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After a stunning ride from red jersey leader Nairo Quintana yesterday, it’s up to Froome and the peleton to reign in the Colombian on today’s Stage 16 of the Vuelta a Espana. Join The Roar from 11pm (AEST) for all the live race updates and highlights.
Although it was Gianluca Brambilla that took the stage win yesterday, it was all about Quintana who held onto a breakaway that continued to fall apart towards the finish, coming home in second.
More importantly, he finished a whole 2 minutes and 43 seconds ahead of Chris Froome, extending his lead way out to a very commanding 3 minutes 37 seconds.
Froome was expected to make his move and pick up big ground during the individual time trial (Stage 19), the Brit may be forced to into more work than he’d anticipated and will have to make up lost time in the days leading up to it.
Today’s stage is a real day of two halves, split almost exactly between one long climb and one long descent.
A touch over 156km in the saddle today, leaving the Pyrenees (to the delight of a whole peloton of legs) and heading down and across to the East Mediterranean coast of Spain, with a beautiful flat finish through Peniscola.
The first 70km of the day is just one long gradual climb, barely reaching any great amount of steepness before hitting a short, but powerful, category 3 climb around the halfway point of the day.
At only 3.4km in length, the Alto Castillo de Morella is the only real test of the day.
Over the peak of that and that slow gradual rise continues for just 10 more kilometres before one of the easiest back ends of a stage on the calendar.
It’s 50km of downhill cruising for the riders, with plenty of speed on offer. If there’s an opening breakaway in the first half of the day, this is where they’ll be reigned in.
The trek flattens out as they hit the coast line with 17.4km to go. This is where the big sprinters will put their mark on what is traditionally a tough tour for them.
This one should be an exciting bunch sprint at the finish, with plenty of flat straight road leading into the line.
Join The Roar from 11pm (AEST) for all the live race updates and highlights.
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