The town of Torrevieja, site of the ninth stage's start, isn't much itself but the beach certainly is gorgeous.
At the Tour de France, it was Cyril Gautier who was usually the first rider to sign on. At the Vuelta, his teammate Jerome Cousin has been taking that distinction.
Stephen Cummings.
When only 2 riders had shown up to sign on after nearly 20 minutes and they had both come from the opposite side from where I was, I surrendered my spot and headed towards the buses to see what I could see. I immediately identified the source of the problem: the parking lot was a huge clusterf mess and there was a backup of team buses trying to maneuver in a crowded and oddly shaped lot.
Leonardo Duque and Walter Pedraza.
Geoffrey Soupe and Dominique Rollin.
Amael Moinard.
Tony Hurel.
Markel Irizar.
Mattia Cattaneo.
Lorrenzo Manzin signed an autograph for me and this woman thought it looked like fun, so she started asking the riders to sign her shirt.
George Bennett returns to the buses while a Colombian fan dashes across the path. Cyril Gautier and Geraint Thomas stop for fans.
David Arroyo, Lluís Mas, and Amets Txurruka of Caja Rural queue up for the start.
Andrew Talansky, Moreno Moser, and Davide Villella wait for roll out to begin.
Omar Fraile has been enjoying the KOM jersey and the attention it brings.
The best parts of the morning weren't recorded with my camera, as usual. It's true that I see very little racing/riding when I go to the start but what I enjoy most is getting to chat with the riders. I've been around long enough now that many riders can spot me in a crowd and will come over to say hi. Today I got to talk with Songezo Jim of MTN Qhubeka for the first time. He was curious as to who I am and why on earth he sees me at so many races and stages! I also had a great conversation with Gatis Smukulis who was called up to the Vuelta at the last minute. When John Degenkolb signed an autograph, we had a quick talk and he joked about how he wasn't looking forward to today's stage which included two trips up a brutally steep climb of about. I reminded him all he needed to do today was survive–and maybe help Tom Dumoulin.*
Alejandro Valverde, Esteban Chaves, and Nairo Quintana lined up at the front of the neutral start.
Sylvain Chavanel and Daryl Impey.
Jay Thomson and Johann Van Zyl.
Fabio Aru.
Carlos Verona and Johan Vansummeren.
Dutchmen Koen De Kort and Martijn Keizer in conversation.
Simon Gerrans, Alex Howes, and Zico Waeytens.
Chris Froome.
Natneal Berhane, Tony Hurel, Kristian Sbaragli, and Louis Meintjes.
Luka Mezgec, Jussi Veikkenan, Cyril Gautier, and Christian Knees.
Jimmy Engoulvent.
Gediminas Bagdonas and Team Colombia.
Rory Sutherland and Larry Warbasse having a talk.
Matt Hayman and Sergio Henao.
Caleb Ewan.
Valerio Conti.
Blel Kadri and Joe Dombrowski.
Maciej Bodnar.
Romain Sicard, Tom Van Asbroeck, and Yukiya Arashiro.
Dominique Rollin.
Danielle Bennati and Vladimir Isaychev.
Tsagbu Grmay and Thkmas De Gendt.
Tom Dumoulin, Jerome Cousin, and Carlos Barbero.
Geraint Thomas and Jens Keukeleire.
Ariel Richeze.
Johannes Fröhlinger and Amael Moinard chatting.
Moreno Moser.
Samu Sanchez, Mikel Landa, and Dani Navarro.
Andrew Talansky.
Jelle Vanendert.
Matteo Mintaguti, Rinaldo Nocentini, and Gatis Smukulis.
Geoffrey Soupe, Alexis Gougeard, and Giovanni Visconti.
Next stop, 168km up the coast.
Today's 17 autographs came from:
15. Blel Kadri
39. Peter Velits
69. Juan Pablo Valencia
86. Lorrenzo Manzin
102. Mattia Cattaneo
112. Jasper De Buyst
116. Maxime Monfort
138. Johann Van Zyl
139. Jack Venter
158. Moreno Moser
167. Tony Hurel
171. John Degenkolb
186. Dani Moreno
201. Rafal Majka
206. Jay McCarthy
216. Boy Van Poppel
217. Danny Van Poppel
*It seems my advice paid off. Tom Dumoulin not only won the stage but by a large enough margin that he reclaimed the leader's red jersey! You're welcome Tom and Giant Alpecin! Please let me know when you'd like to hire me.
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