Vuelta a España 2021 Vuelta a España Second Official Rest Day

[SHAD0W93]

Another six stages in the book with six more to go in this Vuelta. a flat, 2 mountain top finishes, 1 hilly stage, a medium mountain stage with a top finish, and the final timetrail to go in a race that has all of the classifications in contention.

Odd Christian Eiking has been leading the general classification the last six days. Odds are he will drop the lead and finish in bottom of the top 10. but miracles can happen. The fight between Roglic and Mas has been close with TJV resurgence since the first stages. Movistar has been racked with injury but have a powerful one-two punch in Mas and Movistar. Bernal and A. Yates can still make a splash with Bernal riding better and Ineos able to cause trouble.
General Classification after stage 15

Rnk	Prev	▼▲	Rider	Team	UCI	Time
1	1	-	EIKING Odd Christian	Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux	20	59:57:50
2	2	-	MARTIN Guillaume	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits		0:54
3	3	-	ROGLIČ Primož	Team Jumbo-Visma		1:36
4	4	-	MAS Enric	Movistar Team		2:11
5	5	-	LÓPEZ Miguel Ángel	Movistar Team		3:04
6	6	-	HAIG Jack	Bahrain - Victorious		3:35
7	7	-	BERNAL Egan	INEOS Grenadiers		4:21
8	8	-	YATES Adam	INEOS Grenadiers		4:34
9	9	-	KUSS Sepp	Team Jumbo-Visma		4:59
10	10	-	GROßSCHARTNER Felix	BORA - hansgrohe		5:31

Fabio Jakobsen's return to Grand Tour racing has started with success and he has a huge lead in the points classification. Tomorrow is the last stage he will be able to gain a lot of points over the others if the break doesn't take it. It will be a huge comeback to win 3 stages and the points classification on his return. Roglic should be his only competitor but might only have 4 stages he can gain points on Jakobsen. The issue being Roglic can win all of those stages with luck. We could be seeing a 2012 Giro repeat when Rodriquez barely beat Cavendish for the jersey.
Points Classification after stage 15

Rnk	Prev	▼▲	Rider	Team	UCI	Pnt	Points
1	1	-	JAKOBSEN Fabio	Deceuninck - Quick Step			200
2	2	-	CORT Magnus	EF Education - Nippo			114
3	3	-	ROGLIČ Primož	Team Jumbo-Visma			108
4	4	-	TRENTIN Matteo	UAE-Team Emirates			103
5	5	-	DAINESE Alberto	Team DSM			93
6	6	-	MATTHEWS Michael	Team BikeExchange			92
7	7	-	DÉMARE Arnaud	Groupama - FDJ			88
8	9	▲1	MAS Enric	Movistar Team			75
9	8	▼1	BARDET Romain	Team DSM			70
10	10	-	BAGIOLI Andrea	Deceuninck - Quick Step			69

Romain Bardet has come in clutch to secure a 19 point lead with Caruso not attempting to get any points yesterday. This should come down to the wire between Bardet, Caruso, and Majka with Roglic and others too far back unless they get points on every climb. All odds look to Bardet winning his second King of the Mountains.
King of the Mountains after stage 15

Rnk	Prev	▼▲	Rider	Team	UCI	Pnt	Points
1	1	-	BARDET Romain	Team DSM			50
2	2	-	CARUSO Damiano	Bahrain - Victorious			31
3	33	▲30	MAJKA Rafał	UAE-Team Emirates			29
4	3	▼1	STORER Michael	Team DSM			24
5	4	▼1	SIVAKOV Pavel	INEOS Grenadiers			16
6	5	▼1	HAIG Jack	Bahrain - Victorious			15
7	6	▼1	ROGLIČ Primož	Team Jumbo-Visma			12
8	7	▼1	ELISSONDE Kenny	Trek - Segafredo			11
9	8	▼1	TAARAMÄE Rein	Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux			10
10	9	▼1	KUSS Sepp	Team Jumbo-Visma			9

Unless a blowup happens, Egan Bernal looks set to win his third Youth Classification and be the first to do it in every Grand Tour. Vlasov is the only one that can pass Bernal but he has not been up to his Giro form.
Youth Classification after stage 15

