Vuelta’15 St.2: Exceptional Esteban!

Race Report: The stage was decided on the hard and short finishing climb where Nairo Quintana attacked first. He didn’t have the timing though and as he wilted, Esteban Chaves came through for the biggest win of his career, the red jersey and all the other jerseys too. Nibali out of la Vuelta for holding onto his team car.

It was a short stage through the south of Spain finishing on the steep slopes of the Alto de la Mesa. IAM Cycling had a terrible day as both David Tanner and Matteo Pelucchi abandoned after crashing. Vincenzo Nibali also crashed and had a long chase to get back on before the final climb, unfortunately he had done too much work and drifted back as soon as the attacks started. In the front it was a surprise attack from Nairo Quintana that led to a break containing Tom Dumoulin, Nico Roche and Louis Meintjes going clear. Meintjes and, surprisingly, Quintana could not stand the pace but it was a late attack from Esteban Chaves that ultimately broke the race apart. Only Dumoulin could stay with him and when the Colombian went again inside the final kilometer the Dutchman couldn’t hold on. Chaves took a brilliant victory and the red leader’s jersey, KOM jersey, points jersey and combination jersey.

***Nibali out of Vuelta for clinging to team car***
Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was ruled out of the Tour of Spain for clinging to his team car in order to return to the peloton after being involved in a collective crash in stage 2 of the Tour of Spain. The 2010 Vuelta champion, was 1:30 behind the peloton 20 km from the finish line but managed to make it back into the bunch nine kilometers later. Basing their decision on television images clearly showing an infringement of the rules, the Vuelta race commissaires decided to take him out of the race.
“The film shows clearly that Nibali was clinging to the car for 200 metres. The decision of the commissaries panel is to disqualify Nibali from the race,” said Bruno Valcic, the president of the race commissaires.

Valcic added that team director Alexandre Shefer, who was driving the car was also out of the race.
“It was a tough decision for the commissaires panel but after looking at the images, it was clear that we had no opportunity to give any other penalty to the rider,” he added.

Route
It’s a 159km stage from Alhaurin de la Torre to Caminito del Rey. The profile is lumpy rather than mountainous and there’s only two categorized climbs but the final 4km are all uphill so it will be the first chance for the overall contenders to go head to head.

The final climb of the Alto de la Mesa has an average gradient of “only” 6.5% but there’s three flatter sections so the real gradient is much harder. There’s 1.5km above 10% near the start before it eases off for the final kilometer, if a classics style rider can hold on through the hard early sections then they have a good chance to take the win and the red jersey.

The final issue will be the heat, it’s over 30 degrees celsius in Malaga and we’re further inland today so we won’t have the benefit of the sea breeze. If anyone is off form it’s going to be a very unpleasant day for them.

A Fast Start
It was gruppo compacto for the first 30km with the very fast racing stringing out the peloton. Finally a break formed that the Movistar team were happy with, it contained Nelson Oliveria (Lampre-Merida), Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale), David Villella (Cannondale-Garmin), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jose Goncalves (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Walter Fernando Pedraza Morales (Colombia).

It was bad news for IAM Cycling as their man for the sprints, Matteo Pelucchi, crashed and abandoned less than 50km into the stage.

There were also crashes for Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Garmin), David Tanner (IAM Cycling) and Zico Waeynants (Giant-Alpecin) but they were able to dust themselves down and chase back into the peloton.
We moved into the final 100km with the gap steady at 3 and a half minutes. The peloton were being led by Movistar who were trying to set up Alejandro Valverde for the stage win and the early race lead.

Mid Race Lull
The second hour covered just 40.3km and it seemed like the race was reflecting the blank featureless landscape they were riding through. The perfect time to have a look at the big favorites for the overall this year then. Chris Froome (Sky), Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) are all favorites but it’s only four weeks since the Tour de France finished so we will have to wait until the second week to find out exactly how deep they’re willing to dig. Astana were another team to watch, they have a two headed attack with Fabio Aru and Vincenzo Nibali. If you’re looking for outsiders then Rafa Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) fit the bill. Pozzovivo suffered a horrific fall in the first week of the Giro but he’s back and fresh for the Vuelta so he could be a surprise.

50K to go
Back at the racing and we were under the 50km to go banner with the breakaway’s lead falling to under 2 minutes. The first categorized climb, the Alto de Ardales, was won by Walter Pedraza from the Colombia team, with the winner of the stage wearing the red jersey, Pedraza is almost certain to be in the king of the mountains tomorrow.

With 30km to go there was a huge high speed crash on a straight road, Vincenzo Nibali and Stephen Cummings (MTN-Qhubeka) were involved but they were able to remount. It was more serious for Prezymslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) and David Tanner (IAM Cycling) who suffered injuries and were out of the race. Tanner was stretchered from the race in a neck brace, the opening weekend and IAM were already down to seven riders.

