2011 Vuelta a Espana Stage 14:Astorga → La Farrapona. Lagos de Somiedo, 173km

[Frosty]

Rodriguez singing happy birthday at the sign-in (according to the news ticker on the official site)! Sounds in good spirits!

 

[Moondance]

Hmmm... Noone really threatening for GC in the first break.

 

[Gingerale]

this is a good one for dan martin...or mikel nieve, is my hope.

wiggins will be anticipating nibali's tricky moves today....and everyone else's.

purito to gain time but save his best for tomorrow.

 

[LaFleur]

Leigh Howard in the break for this stage? What? Seriously??

 

[Moondance]

Best placed guy in the break is Bonnafond at nearly 13 minutes down on Wigans.

Easy day for the peloton until San Lorenzo starts, they'll let this break go.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Leigh Howard in the break for this stage? What? Seriously??

Quite sensible. In the multi-climb stage 12 of the 2009 race, Óscar Freire and Borut Bozic went in the break. In the 2008 Tour, Freire went in the break over Isola and Bonette. Danilo Hondo has got himself into breaks in mountain stages of the Giro and Tour in 2010 and even Petacchi's been in breaks before (queen stage of the 2004 Giro springs to mind straight away, where he gritted his teeth and just about made it over Tonale before blowing up straight away on the Gavia).

Sprinters who intend to go to the end of the race can often get in breaks on stages like this - if he's not comfortable with his climbing and feels like he may even struggle with the Grupetto, then it's better to go in the break and get a bit of a headstart on it.

 

[LukeSchmid]

Finally a climb that doesn't seem to flatten out for the final few kms. More suited to the real climbers. Kessiakoff probably won't win the stage (that would mean he'd have to show his face, which doesn't seem to be his style) but he'll be very close.

He showed his face very early when he won in the Tour of Austria so I am not sure it is fair to say he will not attack. Perhaps he was just waiting for it to get steeper.

 

[Winterfold]

Sky and Wiggo will turn themselves inside out to keep the red jersey today

Anyone wanting to take it off them is going to have to go very deep.

 

[Tuarts]

We saw Kessiakoff yesterday. Although the cynic in me think it may have been a body double. Where's Wally has some competition.

 

[Tuarts]

BMC IS IN A BREAK!

I Repeat: BMC IS IN A BREAK!

 

[LukeSchmid]

BMC IS IN A BREAK!

I Repeat: BMC IS IN A BREAK!

Kohler and Quinziato have been in breaks and Frank bridged to one as well.

 

[Tuarts]

Kohler and Quinziato have been in breaks and Frank bridged to one as well.

Rumours

 

[Frosty]

Scarponi withdraws from the Vuelta.

Chav and Madrazo trying to bridge to the lead group but the gap is a minute.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Scarponi withdraws from the Vuelta.

Chav and Madrazo trying to bridge to the lead group but the gap is a minute.

No suprise there. Scarponi was going backwards these last few days

 

[Benotti69]

Scarponi withdraws from the Vuelta.

Chav and Madrazo trying to bridge to the lead group but the gap is a minute.

i bet Lampre are very happy about that

 

[theyoungest]

Leigh Howard in the break for this stage? What? Seriously??

He once won the queen stage in the Thuringen Rundfahrt, in a three man group sprint against Kruijswijk and Denifl.

 

[auscyclefan94]

bmc is in a break!

i repeat: bmc is in a break!

yes yes yes!!!!!!

who is it?

 

[Frosty]

No suprise there. Scarponi was going backwards these last few days

Had wondered if he had just been saving his legs and losing time to give him the chance of getting in a few breakaways. Apparently not.

 

[Moondance]

Kroon is in the break.

 

[theyoungest]

Kroon is in the break.

"I had great legs, but the stage didn't really suit me."

 

[auscyclefan94]

The San Lorenzo is nasty climb.

btw, the profile I have now posted of the Farrapona climb officially starts (according to the vuelta map) at 2km point.

The first 6km have an average gradient of 5.4%. The next 4km's gradient isn't too hard and has some downhill (although there are some 13% pitches in there) but the final 6.8km of the climb averages 8.7%. Just thought I'd give a run down of the climb.

 

[Tuarts]

Taaramae, LLS, De La Fuente are the strongest in the break, you'd expect them to climb the best.

 

[theyoungest]

Taaramae, LLS, De La Fuente are the strongest in the break, you'd expect them to climb the best.

Yes, in this case Karsten Kroon would be right

 

[Tuarts]

Yes, in this case Karsten Kroon would be right

Sorry, didn't mean to quote you on that one, was just a general statement from moi.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I hope Brad has his troops primed for this. Gonna be a tough day for them. I can foresee the action coming thick and fast starting 5K or so from the top of San Lorenzo. I've a good feeling today is going to be mega

They struggled yesterday with the Ancares and dropped back quite a bit. The upside for them is that I think Katusha may just set the pace on the San Lorenzo to set things up for Rodriguez.