Vuelta a Espana 2013 - Stage 15
The Vuelta's Pyrenean weekend continued today, with a difficult stage from Andorra to Peyragudes in France, totalling 224.9 kilometres. It was a mammoth day of climbing, and one that would certainly sort the men from the boys as far as general classification was concerned. For the sprinters, it was to be another day of suffering in the autobus, they would just be happy to make the time cut.
The stage was animated from early on, with lots of attacks coming from the peloton. So many men fancied their chances today that a group of 30 was ahead at one point! It split later on in the stage, and with around 50 kilometres to go there was a front group containing Alexandre Geniez (FDJ), Francis De Greef (Lotto-Belisol), Mickael Cherel (AG2R La Mondiale), Warren Barguil (Argos-Shimano), Andre Cardoso (Caja Rural) and Nicolas Edet of Cofidis, with around 3 minutes 20 seconds on a second group containing the likes of Sergio Henao and Michele Scarponi.
Naturally, with a stage as tough as this, it prompted quite a few retirements. Among these were world champions Philippe Gilbert and Tony Martin, and Baden Cooke of Orica-GreenEDGE. The front group split again in the stage, and it left just Andre Cardoso and Alexandre Geniez at the front. With around 25 kilometres to go, Nicolas Roche made a jump from the peloton, and teamed up with teammate Oliver Zaugg, and made a bid to gain some time back that he had lost yesterday.
Meanwhile, Geniez had distanced Cardoso, and started the final climb with a one minute advantage over the Caja Rural sprinter. Roche had gained a minute by this point, while the other heads of state of the race were shadow boxing and marking each other further down the climb. Geniez eventually rode up the climb to take out the stage, a memorable win on French soil. Then ensued a gripping mountain duel between the favourites. Virtually all of the contenders put in little digs, until the red jersey group was down to five men.
Nicolas Roche grabbed back thirteen seconds, which he would have had to have been disappointed with after that day's efforts. Nibali defended his lead in the red jersey, and it is looking increasingly harder for the other men to take it off him. However, the race is by no means over, we still have the Angliru to come, along with some other tough finishes.
Today was another example of why the Vuelta has a case to be regarded as just as good as it's two other grand tour counterparts; the racing has been exciting, gripping and above all difficult. The field is now three quarters the size it was when we started over two weeks ago.