Katusha and Movistar
Neither Katusha or Movistar had anyone involved in the crash so they immediately went to the front and increased the pace, this had the affect of cutting the break’s gap to just over a minute. Nibali had been delayed by the crash and then by slow mechanical service and he was accompanied by three team mates who were trying to pace him back to the peloton. The Katusha led peloton were already more than a minute up the road.

In the crash mayhem Jose Goncalves had nipped away from the breakaway and was now the sole leader ahead of the peloton. Goncalves took the sprint points and time bonus with Valverde and Rodriguez taking the remaining seconds.

Nibali had a big chase to return to the main group

Nibali was being led through the various groups behind the peloton but he was still a minute down and only have one team mate remaining. Jose Goncalves’ brief stint as the lone leader was coming to an end with 15km left to go. Behind the peloton and Nibali had used his team wisely and was finally back in the cars after a 20km chase. The Italian champion got back on and was able to link back up with Fabio Aru and the riders who had been designated to support him. Katusha were still at the head of the race and their pace had strung the hundred or so riders into one long line. Sky were visible near the front of the peloton with 8km to go and Orica-GreenEDGE and Cannondale-Garmin were also challenging Katusha’s monopoly.

Alto de la Mesa
Just 1km before the foot of the climb Orica took over the pace making for their Columbian rider Esteban Chaves. They were overhauled by Tinkoff-Saxo as soon as the climb began. Cyril Gautier (Europcar), who will be leaving at the end of the season, was the first man to try and jump away. He quickly gained a ten second advantage but he was drawn back by Katusha.

The big win for Chaves

Surprisingly it was Nairo Quintana who made the junction with Gautier. He was joined by Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), Nico Roche (Sky) and Louis Meintjes (MTN-Qhubeka). They were working well together but the peloton was slowly bringing them back. Meintjes was the first rider to crack and fall back from the quartet. Nibali was also suffering further back and he had been dropped by the chasers. Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE) made it up to the Quintana group but surprisingly Nairo was fading to leave just three men in the lead. Chaves was doing all the work but Roche was looking very strong on the Columbian’s wheel. The Irish man attacked first but he was brought back by Chaves. Dumoulin was bravely clinging on and when Chaves went inside the final kilometer it was only Dumoulin who could stay with him. Chaves and Dumoulin were side by side inside the final 100m but the Columbian was just able to hold his pace for longer and take a brilliant stage win. Dan Martin (Cannondale-Garmin) had sneakily closed the gap behind and he finished in fourth place. Froome, Valverde and Rodriguez all finished together 30 seconds back. Fabio Aru was a few seconds further behind but the big loser was Nibali who lost more than a minute to Chaves.

It was a fantastic finishing climb and a brilliant victory for the supremely talented Esteban Chaves. There will be some disappointed overall contenders particularly Tejay Van Garderen who was nowhere to be seen (15th at 0:45) on the finishing climb.

Froome just got the better of Valverde on the line

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Vuelta a España Stage 2 Result:
1. Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEDGE in 3:57:25
2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin at 0:01
3. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Sky at 0:09
4. Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin at 0:14
5. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha at 0:26
6. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar
7. Christopher Froome (GB) Sky at 0:30
8. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 0:31
9. Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha
10. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana at 0:37
11. Mikel Nieve (Spa) Sky at 0:41
12. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Astana
13. Romain Sicard (Fra) Europcar
14. Songezo Jim (RSA) MTN-Qhubeka at 0:42
15. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC at 0:45
16. Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step at 0:54
17. Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis
18. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R-La Mondiale
19. Andre Cardoso (Por) Cannondale-Garmin
20. Sergio Luis Henao (Col) Sky at 0:56
21. Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal at 1:04
22. Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo
23. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana
24. Maxime Bouet (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step at 1:12
25. Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal at 1:13.

Vuelta a España Overall After Stage 2:
1. Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEDGE in 3:57:25
2. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Giant-Alpecin at 0:01
3. Nicolas Roche (Irl) Sky at 0:09
4. Daniel Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin at 0:14
5. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha at 0:26
6. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar
7. Christopher Froome (GB) Sky at 0:30
8. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar at 0:31
9. Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha
10. Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana at 0:37
11. Mikel Nieve (Spa) Sky at 0:51
12. Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Astana
13. Romain Sicard (Fra) Europcar
14. Songezo Jim (RSA) MTN-Qhubeka at 0:52
15. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC at 0:55
16. Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step at 1:04
17. Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis
18. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R-La Mondiale
19. Andre Cardoso (Por) Cannondale-Garmin
20. Sergio Luis Henao (Col) Sky at 1:06
21. Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal at 1:14
22. Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo
23. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana
24. Maxime Bouet (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step at 1:22
25. Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal at 1:23.