Vuelta a España

[ariadneoliver]

Lots of info and links here: www.steephill.tv/vuelta-a-espana/#route-map

The official site is here: www.lavuelta.com/14/en/index.html

No Chris Horner this year so new champ beckons

1 Saturday, August 23 12.6 km
Jerez de la Frontera

2 Sunday, August 24 174 km
Algeciras ? San Fernando

3 Monday, August 25 188 km
Cádiz ? Arcos de la Frontera

4 Tuesday, August 26 173 km
Mairena del Alcor ? Córdoba

5 Wednesday, August 27 182 km
Priego de Córdoba ? Ronda

6 Thursday, August 28 158 km
Benalmádena ? La Zubia

7 Friday, August 29 165 km
Alhendín

8 Saturday, August 30 207 km
Baeza ? Albacete

9 Sunday, August 31 181 km
Carboneras de Guadazaón ? Aramón Valdelinares

R Monday, September 1
Rest day
10 Tuesday, September 2 34.5 km
Real Monasterio de Santa María de Veruela ? Borja

11 Wednesday, September 3 151 km
Pamplona ? Santuario de San Miguel de Aralar

12 Thursday, September 4 168 km
Logroño ? Logroño

13 Friday, September 5 182 km
Belorado ? Obregón. Parque de Cabárceno

14 Saturday, September 6 199 km
Santander ? La Camperona. Valle de Sábero

15 Sunday, September 7 149 km
Oviedo ? Lagos de Covadonga

16 Monday, September 8 159 km
San Martín del Rey Aurelio ? La Farrapona. Lago de Somiedo

R Tuesday, September 9
Rest day
17 Wednesday, September 10 174 km
Ortigueira ? Coruña

18 Thursday, September 11 174 km
A Estrada ? Mont Castrove. Meis

19 Friday, September 12 177 km
Salvaterra do Miño ? Cangas do Morrazo

20 Saturday, September 13 0 km
Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil ? Puerto de Ancares

21 Sunday, September 14 10 km
Santiago de Compostela ? Santiago de Compostela. El Final del Camino

Total Distance 3018 km

So pour a glass of Sangria, kick back and enjoy!

I hear that Brambilla and Rovny will share the combativity award for today.

Oh dear to the fighting. Not possible to fight effectively while cycling, clearly.

What's the pointy hat all about?

Just caught up on the Vuelta & ToB as I was away for the weekend.

Slapfest! Never seen that in the peloton before. Definitely the combativity award for those two as ariadne says, they were certainly the most aggressive riders today .

You have to admire the bike handling skills that allow you to have a full fist fight and not lose that much time on the road. A bit about the Tinkoff rider not being pulled out until after he'd paced Bertie back to the race....

I love Jens Voigt Facts. Chris Boardman's advice to him was "go straight, turn left, go straight, turn left, repeat until one hour is up or you vomit".

Back in the saddle! It's nice to be missed, isn't it!

Bloody hell! It's all kicking off in the Vuelta. Busy catching up but lol at 'most aggressive riders'. What, just what were they thinking, in full view of un auto rouge ??
GC contender off. No surprise. T Martin wins TT. No surprise. The Green One is still there as a token. No surprise. Ryder has an on-board engine? Surprise!!
Very sad for the death of a police rider. No idea what happened.
Froomy - Bertie knows what to do every time. Hang with and then accelerate for the last 2k so Crash Froome runs out of road.

PAN

You are back,back, BACK!

Hmmm..I'm not always intuitive about these things..but I suspect you are slightly taking the piss.

Alleged that Rodriguez punched one of the Sky Domestiques on Sunday.

I think I sense a new Olympic event in the making, cycle-boxing anyone?

Good idea lljkk. As befits a grand tour the technique has been refined after the Volta a Portugal

Though I do prefer the old school method.

I'm def. old school ariande...

It's an elegance question for me. One simply cannot box elegantly whilst astride a bike. And bikists always look like uncommited fighters at school, as if they are squaring up, lots of waving of arms to air, looking away whilst shouting "Not in the face!".

Oh, Pan's back!

It was a genuine and heartfelt celebration, Pan

I love the bike fight analogy of futile arm-waving - akin to the Bridget Jones fight scene. Add to that the skin-tight brightly coloured Lycra and poncey shades and the whole affair is farcical. Maybe the team cars could carry a few giant ear-buds a la Gladiators and there could be intermediate fight zones.

