El ciclista de Columbia, Andre Greipel, se ha impuesto en la decimosexta etapa de la Vuelta con final en Puertollano. William Bonnet (Bouygues Telecom) y Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) han sido segundo y tercero respectivamente. Los 170 kilómetros entre Córdoba y Puertollano han sido, sin duda, los más tranquilos de la Vuelta. Nada más comenzar, el pelotón ha ascendido compacto el Alto de los Villares y nada más coronar ha atacado el corredor del Andalucía-CajaSur, Jesús Rosendo.
Y así han sido los 150 kilómetros siguientes. El pelotón se lo ha tomado con calma y Rosendo ha ido aumentando la diferencia hasta lograr una ventaja máxima de 13 minutos. A partir de ahí, Columbia, Liquigas, Contentpolis-AMPO y Milram han trabajado en cabeza para neutralizar a Rosendo.
Stage 17 Preview:
Tomorrow's 15th stage of the Vuelta a España sees the riders enjoying a well-deserved break after three consecutive stages with mountain finishes. However, their rest will be relative, given that the route between Jaén and Córdoba would not seem to be the most appropriate for the sprinters. The stage covers a total of 167 kilometers.
The stage itself has been designed by and for cycling fans [Note: my input was not solicited - Ed.], with two laps of Córdoba before the stage finish and, therefore, with climbs of to San Jerónimo (2nd Category,), which has proved on previous occasions to be no mean obstacle for the sprinters. The summit is located just over 10 kilometers from the finish. Even the GC favorites will have their options at the finish.
Previous editions: Jaén has hosted nine stage starts, whilst Cordoba has hosted 17 stage finishes. The most recent stage to finish in Córdoba also started in Jaén. This was in 2008 and was won by Tom Boonen, who unfortunately abandoned the Vuelta yesterday, during the arduous stage to Sierra Nevada. This year, however, the finish is more challenging and the riders will arrive with a lot less strength than on the previous occasion.
With five stages to go before next week's individual time trial, the penultimate day of racing in the Vuelta, it's imperative that Evans lose the "Cuddles" moniker and redeem himself in the eyes of the cycling press (of which I'm now apparently a legitimate member, once again). This writer strongly believes that it's Evan's sappy, sentimental and overly-sweet nickname that has impaired his performance (and not an absence of CERA from his Australian blood, for example), and invites you - the reader - to make haste and quickly rechristen "Cuddles" with an apodo befitting a Grant Tour Winner. While "'Roo," "VegemiteyCadel" or even "The Wizard of Oz" would be better nicknames than "Cuddles," I don't agree with Bike S(n)ob NYC, who swings too far into the territory of suggested autocriticism when he refers to Evans as "The John Coltrane of Excuses." Many of Evans' excuses would seem legitimate to a fellow cyclist, though the one thing that can't be explained-away is that fucking nickname. So get on it! I'm calling on my Australian readers especially to lead the charge here - give your man a new name and help him back into the top-3!"Damiano Cunego (Lampre) collected his second win of the 2009 Vuelta a España on Sunday atop the Alto Sierra de la Pandera.
Cunego jumped away from a crumbling nine-man break to climb the Pandera alone to victory as the battle for the overall was fought behind him. Fellow breakaway Jacob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) hung on for second at 2:23, with a resurgent Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) third at 3:08.
Race leader Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) briefly found himself in difficulty on the steeps of the Pandera, but fought his way back to finish fifth on the day at 3:22, 12 seconds behind the ever-aggressive Ezequiel Mosquera (Xacobeo Galicia).
Rather than losing time, Valverde actually took some seconds on his rivals — Robert Gesink (Rabobank) finished sixth at 3:26, Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) seventh at 3:40 and Ivan Basso (Liquigas) ninth at 3:48."
Take a look at the complete route map for this year's Vuelta, courtesy of Unipublic, which has seen fit to accredit Pappillon and its staff as "virtual" prensa for the remainder of the race. We'll bring you all of the standard race coverage you depend on, such as stage profiles, maps and results, infused with brilliant, hi-res imagery and snarky or otherwise non-PC commentary.
(c) UNIPUBLIC
I'll never forget how nice Božič was in taking the victory off my plate. We'd barely touched the line and he was saying, "You'll never do that again, will you?" - but in a friendly, if not entirely unsympathetic way. As I write this now, B2 is in the breakaway that is just hitting the final slopes of the last climb in today's Vuelta stage 12, in which I've enjoyed watching him race.
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