Stage 11: Vuelta

Big shake up on the GC as Miguel Angel Lopez wins the battle on the mountain finish, and Froome extends his lead as Chaves and Roche lose minutes

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Stage 11: Vuelta

Miguel Angel Lopez climbed to victory on a rain-soaked 11th stage of the Vuelta a España as Chris Froome more than doubled his overall lead. Lopez (Astana Pro Team) attacked out of a heavily fractured favourites’ group with 1.3km to go to the summit finish at Observatorio Astronómico de Calar Alto and pulled away to win by 14 seconds from Froome (Team Sky) in second place and Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) in third.

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Esteban Chaves (ORICA-SCOTT) started the day second overall but cracked on the final climb and lost 1’57” to Froome, while Nicolas Roche (BMC Racing Team) started the day third but suffered even heavier losses of 4’23” to the red jersey.

It means Froome stretches his lead from 36 seconds to 1’19”, with Nibali now second and Chaves dropping to 2’33” down in third. Roche has fallen to 11th, 4’45” down, while Lopez’s victory has lifted him from 15th to 10th.

Froome looked to be suffering at times on the 15.5km final climb and Nibali tried to capitalise by twice attacking the red jersey. However, Froome fought his way back to the Italian on both occasions, as did Lopez, who was then allowed to ride clear after launching his stage-winning attack.

The stage …
Rain for the second consecutive day didn’t deter the peloton as another mammoth effort was required to make the day’s breakaway which took over 50km to form. A group of fourteen riders made the cut and they rode out to a maximum four-and-a-half-minute lead with 75km to go.

ORICA-SCOTT hit the front with Juul-Jensen and Cort with 55km remaining and the gap to the breakaway quickly diminished to under one-minute on the lower slopes of the first climb. Simon Yates used the effort to launch a counter attack and he quickly bridged to the four leaders remaining from the day’s early breakaway to form a group of six at the front with 37km to go.

The lead group reduced to four on the final climb, but Simon Yates then also lost touch leaving Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Darwin Atapuma (UAE Team Emirates) at the front. Behind, the attacks from the general classification group started at the bottom of the last climb by Nibali and Contador and from there, the race exploded, the breakaway caught and then the race for the stage and the overall was flat stick all the way to the top of the mountain.

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2016 Tour de France best young rider Adam Yates also lost time, finishing nine-minutes 13seconds down on winner Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) to drop to 20th overall.  … continued after advert

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Miguel Lopez (Astana): “It was a very hard stage. We spent more energy with the rain. I’m very happy because the team has been working very well since the beginning of La Vuelta. Our team-mates had to work a lot for Fabio [Aru] and I. It has been impressive and in the end we found the good legs. I knew the final a little bit so I was cool headed and I chose to wait for the very steep last kilometre.”

“I hope to maintain the progression I’ve had so far. Last year, a crash unfortunately took me out of La Vuelta, but this year I’m feeling a lot of calm and I go step by step.”

Chris Froome: “I’m very happy with the outcome today. It was a day when some of my rivals lost time on the General Classification, so to finish 2nd, I couldn’t ask for much more than that, other than stage victory, but when (Miguel Angel) Lopez went he was extremely strong. I figured for me the most important thing was to follow Vincenzo Nibali and stay with the favourites. I concentrated on staying with him seeing that (Esteban) Chaves was already dropped and Alberto (Contador) was on the limit”.

Esteban Chaves: “It was really cold for everybody. The team worked really well. At the bottom of this climb, Bahrain attacked, [Vincenzo] Nibali attacked, [Alberto] Contador attacked, and I lost the wheel. Jack [Haig] was with me and we tried to take one pace and minimise the loss.”

“It was part of the plan (for Simon to attack),” Chaves explained. “But as I said, sometimes the plan works out well like last year’s 20th stage and sometimes it’s like today. But we tried and we will continue to try. We’re happy.”

Darwin Atapuma said: “Today I did my best. I gave everything to win, but I couldn’t. When the best GC riders bridged the gap on me, I didn’t have enough energy to fight with them.”

Nicolas Roche: (BMC) “There was obviously some very hard racing from the gun as we expected. Today I knew that if the rain was going to continue like that it was always going to be a tough day.

Unfortunately, I know myself so well. But, even though I was trying to always ride in front, even on the first climb I was struggling a bit but I fought to stay as much as I could in the front part of the group.

Once we hit the last climb and the pace went up, my legs were like two blocks of cement, so I just had to limit my losses. Obviously, it’s quite disappointing but it’s bike racing. It’s happened to me before in the Vuelta in 2013 but I had lost six minutes, so maybe four minutes isn’t too bad.”

“The gaps now are starting to be quite consequent whereas the last few days there were still 15 riders in less than two minutes. For sure the weekend is going to be really tough and stage 15 is probably, with today, the queen stage of the race.”