The bit in the slapfest that makes me laugh most is the Tinkoff rider spitting on the ground. I imagine he said something about his rival's mother at that point. Whereas today was dull stage, don't you think?

Rodriguez-Valverde-Contador were whisked away together in a helicopter to hotel after one of the stage finishes (not sure why that makes me ).

Emma Pooley is now World Champ @ Duatholon! She's going in for Iron-Women events they say.

(and that finishes my news Bulletin).

Bit dull, what with no fisticuffs to break up a flat stage! And not much scenery to enjoy. The escapados had nooo chance, did they? Looks like we're back to the fun in the next couple of days. Nice to see quite a lot of modesty and smiles from Froomy, tho' perhaps dictated by the standings....
And it's good to watch ITV4 highlights as they are always trailered on Sky+ by the end action of a New Avengers episode from the last century.

Emma Pooley is just ridiculous in a fantastic sort of way.

And perhaps just a bit of vomiting is v unlikely to stop Jensie on a track, is it?

Here's a fight we missed: www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/philip-deignan-rodriguez-split-my-lip-with-a-punch-on-climb-30571873.html

Now that Uran is out ill, Boonen is off preparing for the World Championships and Brambilla is lining up a match with Manny Pacquiao I'm forced to turn to alternative teams for GC entertainment. I'm keeping an eye on Caja Rural, next season Hugh Carthy of Rapha Condor JLT will be riding for them so I expect we will see more of them on British tv now.

I LOVE Emma Pooley - she is OARSUM as my 8 yr old would put it.

I am almost loving Froomey on this race - he is warmer and nicerer somehow.

Any views on the ToB?

Really enjoying the ToB. The parcours have made it quite exciting especially the finish on the Tumble. I loved the way Kwiatkowski came out of nowhere for the win yesterday, the others never saw him coming. The top of the GC is quite tight so it should be exciting to the end. I'm off to see it on Sunday for both the TT and the race.

ariadne I am a bit - hope you have good weather and exciting racing.

Just finished today's Vuelta - yowsers. What a stage - maximum repsec' to Froomey.

Hope so too Shutuplegs I never thought when I bought this house that it would be just a short stroll from so many major cycling events. I am so lucky in that regard.

Froomey pulled it out, didn't he? . I'd read in catching up that this Vuelta is the Tour that never was. So seeing the GC boys fighting on climbs with seconds to fight about was really refreshing. So Bertie is away with it, but the struggles below are intriguing?

and this UK weather is fab for biking! I've ridden in and home each day. I love the "The Road Will Take You Home" from the Tour de Yorkshire, but no..,lots of pedaling and sweating will take you home. Maybe I'm being too prosaic.

Hope the weekend is utterly fab ariadne! Witnessing a stage surrounded by bikists is a real memory, n'est-ce pas?
l

Yep, Froome was brilliant today. I was a bit surprised at the other three though.

The ToB is cracking up to be a really good race, it looks like any one of ten could win it. It will probably be Bradders but I'd love it to be Zardini. How wonderful it would be if a non world class team rider won. By that I mean Zardini doesn't ride for one of the big teams, not that he's not world class...

I think Bertie was cool about it all Dr, he's not worried. But the Big Valve was surprising in not going with the breaks? And I;m a bit pleased Rodrigues didn't take the win. Hitting a fellow pro and being so evasive about it, is just too bad.

And Losts alternative amori Spartacus stepping off is a bit poor? Worlds may be coming up but folks have invested in this comp!

Hi,
Just dropping in to say I was right near the top of the first KOM mountain point on stage 4. I saw Timmer come past first to take the points and was gutted for him later when he was caught right at the line. It was brilliant, loads of space to see the riders and nice crowd watching (not as friendly as Yorkshire though!) and I was really pleased because when the bunch went past they were not going very fast and I could see the faces as they went past! Cav was on my side of the road and he cycled right past me.
I'm enjoying the vuelta, especially Dan Martin, climbing back up a ravine to go up the GC. There should be a jersey for that surely?

Vuelta much more exciting than the tour.

Seems to me that 3 Soanish riders aren't working together this year like they did in 2012, they let Froome get away a bit yesterday.

That was a steep ravine that dan Martin climbed out of, maybe he's got one of the special garmin motorised bikes!