Vuelta a Espana 2013 - Stage 16

The Vuelta's Pyrenean adventure concluded today, with a tough stage back on Spanish soil after our weekend jaunt through Andorra and France. It was a 146.8 kilometre stage today from Graus to Sallent de Gallego, atop the Aramon Formigal. That's right, another summit finish for the riders to tackle, as if there wasn't enough already tempting them to abandon the race beforehand. The rolling terrain however again favoured attacks from the gun, and there were multiple attacks from the peloton to try and initiate a break.

Ultimately, most attacks were brought back before they started, and as the race reached the first intermediate sprint, they were all together. This meant that the whole peloton had the scraps to fight for, and it was Alejandro Valverde who took the three second bonus, ahead of Andriy Grivko and Rinaldo Nocentini. After the sprint, a break was allowed to form, consisting of nine riders, containing the likes of Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Rigoberto Uran (Sky Procycling). 

Movistar worked hard to keep them in touching distance however until it was close enough so that two of their team could jump across the gap, namely Benat Inxausti and Sylwester Szmyd, two strong mountain domestiques. The attacking still wasn't done however, another chase group formed that sat in the gap between the break and the peloton, containing names such as Warren Barguil, the stage 13 winner, Andre Cardoso of Caja Rural, and Jose Herrada, another Movistar domestique.  

With around 25 kilometres to go, a few members of the chase group bridged to the main break, these included Warren Barguil and Nicki Sorensen. Euskatel-Euskadi and Astana were the teams at the head of the peloton trying to chase down the breakaway, but it looked as if it was going to be to no avail. The break started to ascend the final climb of the day, the Aramon Formigal, and started to splinter under the gradient. 

After numerous small splits, stage 13 winner Warren Barguil took off alone, evidently frustrated at the group's lack of cohesion. It was a bold move, as he still had around 8 kilometres to go, but the young Frenchman was clearly full of confidence following his victory a few days ago. Barguil opened a gap of around 40 seconds, before a few surviving members of the breakaway attempted to start reeling him in. 

Meanwhile, Alejandro Valverde put in a ferocious attack at the head of the peloton. Vincenzo Nibali went to stand up to follow, but it appeared as if his legs buckled from underneath him, and he had to use his team to up the pace to bring the flying Spaniard back. Rodriguez then jumped with more power than Valverde before him, and soon got a sizeable gap. 

Up the road, Barguil had been caught by Uran, but managed to hold the wheel. They were then caught by Huzarski of NetApp-Endura and Kohler of BMC Racing, and a four man sprint for the line was edged out by Barguil. The stage win was decided by a matter of centimetres in favour of the Frenchman over Rigoberto Uran. 

Down the road, more chaos had ensued. Rodriguez was leading the way ahead of the rest of the favourites, behind him battled Horner, Valverde and Pinot, and Nibali had been distanced further back. Rodriguez crossed the line first out of the contenders, with Valverde stealing a second off Horner. Nibali came in around 22 seconds down on the American, meaning he takes a 28 second lead into the rest day. Valverde is now just 1 minute 14 back, and Rodriguez is 2 minutes 29 back.

So the Pyrenees have certainly thrown up some surprises, along with some attacking, aggressive racing. Another great win for Warren Barguil today, it's a rest day on the Vuelta tomorrow, so Lanterne Rouge's race analysis will be back on Wednesday.