Vuelta gives Irish fans high hopes

Irish cycling fans will be excused for being a little over exited about this year’s Vuelta á Espana where Philip Deignan and Nicolas Roche have a real shot at picking up stage wins and competing for the overall general classification.
 
The Vuelta celebrates its 75th anniversary this year and the Irish duo sit comfortably among the sports biggest stars who have been attracted to compete in the last of this season’s Grand Tours.
 
Roche will lead the AG2R La Mondiale team having finished 15th in this year’s Tour de France while Deignan is destined to be a key player in the Cervelo Test Team’s strategy to win stages and to put Carlos Sastre on the podium.
 
Deignan came of age in last year’s race when his stage win into Avila was Ireland’s first in a Grand Tour since Stephen Roche won at La Bourbole in the 1992 Tour de France.
 
The Donegal man went on to finish ninth overall just 11:08 off the time of winner Alejandro Valverdre  (Caisse d’Epargne) who has since been banned for doping offences which naturally preclude him from defending his title.
 
The wheels of fortune turn swiftly in cycling and the intervening twelve months have been the most trying of Deignan’s career as injury, fatigue and illness combined to torpedo his ambitions throughout the 2010 season.
 
The 26 year old has shown enormous resilience to rebuild his form over the summer and the Cervelo team displayed their confidence in his class and ability by naming him as one of eleven riders who have been pre-selected to form their nine-man Vuelta team.
 
Deignan, on form, is more than capable of repeating or emulating his achievements in last year’s Vuelta and his team is unlikely to overlook the fact that his selection will give them more than one hand to play if the departing Carlos Sastre fails to find the legs in his third Grand Tour of the season.
 
Roche will start the Vuelta with aspirations which go beyond that of a stage win and the performance of the AG2R La Mondiale team leader throughout the season justifies his status as one of the leading contenders for the Vuelta’s overall GC.
 
One does not need to look too much further than his success in narrowing the gap between himself and Alberto Contador from 38:20 minutes in the 2009 Tour de France to 16:59 minutes in this year’s race for evidence of his progression and development as a Grand Tour rider.
 
Roche has chalked up no less than 16 top ten finishes this season and the all round qualities which have seen him hold his own in the mountains while improving immensely in time-trials will make him a heavily marked man as the race winds its way through the 21 stages from Seville to Madrid.
 
The Vuelta generally suffers from being the third Grand Tour on the race calendar but the misfortune experienced by some star riders in the Tour de France and the scheduling of the World Championships a week later than tradition (October 3rd) have combined to present the Vuelta as an opportunity to either salvage their season or to prepare their bid to relieve Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) of the rainbow jersey of world champion.
 
Principal among them are Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) who were forced to abandon the Tour after the injuries they sustained in crashes. Schleck’s Vuelta ambitions will be supported by his brother Andy while Garmin-Transitions are sending a full strength team to match the HTC-Columbia team behind Vuelta debutant Mark Cavendish.
 
A number of other riders who came up short at the Tour or who skipped that race having contested the Giro d’Italia have refocused on the Vuelta with the combination of Vincenzo Nibali and Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas-Doimo) and the participation of Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and David Arroyo (Caisse d’Epargne) destined to ignite the race.
 
Race organisers Unipublic have dubbed this year’s Vuelta as the “Platinum” edition and the route is one of the most demanding for years. No attention to detail has been spared in attempting to create a spectacular race which will be difficult for teams to control.
 
The 3,400 kilometre course has been purposely designed so that the race can be won or lost right up to the penultimate day and all 21 stages have been specially created to average 170 kilometres with the intention of ensuring that the race is played out a faster pace.
 
The general consensus among the team strategists is that it will take a climber to win the 2010 Vuelta but the winner will also need to be adaptable with an ability to recover quickly given the order and make up of the 21 stages.
 
The race includes 11 flat stages, 8 mountain stages with six summit finishes, one 14 kilometre team time-trial, one 46 kilometre individual time trial and two rests days which have been well placed to divide the race into three with an opening nine stages, a second section of seven stages and a closing five stages.
 
The unique feature of the 2010 Vuelta is that there is only one single block of mountain stages as the eight days in the mountains are littered through each of the three sections of the race.
 
The race opens in Seville with the team time trial which has been given an added twist by the decision to run it at night. Unipublic have also taken the decision to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the race by introducing a red jersey for the race leader who will have one flat day to enjoy it before the race hits the mountains.
 
Stage three from Marbella to Malaga will shake up the GC before the sprinters are presented with four straight days to lay claim to the green jersey as leader of the points classification and to hone their form in preparation for the World Championships in Melbourne.
 
The final two stages before the first rest day include the first summit finish at Xorret de Cati where Valverdre’s final sprint behind stage winner Gustavo Cesar (Xacobeo-Galicia) put him into the race lead last year. The following day’s stage from Calpe to Alcoy offers the race leader the opportunity to consolidate their lead ahead of the first rest day.
 
The second section of the race is the most difficult and presents an intriguing tactical challenge for the teams occupying the top ten spots in the GC. It comprises three flat stages and four classic mountain stages, all of which have summit finishes to further intensify the GC battle in the absence of time bonuses.
 
The first of those mountain stages to Andorra is sandwiched between the resuming flat stage and another two flat stages before stage 14 takes the riders from Burgos, over 178 kilometres, to the summit of Pena Cabarga as the race enters three days in the high mountains.
 
The climb makes its second appearance in the Vuelta and it is certain to change the complexion of the GC. It is notoriously steep and while its gradient averages 10% over six kilometres the pitches to 18% over the last two kilometres will be decisive.
 
The following stage from Solares to the summit finish at Lagos de Covadonga is mercifully flat until the first category ascent to the finish but the severity and shock of the 7% gradient over 12.5 kilometres is certain to catch some riders cold.
 
The second rest day will come as a reprieve for riders after the punishment of stage 16 from Gijon to Cotobello. The queen stage is the one that the GC men will fear most. It opens with the third category Alto de la Cabrunana which says nothing of the three first category climbs to come.
 
The climbs of the Puerto de San Lorenzo, the Alto de la Cobertoria and the rise to the finish on the Cotobello are all ten kilometres long, or thereabouts, with an average gradient of 8%. The San Lorenzo will wear riders down with ramps up to 15% but the final ascent will eliminate all but the purest of climbers as the lead group wrestles with rising fatigue over gradients pitching to 12%.
 
The respite of the rest day will be short lived as the race moves into its final third which opens with the 46 individual time trial. The timing and positioning of the stage is as intriguing as it is challenging giving the top five GC contenders a final opportunity to extend or regain time before the two flat stages which take the race to its penultimate stage and final day in the mountains.
 
This stage over 172 kilometres from San Martin de Valdeiglesias to the summit of Bola del Mundo has enough high rising terrain stuffed into it to reshuffle the GC one last time and the dangers for the race leader over its four categorised climbs are intense.
 
All four climbs average 6% gradient or worse and the final climb to Bola del Mondo stretches over 21.6 kilometres. The positioning of the climbs will make it tough to defend the lead with plenty of opportunity for anyone within range of overall victory to inflict damage before the final showdown on the cement roads and 12% pitches which characterise the rise to the summit finish.
 
The finishing climb makes its Vuelta debut and the rider wearing the race leader’s red jersey at the day’s end will unquestionably remember it as a milestone in the history of the La Vuelta before they embark on the largely ceremonial closing stage to Madrid.

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