, today is the first large mountain-top finish.
The peloton start the day in Jodar and will complete just under 30 kilometres of relatively flat roads before the the parcours starts to become ‘up and down’.
The first obstacle is the category three climb of the Puerto de los Blancos after 87 kilometres. This nine-kilometre climb at 3.5 per cent will give the riders their first point of reference as to how they are feeling before the final climb.
It’s then mostly descent until the 32-kilometres-to-go mark, where they will contest the only intermediate sprint of the stage. More descent follows before the final climb of the Alto de Capileira.
This 19 kilometre test averages out at just over 5 per cent, but is extremely difficult to judge.
The first five kilometres are uphill, with gradients ranging between 3 to 8 per cent. The road is then flat for four kilometres, before the final kilometres ramp up to over 7 per cent, with the steepest part of the climb coming at two kilometres to go at 14 per cent.
The climb therefore does not look that difficult in terms of gradient, considering the finale of Stage 2 was at an average gradient of over eight per cent, however, with lumpy roads before the final climb, and a difficult first week of the race in their legs, there is the potential for the first summit finish to really shred the race to bits.
Teams like Astana and Sky should set a heavy pace before, and on the final climb to attempt to isolate the key general classification favourites.
Esteban Chaves so far has taken the race by storm, winning both Stage 2 and Stage 6, which both contained short but steep hilltop finishes. He looks in imperious form, but will he be able to repeat this type of effort on the 19 kilometres test of the Alto de Capileira?
This stage may give us an indication as to whether Chaves is a genuine contender for the overall classification.
Both Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde will enjoy a stage finish like this. A category one climb with inconsistent gradients, these two riders should deal with the changing nature of the road and will be aiming for the stage win.
Other riders to look out for include Chris Froome, Fabio Aru, Mikel Landa, Dan Martin, Domenico Pozzovivo, Tejay van Gardaren, Daniel Navarro, Nairo Quintana, Louis Meintjes, Pierre Roland, and Rafal Majka.
Fancy a wager on your favourite sport? Head on over to PlayUp for great odds and friendly customer service and pick a winner. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.