Rnk	Prev	▼▲	Rider	Team	Time
1	1	-	BERNAL Egan	INEOS Grenadiers	60:02:11
2	2	-	VLASOV Aleksandr	Astana - Premier Tech	1:43
3	3	-	MÄDER Gino	Bahrain - Victorious	2:26
4	4	-	LÓPEZ Juan Pedro	Trek - Segafredo	6:47
5	5	-	ROCHAS Rémy	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	22:14
6	6	-	CHAMPOUSSIN Clément	AG2R Citroën Team	32:43
7	7	-	CRAS Steff	Lotto Soudal	37:21
8	8	-	CEPEDA Jefferson Alveiro	Caja Rural - Seguros RGA	45:05
9	9	-	MARTÍN Gotzon	Euskaltel - Euskadi	1:00:24
10	10	-	SIVAKOV Pavel	INEOS Grenadiers	1:06:43

The team classification has flipped on it's head with Ineos going in the breakaway. They should be able to win the classification and what would be there fourth team classification win.
Team Classification after stage 15

Rnk	Prev	▼▲	Team	Class	Time
1	1	-	INEOS Grenadiers	WT	79:53:03
2	2	-	UAE-Team Emirates	WT	3:40
3	3	-	Bahrain - Victorious	WT	6:48
4	4	-	Movistar Team	WT	15:41
5	5	-	Team Jumbo-Visma	WT	17:41
6	6	-	Trek - Segafredo	WT	33:42
7	7	-	Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux	WT	41:09
8	9	▲1	Astana - Premier Tech	WT	59:29
9	8	▼1	AG2R Citroën Team	WT	1:00:43
10	10	-	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	WT	1:05:28

Combativity Award
Stage 2 Diego Rubio Burgos BH
Stage 3 Julen Amezqueta Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Stage 4 Angel Madrazo Burgos BH
Stage 5 Oier Lazkano Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Stage 6 Joan Bou Euskaltel Euskadi
Stage 7 Michael Storer Team DSM
Stage 8 Aritz Bagues Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Stage 9 Julen Amezqueta Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Stage 10 Matteo Trentin Uae Team Emirates
Stage 11 Jonathan Lastra Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Stage 12 Julen Amezqueta Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Stage 13 Aivaro Cuadros Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
Stage 14 Daniel Navarro Burgos BH
Stage 15 Radal Majka Uae Team Emirates

Caja has been running away with this competition and should continue to do so the remaining stages.

 

[Red Rick]

2nd week writing lazier than GoT seson 8

 

[SHAD0W93]

Oh shoot, I didn't mean to post this yet. I'm still working on it.

 

[SHAD0W93]

2nd week writing lazier than GoT seson 8

I accidently posted it pressing enter to go down a space.

 

[SHAD0W93]

I think the General Classification will come down to Roglic, Mas, and Bernal. Roglic should still be the favorite with a team riding better and the final TT. Mas and Bernal have the team to capitalize on an isolated Roglic though. Jakobsen should win Points baring bad luck with crashes or finishing OTL. I hope Bardet can win KoM to make up for the GC struggles.

 

[BlueRoads]

I also hope for Jakobsen to win green, Bardet to win KOM. With Lopez I'm torn, I'd like him to podium but it wouldn't be good for my cq team...
Whether Roglic or Mas, I don't really care much, well, I'm a bit in favour of Roglic. I don't think Bernal will be able to podium, if anything Haig could be a threat.
I really hope Martin can hang on well, a top 5 would be good, but with his bad bad time trialing it's going to be hard even against other weak time trialers.

 

[ice&fire]

Can't see MAL burying himself for Mas, so Movistar have exactly one mountain domestique to isolate Roglic. Ineos isn't in a much better situation.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

GC-wise the second week was very boring (except Primoz's attack which ended up with a crash). The third week should be much better though. Mas and Lopez won't wait until Gamoniteiru and neither will Ineos. I'm expecting good GC action on Covadonga (no saving for the next day) and Eiking is one of the reasons for that. I'm expecting him to lose a few minutes in the toughest stages but Movistar won't leave it until the last big climb. Obviously they will try to crack Roglic with alternating attacks but not sure if it's possible. Even in case of a small crisis Primoz can afford some time loss given the final TT. His situation is good but the race is not decided as time differences are still rather small. And Gamoniteiru (Angliru's brother - just a few km away) is an absolute monster, one of the hardest GT climbs ever, anything can happen there. There is still some GC uncertainty, unlike the Tour or Giro.

 

[Gigs_98]

That was an extraordinarily meh week of gt racing although then again it went pretty much according to expectation considering the route.