Vincenzo Nibali: “I wanted to win, but I console myself looking at the new ranking. It was a very difficult day with so much rain and two long and challenging climbs, but at the end I’m happy”.

“I have to thank the whole team for the great work have done for all the stage: Visconti was on the day’s break and he helped me on the last climb off, my brother Antonio and Pellizotti marked a very good climbing pace”.

“In the last 3 kilometers, I tried to surprise my rivals but I have found a lot of head wind and a Lopez that the in final has gone stronger. I have recovered several positions in the GC and this is an important result. Froome is proving to be really in a good shape and it will not be easy to beat him”.

Alberto Contador (Trek Segafredo): “It has been a very hard day with a lot of rain from the start, a shame since we’re so close to [seaside resort] Almeria. I have only lost a few seconds, to Vincenzo [Nibali] above all, but I have made up time on a lot of rivals.”

“I could see that a lot of riders were on the ropes. It was an opportunity (his attack with Nibali) not to be wasted, otherwise they could have ridden on the wheels. So, instead of waiting for the finish, I preferred to make a move a bit earlier to break up the group and shake off some of the favourites.”

“Nieve was following Nibali but they called him back. I think perhaps he [Froome] was in a bit of discomfort. But we know what he’s like: he takes a second to recover, and that’s what he did.”

Romain Bardet (AG2R): “This was the sort of day that I love.I was at the front from the first kilometer, and managed to get into a strong breakaway after about 50km. I wanted to go as far as possible to win the stage. Unfortunately, the peloton decided otherwise. Nevertheless, I am convinced that there will be additional opportunities. At the end of the stage, I thought I could go for it again, but I was not holding all the cards.I did my best, and I gave everything, soI have no regrets tonight.In spite of the difficult weather conditions,I really enjoyed today.”

Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb): “Today the weather was really challenging. It was quite cold and rainy but everyone stayed focused on their job for the day. The team kept me in good position throughout the race and at the front when the climbs began. I was able to follow the best guys in the result finishing 4th on the stage – a result I’m really happy with.”

David De La Cruz (Quickstep Floors) Forced to stop due to a broken front derailleur; the Spaniard got a new bike and chased the leaders on the final climb jumping from  group to group. “It’s a real pity what happened today, but there’s nothing I can do now to change things. Luck always plays an important role in cycling, and unfortunately, today it wasn’t on my side.”

“That bike change cost me important seconds and a better result, but I don’t want to think of this anymore. I’m happy that I had good legs and could stay with the other favourites. Hopefully, it will be only onwards and upwards in the next week and a half for me.”

The Vuelta continues on Thursday with a 160.1km, medium-mountain 12th stage from Motril to Antequera Los Dólmenes.

Stage 11
1. Miguel López Astana Pro Team
2. Chris Froome Team Sky40500:14
3. Vincenzo Nibali Bahrain Merida
4. Wilco Kelderman Team Sunweb
5. Romain Bardet AG2R La Mondiale 0:31
6. Alberto Contador Trek – Segafredo
7. Ilnur Zakarin Team Katusha – Alpecin
8. Mikel Nieve Team Sky
9. Darwin Atapuma UAE Team Emirates 1:02
10. de la CruzDavidQuick-Step Floors 1:14

11. Michael Woods Cannondale-Drapac 1:17
15. Fabio Aru Astana Pro Team 1:32
16. Steven Kruijswijk Team LottoNL-Jumbo
17. Esteban Chaves ORICA-Scott 2:05
18. Sam Oomen Team Sunweb
20. Louis Meintjes UAE Team Emirates
21. Tejay van Garderen BMC Racing Team 3:26
28. Nicolas Roche BMC Racing Team 4:17
34. Adam Yates ORICA-Scott 9:13
54. Simon Yates ORICA-Scott 17:34

Overall
1. Chris Froome Team Sky
2. Vincenzo Nibali Bahrain Merida 1:19
3. Esteban Chaves ORICA-Scott 2:33
4. David de la Cruz Quick-Step Floors 2:36
5. Wilco Kelderman Team Sunweb 2:37
6. Ilnur Zakarin Team Katusha – Alpecin 2:38
7. Fabio Aru Astana Pro Team 2:57
8. Michael Woods Cannondale-Drapac 3:01
9. Alberto Contador  Trek – Segafredo 3:55
10. Miguel López Astana Pro Team 4:11
11. Nicolas Roche BMC Racing Team 4:45
12. Tejay van Garderen BMC Racing Team
13. Wout Poels Team Sky 4:54
14. Sam Oomen Team Sunweb 5:01
15. Steven Kruijswijk Team LottoNL-Jumbo 6:10
16. Louis Meintjes UAE Team Emirates 6:39
17. Mikel Nieve Team Sky 7:47
18. Igor Anton Dimension Data 9:50
19. Sergio Pardilla Caja Rural – Seguros RGA 10:24
20. Adam Yates ORICA-Scott 11:00

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