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Blazin' Saddles: Talking points from La Vuelta's opening week
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Published 28/08/2017 at 16:54 GMT+1
Nine days down and with Chris Froome more comfortable in red than Father Christmas, our cycling blogger Felix Lowe answers some questions from an imaginary friend on the first rest day of La Vuelta.
Eurosport
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Is this race over?
No, clearly not: there are still 12 more stages, six of which are summit finishes – and proper summit finishes, too, not the small but punchy 400m lumps we've seen so far.
No, but is it over in terms of outcome?
Yes, clearly: Froome looks by far the best climber and he also has 40km against the clock to pile more pressure on his rivals who, let's be honest, are merely battling for stage wins and second place.
Why is Froome looking so imperious?
Well, perhaps the rumours about him riding the Tour in preparation for the Vuelta are true. In fact, so far, he's gone about his double attempt in exactly the way you should go about a double attempt – that's to say, in exactly the opposite way as Nairo Quintana.
Poor Nairo. What did he fail so spectacularly?
Well, to win the double, you need to win the first race otherwise it's just a single – or worse, a zero. Froome didn't look that convincing in the Tour – and certainly had a wobble or two – but his experience and superior team carried him through. Now he's actually riding into some form – and despite all the talk of such an impressive roster at this year's race, he looks as head and shoulders above all his colleagues as Plug in the Bash Street Kids.
Who, if anyone, can challenge Froome?
Esteban Chaves and Vincenzo Nibali seem the most likely of mounting a serious challenge – while the way Alberto Contador is finally riding suggests he'll continue to rise up the standings after his early implosion.
The Colombian is 36 seconds down and still riding into form following a string of injury woes and personal blows this season; the Italian is 1'17" down but has the experience and all-round ability to make the podium; meanwhile everyone's favourite Spanish veteran has risen to 13th place – and while he's 3'32" down, he should continue to make inroads on the other pretenders, if not Froome himself, over the next fortnight.
What are you liking most about La Vuelta?
To be honest, the scantiness of sprints is a breath of fresh air. The demanding course and scarcity of flat finishes means none of the teams have brought any of their B-List sprinters let alone their A-List fast men. The upshot is that – unlike the Tour – we don't have a lamentable situation where every non-mountain stage followed a script that saw Quick-Step Floors reel in a futile break and Marcel Kittel add the cherry on the increasingly stale cake.
Instead, this Vuelta has played into the hands of the escape artists and opportunists. In eight road stages we've only seen one sprint – amid three solo wins and two further wins from the breaks. We've also seen victories from two of the GC riders in Nibali (Stage 3) and Froome (Stage 9).
A rare win for Froome, eh?
Indeed. His first stage scalp for almost a year. En route to securing his fourth Tour crown, Froome failed to pick up a stage – and he didn't manage to win anything in his build up to the Tour. 13 more days, and Froome would have been without a victory in a whole year. Instead, he has a fourth stage win on the Vuelta – with at least two more to come, in all likelihood.
Which team has most impressed you?
Well, the Manzana Postobon boys in pink have done their Colombian wildcard team proud by making most of the breaks – especially Jetse Bol's consecutive days in the virtual red jersey. But they have nothing to show for this saddle spunkiness; Quick-Step Floors, however, have managed to juggle their GC aspirations while seeing three men stand atop the podium after expert wins for Yves Lampaert, Matteo Trentin and Julian Alaphilippe.
Youngster Enric Mas came close to adding another win, Bob Jungels has been on the offensive and Tim Declercq's been doing his best Julian Vermote impression on the rare days that a sprint finish has looked likely. There should be more to come.
And your worst team?
Not by any fault of their own, but Dimension Data have had a bit of a shocker: illness has taken out Nicolas Dougall, Youcef Reguigui and Ben King, and derailed Omar Fraile, while Merhawi Kudus crashed out in Stage 7. Going down to five men is hardly promising but doing so before the half-way point is calamitous.
What about the oddest decision made by a team?