I feel like nothing crucial will happen on Lagos de Covadonga, with Roglic following all Movistar attacks and maybe one of the two Movistar leaders either dropping near the end or putting in one last attack which Roglic refuses to follow ending in either a small loss or a small gain. Gamoniteiru is an entirely different beast and might lead to bigger gaps, but I think that in the end Roglic will be able to hang onto every attack by Mas. I really wish he won't and Mas could actually win this but I just don't see it.

Stage 20 could actually be very interesting but I fear that if Mas and MAL are sitting in 2nd and 3rd Movistar will be happy with two podium spots and not risk anything. In theory however that stage does look like a nice place to pull some last grasp shenanigans. On that note, this race could really use a certain 41 year old helping his team right now.

 

[Red Rick]

That was an extraordinarily meh week of gt racing although then again it went pretty much according to expectation considering the route.

I feel like nothing crucial will happen on Lagos de Covadonga, with Roglic following all Movistar attacks and maybe one of the two Movistar leaders either dropping near the end or putting in one last attack which Roglic refuses to follow ending in either a small loss or a small gain. Gamoniteiru is an entirely different beast and might lead to bigger gaps, but I think that in the end Roglic will be able to hang onto every attack by Mas. I really wish he won't and Mas could actually win this but I just don't see it.

Stage 20 could actually be very interesting but I fear that if Mas and MAL are sitting in 2nd and 3rd Movistar will be happy with two podium spots and not risk anything. In theory however that stage does look like a nice place to pull some last grasp shenanigans. On that note, this race could really use a certain 41 year old helping his team right now.

I think Lagos is probably where Roglic only responds to Mas and sits on Kuss to do the chasing.

Gamoniteiru will probably be balls to the wall, but Movistar probably need Ineos to make the race hard. Gamoniteiru is without doubt the hardest climb in any GT thsi year, but it's still very hard to see gaps of the size you'd think MAL or Mas need there.

As for stage 20. I just don't believe in stage 20.

 

[sir fly]

The midweek couple looks attractive and climacteric, though it might've been split to avoid possible sedation of one of the two
If everything goes well with them - there's gonna be action over the weekend too.

 

[Red Rick]

Wait, did stage 20 get buffed? Steephill has a significantly easier profile than the Vuelta site.

 

[ice&fire]

Wait, did stage 20 get buffed? Steephill has a significantly easier profile than the Vuelta site.

That's weird. I recall Pereriro saying shortly after the presentation that Guillén had trimmed some climbing from the beginning of that stage. Steephill has the profile that can be seen in the video from the presentation at 1:03:20

Ciclismo - Gala presentación Vuelta Ciclista a España 2021

Desde Burgos, Ciclismo - Gala presentación Vuelta Ciclista a España 2021.

www.rtve.es

Perhaps Pereiro has ganged with someone to make Unipublic reconsider his original proposal.

 

[roundabout]

But the last 100k are essentially the same for both versions it seems

 

[Escarabajo]

Wait, did stage 20 get buffed? Steephill has a significantly easier profile than the Vuelta site.

Yes it did. I saw that in one of the podcasts. They were trying to make it difficult from the beginning.

 

[Escarabajo]

It is Roglic race to lose. If he still keeps this level on the third week then it will be very hard for him to lose it. Under these circumstances the only day that he can lose it is on Saturday and it has to be on a tactical blunder. On paper is the easier of the 3 mountain stages but it sits on stage 20 and those are climbs where you can use teammates, so anything can happen.

Having said that, this Roglic I believe has a bad day on him. If he picks the Gamoniteiru as his bad day then bye bye Vuelta.

 

[Lequack]

 

[SHAD0W93]

Someone likes living life on the edge.

 

[Red Rick]

Not even wearing the helmet.

 

[Lequack]

Somewhere out there is Ineos taking notes and looking for even narrower railings.

 

[ice&fire]

Next step: imitate drunk Brits in Mallorca jumping from their room balconies to the swimming pool.

 

[johnymax]

What a boss
We can't see it, but he was jumping on one leg from the bottom to the top.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

What a legend. The guy is addicted to adrenaline, two falls at the Vuelta are not enough!

 

[Koronin]

I think Mas is the only one with a legitimate chance to beat Roglic. However, he doesn't have the team help he needs to do so. He's also the only one of the GC contenders (not including Roglic) who can do a decent to good TT if he's got really good form and even so would need at minimum a 30 second to 1 minute lead on Roglic going into the ITT.

 

[SHAD0W93]

What a boss
We can't see it, but he was jumping on one leg from the bottom to the top.

Who needs the milk crate challenge when you have a beam.