Vuelta a España
This year, the Vuelta starts on Saturday from Italy, where the first 4 stages will be held, the 4^th^ finishing in France. Curiously, there is no rest day between this Italian sequence and the following stages in Spain. In spite of the presence of a high-speed train connection between the 4^th^ stage finish and the 5^th^ stage location, the transfer will be by plane.
There will be 1 time bonus sprint per stage. Depending on the stage, it will either be at one Intermediate Sprint or at the top of a categorised mountain climb.
For points classification: there will be 1 Intermediate Sprint per stage, rewarded by 20 points (only the first 5 riders score points). Concerning stages victories, only the very first and last stages bring 50 points; the rest (half-half) brings either 20 or 30 points; points are always awarded to the first 15 riders.
Mountain classification (white jersey with blue dots):
- 4^th^ cat. : 2 points (2 riders)
- 3^rd^ cat. : 3 points (3 riders)
- 2^nd^ cat. : 5 points (3 riders)
- 1^st^ cat. : 10 points (5 riders)
- HC : 15 points (6 riders)
- Angliru : 20 points (6 riders)
The 5 Pro-Teams engaged are: Q36.5, Lotto, IPT, and the 2 Spanish teams Burgos and Caja Rural. Kern Pharma who won 3 stages (!) last year was not invited.
Vingegaard (🇩🇰 Visma), who has yet to win something this year, is probably the favourite for GC, with Almeida (🇵🇹 UAE) as a contender. Carapaz cancelled his participation again, after cancelling his participation on the Tour of France... Outsiders could be Tiberi (🇮🇹 Bahrein), Gall (🇨🇭 Decathlon), Ciccone (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek), O'Connor (🇦🇺 Jayco), perhaps Gaudu (🇫🇷 FDJ) if he suddenly returns to being a pro rider.
Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-trek) will go for the green jersey and stage wins. I fail to see any contender or even outsider, as there are almost no top sprinter (but Philipsen (🇧🇪 Alpecin)) or 4x4 riders (but Pidcock (🇬🇧 Q36.5) ?) on the startlist.
I think they will ride at a hard pace all day, but of course they can't do it alone, so someone else will have to contribute. We will see, he needs to score points to realize his points jersey ambition. I don't see a breakaway with him going far, who'd work when he's in the group?
That's what I meant by “finding consenting victims”. It could be small Pro Team riders, but the problem is that on the Vuelta as well as on the Tour de France (unlike on the Giro), there is very little to grab to them in terms of secondary and tertiary classifications and prizes.
So far:
BTW, Zingle🇫🇷 didn't start the stage, so that's already one competitor less for Pedersen🇩🇰.
Well, this last mile course design was more interesting than I thought, with those hairpins giving it a feeling of a mini-Poggio.
Philipsen🇧🇪 gave up before the final part.
Pedersen🇩🇰 a little bit too short. Given the names in the top-10, it looks like Pedersen🇩🇰 working for Ciccone🇮🇹 would have been a better chance than the opposite.
Visma: After Campenaerts🇧🇪's relay, Jorgenson🇺🇸 did an utterly shitty relay which buried Vingegaard🇩🇰, therefore Vingegaard🇩🇰 had more efforts to do after that.
Gaudu (🇫🇷 FDJ) dived in the last curve in a dangerous manner that could have wiped out Vingegaard🇩🇰 or Pedersen🇩🇰, but it went OK and gave him a victory.
Vingegaard🇩🇰 now leads the points classification 😀
Strangely (?), no gaps were recorded until the 70^th^ rider.
Unexpected to see Gaudu win, but not unhappy to see him have some success. Pity it cost Pedersen a victory, though!
Gaudu could attempt to take the Red jersey tomorrow, either with the time bonuses at the Intermediate Sprint (30 km from the line), or in the final sprint through the sum of places, as he and Vingegaard are on the same time (stage 2 and 3 were neutral as they did 1-3 and 1-3, and Vingegaard was just ahead by 8 places on the first stage). I don't think Visma would mind, they can certainly beat FDJ on the Team Time Trial as soon as the day after.
But if things go as usual, he will hit and get bitten by a marmot in the Alps tomorrow.