Hands down it's Team Sunweb's decision to kick Warren Barguil off the race for not helping Wilco Kelderman. It seems utterly absurd that instead of letting their most accomplished rider off the leash and go for stage wins, they'd prefer to muzzle him in the hope that Kelderman finishes in the top ten.
Bidding au revoir to Barguil was a daft, politically motivated decision and one clearly born out of bitterness because the Frenchman is on his way out to Fortuneo-Oscaro. The only positive for Sunweb in seeing the back of Barguil is that there will now be one less rider standing between Kelderman and his eventual 12th place on GC. Madness.
Biggest disappointment?
John Degenkolb hasn't been the same rider he was since that horrific training crash in January last year, but even I can't believe I thought the German would re-find his mojo here in his favoured stomping ground in Spain. Picking sprinters for Velogames was always a bit of a loaded job for the Vuelta and many of us will feel silly for shelling out 10 points for a rider who got ill, picked up zero points and jumped ship in the opening week.
Degenkolb hasn't been the only disappointment, mind. His Trek-Segafredo team-mate Contador seemed like an anachronism on wheels until he came out of his torpor (given the opening stages were in France, should that be Tour-por?). After a promising start, Romain Bardet has also shown why he has never ridden more than one Grand Tour in a season so far.
Must-do-betters?
Wout Poels is beginning to spark into life after a slow beginning; Kelderman doesn't deserve having been the indirect cause of a team-mate being kicked out; Rafal Majka is knocking on the door but needs to find the doorbell; Simon Yates is suffering from Tour fatigue while his brother Adam is yet to open the lid on his talents; as for Rohan Dennis – is he even in this race?
Blimey, you're hard to please… Dennis was the first red jersey!
Oh yes, you're right. Well, he's been largely forgettable since his solitary day in red.
[WATCH LA VUELTA LIVE ON EUROSPORT AND EUROSPORT PLAYER]
Is there anyone you've actually been impressed by – besides Froome?
Well, Gianni Moscon has shown himself to be a huge asset to Team Sky and Chris Froome; who knows, he could be a Grand Tour GC rider in the making. I've also enjoyed seeing Movistar's young roster let off the leash – with the likes of Marc Soler and Antonio Pedrero showing glimpses of what they can do.
Oh, and how can I forget about the Poles, Tomasz Marczynski and Pawel Pojlanski: the former won a stage he had no right in winning and the latter finished runner-up on consecutive days. Also, Tejay Van Garderen showed much grit in limiting his losses on a day he crashed twice pretty badly. Continue like this and he'll make the top 10 and seal that move to Team Sky…
Unluckiest rider?
Without a doubt, Carlos Betancur. The Colombian finally looked to be getting back to his best – and he was riding with Froome and ahead of many of the favourites when Van Garderen brought him down after crashing in front of him in Stage 6. The Movistar rider made it to the finish with a broken bone in his ankle, plus a bloodied jaw, only to withdraw once the damage was assessed. He may not have many chances to ride for his own personal ambitions in a team without Quintana, Alejandro Valverde and new arrival Mikel Landa.
What about your most unnecessarily flash move of the race?
Easy: Tobias Ludvigsson catching some air over a sleeping policeman and pulling cycling's equivalent of a grab. Although this could have easily gone the other way and been the most ridiculous crash of this opening phase, too.
Talking of which, what was the most ridiculous crash?
Another easy one: you'll be hard-pressed seeing a more bizarre and dramatic team time trial spill than Antwan Tolhoek's face-plant during the opening stage in Nimes for LottoNL-Jumbo…
Pre-race predicted top 10:
1. Chris Froome, 2. Fabio Aru, 3. Vincenzo Nibali, 4. Alberto Contador, 5. Ilnur Zakarin, 6. Adam Yates, 7. Rafal Majka, 8. Wout Poels, 9. David de la Cruz, 10. Romain Bardet
Revised prediction:
1. Chris Froome, 2. Vincenzo Nibali, 3. Esteban Chaves, 4. Fabio Aru, 5. Alberto Contador, 6. David de la Cruz, 7. Adam Yates, 8. Tejay Van Garderen, 9. Ilnur Zakarin, 10. Wout Poels
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