Vuelta Skelter: Alessandro De Misty mayhem

The suspense in Saturday’s stage finish on the Alto Campoo kept fans on the edge of their seats for longer than expected – primarily because it was a trifle tricky to see who actually had emerged through the mist to take the win.

If only the absent Andre Greipel was in fact Alessandro De Marchi – that would have been a headline writer’s manna from heaven. As it is, we’ll start our look at today’s action with that man De Misty.

The 29-year-old Italian secured his second win on the Vuelta in as many years although for once one of those flares set alight by cretinous fans on the side of the road would have been welcome.

Given a) the meteorological conditions, and b) their penchant for mowing down anyone on two wheels, it was, in all fairness, a huge surprise De Marchi was not taken out by the pursing TV motorbike.

Of course, De Marchi’s win from the five-man break of the day was so logical that some of us broke the news a couple of hours early.

That the Spanish veteran – who retired from the Vuelta after struggling to keep up over a fast opening hour – played no part in another nail-biting finale was perhaps no surprise in the circumstances, although it has to be said, Sanchez didn’t look too put out to be withdrawing from the race.

Of course, you’d be all smiles if you no longer had to ride over a succession of mountains with what was officially described as a toe infection but in reality looked more like of the wholesale absence of big toe nail.

For all you stat fans, Sanchez’s withdrawal ended an admirable Spanish streak for the former Euskaltel rider…

It’s not normal for Quintana to be the second-best Colombian on a Grand Tour but his return from illness gathered a little pace on Saturday as he cut his deficit to Fabio Aru to three minutes. Countryman Esteban Chaves is now just over a minute and a half ahead – well within grasping distance should Quintana get into his groove over the next two mountain-top finishes.

Some preferred to stay on their legs but the general consensus among the Basque bovine population during stage 14 was that there was little point to put on a show for the cameras.

It was another interesting stage on paper – although one which seemed better suited to a skateboard than a Specialized…

Indeed, that eye-catching ramp in the second half of the stage prompted the Twitter cycling community’s resident genius – Senor Fiestina – to come up with this gem of a gif…