Today was never going to be a pretty stage. The 167km route took the peloton from Rota through dry scrub land and even though the intermediate sprint was in Sevilla, the organizers for some reason decided to travel though bland streets in the new part of town, bypassing the historic center completely. The finish town of Alcalá de Guadaíra has an impressive old fort, but the the finish line was atop a 300+ meter climb. It would certainly be ugly. From the finish line looking back at the course, you couldn’t see an inch of the climb. Brutal.
Local kids had the opportunity to ride the final part of the course–many of them walked it!
I was thrilled to see Antoine Duchesne, one of 2 Canadians at the Vuelta and making his Grand Tour debut, in the break. Accompanying him were Tsagbu Grmay, Ethiopian national champion, and Iljo Keisse, the savy track rider who won the final stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia.
The break was caught according to plan after teams like Tinkoff and Giant put in huge work sitting on the front. Giant, in particular, took long pulls all day to make sure things were set up just right for John Degenkolb. Orica also put in a showing, getting their lead out train organized for Caleb Ewan.
When the last of the lead out men peeled off, the predicted names were left: Degenkolb, Sagan, and Ewan as a dark horse. Sagan lacked the kick to match his counterparts who were virtually even at 75 meters to go. But just 25 meters later, Ewan had clearly pulled ahead and was continuing to accelerate.
The 21 year old Australian took the stage win while his peers scrambled to finish in the top 10. Below: JJ Rojas on his way to 5th place, ahead of Kristian Sbaragli, Domenico Pozzovivo, and Dani Moreno.
Tosh Van Der Sande in 9th.
Tom Van Asbroeck, 11th.
Samú Sanchez and Rafal Majka (note Ewan’s advantage over Degenkolb at the finish on the big screen).
Purito Rodriguez, Esteban Chaves in red, Nick Roche, and Sergio Henao.
Tony Hurel hardly had any forward momentum while Luis Leon Sanchez powered up the hill.
Nairo Quintana.
Dan Martin.
Mikel Nieve and Romain Sicard.
Gianluca Brambilla, Maxime Monfort, and Andre Cardoso.
Simon Gerrans was so knackered, he was legitimately moving at the same herky jerky pace as the kids who rode in the afternoon. Twenty cyclists passed him in the last 50 meters.
Ariel Richeze and Rodolfo Torres.
Louis Meintjes.
Kevin Reza.
Koen De Kort is a pivotal piece in Degenkolb’s lead out. Once his work was done today, the Dutchman struggled to move up the hill, wobbling back and forth like a kid first learning to ride. It’s stunning and humbling to see how these mammoth riders will bury themselves so deeply for their leader that they can hardly pedal anymore.
Mitch Docker.
Adam Hansen.
Sprinter Nacer Bouhanni came in 53 seconds back.
Left to right: Alex Howes, Songezo Jim, Larry Warbasse, Danny Van Poppel, and Ben King.
Joey Rosskopf.
Dominique Rollin watched the sprint replay as he rode in.
As did Jens Keukeleire and King of the Mountains Omar Fraile.
Orica teammates Matt Hayman and Damien Howson ahead of Giant riders Johannes Fröhlinger and Luka Mezgec.
Natneal Berhane stole a glance at Andrew Talansky.
Antoine Duchesne finished just over 3 minutes down after spending the day in the break.
Kris Boeckmans flatted in the final kilometers and didn’t even have the chance to factor into the sprint, but he did make sure to high 5 this kid on his way up.
Just a few more riders were left to come in.
Grmay gave interviews at the finish line. The break had been working well all day until around 20km to go, when they still had 2 minutes in the peloton, the Ethiopian decided to stop taking his turns. Both Keisse and Duchesne could be seen on TV admonishing him, but Grmay would not be persuaded to work.
Ben King, his Garmin having been audaciously stolen by a spectator in yesterday’s stage after he crashed, was in high spirits at the finish, giving interviews in Spanish for the Spanish and Colombian press. Judging by the pants, I’d say the Colombian journalist is in the second photo.
Caleb Ewan rightly enjoyed his victory. It’s not every rider who takes a stage win in his first Grand Tour. I’ll admit I was a little skeptical about Orica designing their roster around Ewan but I’m glad I was proven wrong.
Who else in green but Sagan.
Chaves may have lost the GC jersey by just 1 second, but he retains the combined jersey and couldn’t have looked happier.
Tom Dumoulin now has the overall lead. My favorite part of the podium ceremony was when the podium hostess gave him the stuffed animal too soon and then grabbed it back from him.
Fraile kept the KOM polka dots.
