Vuelta a España - Exciting or Trying too hard

The Vuelta a España has been one of the Grand Tours and a regular on the calendar since 1955, but many people think it should hang it’s cycling shoes up and give the sport for another race.

Bing or Bust?

So what did the 2011 edition of the Vuelta a España do to quell its critics and was it exciting or just trying too hard. It certainly wasn’t the easiest, in a year where the Grand Tours have really challenged the riders in the extreme. The 2011 Vuelta was not one for the light hearted and I think it produced some of the most exciting racing this year. None of the “flat stages” were ever really flat and with gradients that reached 23%, you had t dig deep.

VaE: Martin beats the favourites on Stage 9 as Rodriguez struggles

Dan Martin took his first Grand Tour victory and moved in to the mountain’s jersey, as Bauke Mollema went in to red, on stage 9.

Martin sprinted the final metres of the climb and was almost caught, by a charging Mollema, but held out until the line. The Irishman had initially jumped off the front, with less than 5 kilometres to go, and was followed by his cousin, Nicolas Roche. The pair pulled out a small gap, but Roche was unable to keep up the pace and slid back in to the main group.

He was not on his own for too long, when he was joined by Vincenzo Nibali, and took out 15 seconds on his nearest riders. Michele Scarponi tried to bridge the gap, but he eventually went out the other end and lost time. Sky duo, Chris Froome and Bradley really put the hammer down and took Mollema and Juan Jose Cobo with them.

Froome took first shift and powered his way up the climb, before Wiggins began to time-trial towards the finish line. The Londoner looked unbeatable at times, while the others struggled to keep up with his pace. One of the pre-Vuelta favourites, Jurgen Van Den Broeck cracked before the top and ended up almost 20 seconds on the group.

Vuelta a Espana - Team Preview, Part 1

AG2R La Mondiale

One of only two French teams, in the race, AG2R will be looking to show what they couldn’t, in this year’s Tour de France. Nicolas Roche will be looking to improve on his seventh place, from last year, but his lacklustre year could play against him. Joining him will be Guillaume Bonnafond, Dimitri Champion, Cyril Dessel, Steve Houanard, David Le Lay, Lloyd Mondory, Mathieu Perget and, the only other non-French rider, Matteo Montaguti. It is unlikely that the French team will really trouble the top GC positions, but they could gain another top-ten placing.

2011 Giro D'Italia Start List Announced

Stefano Garzelli

ACQUA & SAPONE
1 Stefano Garzelli (ITA)
2 Massimo Codol (ITA)
3 Claudio Corioni (ITA)
4 Alessandro Donati (ITA)
5 Ruggero Marzoli (ITA)
6 Vladimir Miholjevic (CRO)
7 Danilo Napolitano (ITA)
8 Cayetano Sarmiento Tunarrosa (COL)
9 Fabio Taborre (ITA)

VaE: Peter Vilets takes surprise win as Rodriguez loses the red jersey again in Stage 17

Peter Velits took a surprising victory in today’s 45km time-trial in Peñafiel beating Denis Menchov as Joaquin Rodriguez lost his red jersey after a terrible day on the bike

Velits rode himself up the classification overtaking Nicolas Roche, Frank Schleck and Rodriguez to put him in a podium position with less than a week to go. The HTC Columbia man had been sixth place, but was able to take advantage of tail winds towards the end of the course to boost his time.

Rodriguez has a Bad Day
Rodriguez struggled to keep the speed up and lost over four minutes on his closest rivals tumbling down the timings. The Spaniard held a lead of 33 seconds ahead of Vincenzo Nibali at the start of the day, but he now lays down in 5th 3’45 down on the Italian.

Nibali had his own heart stopping moment when he got a puncture on his front wheel. The Liquigas rider went for the spare bike as his mechanic went to put a new wheel on his bike. After a brief moment of confusion he was back on his bike, but he lost around 20 seconds in the change.

Menchov went someway to salvaging his 2010 tour; the Russian has won this tour twice in 2005 and 2007 but he has failed to impress so far and was lying 42nd over an hour behind the leader Joaquin Rodriguez. Menchov put in a brilliant ride to beat Swiss World Champion Cancellara by 25 seconds.