Vuelta Stage 17 - Holy Fucking Wow

Wow.  What an insane turn of events. 

So Joaquim Rodriguez has been leading the race for 14 days now.  Multiple Grand Tour winner Alberto

Alberto Contador, Stage 17

Contador and former Vuelta winner Alejandro Valverde have attacked him on pretty much every single stage but he has responded.  In the big mountains over the weekend, Contador attacked again and again and J-Rod would catch and then pass him at the line.  Valverde fell back.  Chris Froome dropped out of it.  Going into today's stage, with the big mountains behind them, it was J-Rod by :26 over Contador and 2:04 over Valverde.  Basically a 2-man race and J-Rod was clearly better than Contador and seemed a virtual shoo-in for his first ever Grand Tour victory (after coming in a disappointing 2nd in the Giro in May, losing the jersey on the final day).

 

But Contador today did what many have said those trailing in the Tour de France should do -- he attacked early, in a breakaway group… and it worked.  Now you might say why don't they do this all the time?  But I will say that (a) J-Rod is on a weak fucking team and in the Tour the leading team can bring back any mid-stage attack and (b) J-Rod just had a really bad day because in the end Valverde brought it back so (a) might not have even mattered.

A group of about 12 riders was ahead of the peloton by maybe 20 seconds.  Contador had a couple teammates in that group.  Still around 45km to go.  No big mountains left but two Cat-2 climbs, so not flat roads either.  Contador attacked and bridged the gap to the lead group.  J-Rod did not react soon enough and was suddenly isolated in a smaller group than Contador, with only 2 teammates.  Where the hell the rest of his Katusha teammates were I don't know (this all happened just before live coverage).  So Contador with 3 teammates (I think) in a group of 12 started building a lead on J-Rod, with 2 teammates in a group of 8.  As should happen in that scenario. Plus, Contador was taking massive turns at the front of the group, while J-Rod was sitting in the middle, taking no turns at the front.  Clearly he was suffering badly.  Valverde sat on at the back of this group of 8.

The lead started to grow.  And grow.  Over a minute.  Suddenly it appeared that this wasn't a minor emergency.  J-Rod was losing the race right here and right now.  Many times in the past J-Rod has had a "bad day" in a Grand Tour that cost him a chance at winning when he was otherwise competitive but based on the way he was handling the "unbeatable" Contador, it seemed like this was his year.  But it all started slipping away.

A bonus sprint appeared on the stage around 20 km from the line and Contador took off early after it to ensure himself the 6 bonus seconds against the overall lead.  An Astana rider took off after him -- his very close personal friend Paolo Tiralongo.  Contador cruised over the line in first after Tiralongo briefly took a pull to help him and then they started working together, pulling away from the breakaway group.  It pays to have friends in the peloton on other teams.  J-Rod was not so fortunate as he was down to one Katusha teammate taking turns at the front and the occasional pull by BMC's Allesandro Ballan.  Everyone else, including J-Rod himself and Valverde, were simply sitting on.  The lead continued to grow.

J-Rod (it's over)

By the time Contador and Tiralongo started the final Cat-2 mountain at 17 km to go, the lead was close to 2 minutes.  It would go up from there.  Finally, with about 14 km to go or so, J-Rod decided to take things into his own hands (he had no choice as his final Katusha teammate was spent) and attacked.  Valverde followed and eventually passed him... and J-Rod could not keep up with him.  Admittedly Valverde had sat on all day so maybe he had fresher legs but I don't remember seeing J-Rod take any pulls so he just clearly didn't have it today (after a rest day)... Contador ahead cruised past the 9 km mark with a 2 1/2 minute lead.

Valverde was joined by a Movistar teammate and the two of them started climbing the mountain at a great speed, cutting into the Contador lead and leaving Mr. Rodriguez in the dust.  In the meantime, Alberto had left Tiralongo behind and had his sights not only on the overall lead but the stage win, his first in this year's Vuelta (and first in a long time following his recent suspension).  But Valverde was moving like a madman, eventually ditching his teammate Quintana and being joined by another Movistar climber -- this one Inxausti fading back from the original Contador breakaway.  The two of them cut Contador's lead in half by the 5 km mark and continued to charge.  Eventually Valverde blasted up to catch the last remaining remnants of the break to become the 2nd group on the road behind Contador, who was now only 20 seconds ahead.  J-Rod was nowhere to be found, struggling on his own, or -- ironically -- actually being tailed by 2 Saxo Bank teammates of Contador who had faded from the break.  He was 2:48 down.

In the final kilometer, the stage was in doubt as the lead fell to 14 seconds and Valverde was raging but unlike an earlier stage when Contador's big move and seeming easy win ended up in 3rd as Valverde and J-Rod passed him in the final 200 meters, this time Alberto would not be denied.  Contador won the stage by 6 seconds over the Valverde group and J-Rod ended up 2:38 behind.  Unbelievable.  I have never seen a stage like this at this point in a Grand Tour.  And this has been by far the best Grand Tour I have seen in years.  Viva la Vuelta.  And poor Perito (J-Rod).  He didn't even have to respond to the original attack, didn't even have to have better teammates with him.  If only he had been able to stay with Valverde's move to bring Contador back in the last 14 km, down 2+ minutes at the time, he would be in Red right now.  Great job Valverde.  Great job Contador.

1. Alberto Contador, Saxo Tinkoff
2. Alejandro Valverde, Movistar, at 0.06
3. Sergio Henao, Sky, s.t.
4. Gorka Verdugo, Euskaltel, s.t.
5. Rinaldo Nocentini, AG2R, at 0.19
6. Jan Bakelandts, RNT, at 0.55
7. Benat Intxausti, Movistar, at 1.13
8. Alexandre Geniez, Argos-Shimano, at 1.40
9. Paolo Tiralongo, Astana, at 2.13
10. Joaquim Rodriguez, Katusha, at 2.38

GC, shaken... stirred...

1. Contador
2. Valverde, at 1.52
3. Rodriguez, at 2.28
4. Chris Froome, Sky, at 9.40
5. Dani Moreno, Katusha, at 11.36

Um... so I guess Valverde is now the best hope to upset Contador but... yeah, this is over.