VaE: Nibali blows as Wiggins confirms his Vuelta lead on Stage 14

Bradley Wiggins may not have won the stage, but he looks like he may have just won the Vuelta, after a superb ride by himself and Chris Froome, on Stage 14.

Froome really put the hammer down, with two kilometres to go and immediately began to shell riders off the back of the peloton. Wiggins made sure to keep a tight hold of his Kenyan-born teammate’s back wheel and even took a few turns on the front. Next came the unexpected and Vincenzo Nibali popped and fell off the back.

The Italian was probably regretting not making a go of it on one of the several descents, which preceded the final climb. Joaquin Rodriguez couldn’t keep up with the pace either and was quick to join Nibali’s pity party, further down the mountain. When the finish finally came Wiggins had put a huge 1 minute 16 seconds, between himself and the defending champion. The effort really showed on the red jersey holder, after the finish line, as he slumped on to the front of his handlebars.

None of this could take from the tremendous ride from Rein Taaramae, who beat everyone to the punch and won the stage. The Estonian and David de la Fuente were the only two members of the original breakaway, which went almost as soon as the commissaire started the race, left at the lead of the race. The victory was almost handed to him on a plate, when De la Fuente dropped back to help his teammate Juan Jose Cobo.

The Geox pair crossed the line 25 seconds down on Taaramae, but Cobo has moved himself in to fourth and 55 seconds down on the red jersey. Denis Menchov managed to finish in the main group, which was 45 seconds behind Taaramae, and rounded of a decent day in the saddle for Geox.

Early on in the day the biggest news was the retirement of one of the pre-race favourites, Michele Scarponi. The Italian lost over 20 minutes on Stage 13 and decided that enough was enough and chose not to stage today’s stage. One day after his roommate’s departure from the race, Taylor Phinney, Karsten Kroon was forced to go home. The BMC rider misjudged an early descent and ended up heading down a verge, with Sep Vanmarcke. The pair were able to get back on the bikes, but Kroon gave up a few kilometres later.

Stage 15 will be the one many fear, as the head up the leg bashing Alto de l’Angliru. After already contending with a second and first category climb, the riders will finish on top of the 12.5km climb. Not content with that they will have to cope with two sections, which reach 21%. My legs hurt just thinking about it. This is not the type of climb Wiggins prefers, with the many different gradients, so it could be a chance for some riders to pull a bit of time back on him. Whoever comes out of this stage in the lead is likely to take the red jersey in to Madrid.