Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) took the biggest win of his career when he won the legendary mountain stage to top of the Lagos de Covadonga climb. The Pole narrowly held off the race favourites that were involved in a close battle that saw Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) lose a bit of ground. The Spaniard made repeated attacks but was unable to shake off Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) who gained five seconds in the end. Chris Froome (Sky) again time trialed his way up the climb and limited his losses to Contador to just 7 seconds.

 

Przemyslaw Niemiec went into the Vuelta a Espana with lofty GC ambitions as he was set to lead Lampre-Merida that had lost Chris Horner on the eve of the race. However, it all came to nothing early in the race as the Pole was unable to follow the best in the Asturian mountains.

 

Niemiec quickly changed his plans and set his sights on a stage win. Yesterday he joined the early break in the stage to La Camperona but as he was on a bad day, he was unable to follow the best.

 

However, he refused to give up and today he was again on the attack when he joined the early 5-rider break in the big stage to Lagos De Covadonga. This time it was the lucky one as he found himself in a group where he was the only climber.

 

Niemiec had John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano), Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEDGE), Kristof Vandewalle (Trek) and Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural) at his side and the quintet managed to build an advantage of 10 minutes. The peloton showed no interest in initiating a chase before Movistar upped the pace on the penultimate climb with less than 50km to go.

 

That seemed to spell the end for the break but when a very slippery descent brought down Jonathan Castroviejo, the chase lost momentum. Hence, the front group could start the final 12km climb with an advantage of 4 minutes.

 

Niemiec initially struggled when Meyer launched the first attack but he clawed his way back to the Australian. With 3km to go, he dropped his rivals and from there he soloed his way to the biggest win of his career.

 

However, he was nearly caught as the race favourites were battling hard for the GC. While Chris Froome (Sky) went into TT mode and was dropped on the lower slopes, Alberto Contador made repeated attacks in an attempt to ride the Brit out of the GC.

 

However, he was unable to drop Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and as he didn’t want to expose himself to counterattacks, the trio constantly came to a standstill. At one point, Froome managed to rejoin the group but whenever he was getting close, Contador launched another attack.

 

In the end, Froome failed to rejoin the Spanish trio and in the finale Valverde and Rodriguez benefited from their explosiveness to gain 5 seconds on Contador. As Valverde finished seconds on the stage, he reduced his overall deficit by 11 seconds and is now just 31 seconds behind the Tinkoff-Saxo leader.

 

Contador faces his biggest test yet in tomorrow’s queen stage. The stage includes five big climbs with four of them located in the final two thirds of the race. It will all come down to an exciting conclusion on the steep climb to La Farrapona that is set to create the biggest time differences in this year’s race.

 

A legendary stage

After yesterday’s dramatic stage, the Vuelta a Espana continued with the second of its three consecutive mountain stages and it was a real classic. Stage 15 brought the riders overs 152.2km from Oviedo to a summit finish on the famous climb to Lagos de Covadonga. The first part consisted of a mostly flat run along the coast before the riders tackled a small category 2 climb. After a short descent, the riders went up the steep 12.2km climb to the finish.

 

The 181 riders who finished yesterday’s stage took the start under a cloudy sky and they got the stage off to a very fast start. MTN-Qhubeka were very active in the early kilometres but after 6km of racing, things were still together.

 

Lots of attacks

After 20km of racing, Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) and Yury Trofimov (Katusha) got a small advantage but Orica-GreenEDGE brought them back. Moments later, a crash brought down several riders and unfortunately Anthony Roux (FDJ) was forced to abandon.

 

10 riders got a small gap but this time Cannondale had missed the move and they brought it back after 27km of racing. Johan Le Bon (FDJ) and Tony Martin (OPQS) were the next to try and they were joined by another 26 riders to form a big, dangerous group.

 

The break is formed

That group was also brought back but Le Bon refused to give up. The Frenchman tried again with Philippe Gilbert (BMC) but he still had no luck.

 

After more than an hour of racing, John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano), Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre), Francisco Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural), Cameron Meyer (Orica) and Kristof Vandewalle (Trek) finally got clear. While Matteo Pelucchi (IAM) abandoned the race, the peloton slowed down and when Degenkolb beat Niemiec and Aramendia in the first intermediate sprint, the gap was 2.58.

 

A big gap

The peloton showed no interest in catching the break and at the 66km mark, the five escapees were a massive 8.25 ahead. While rain started to fall, no team started to chase and with 80km to go, the break had built an advantage of 10.40.

 

Michael Valgren, Daniele Bennati and Matteo Tosatto kept the gap stable at around 10 minutes while Degenkolb beat Niemiec and Meyer in the second intermediate sprint. As they approached the bottom of the final climb, Julian Arredondo (Trek) abandoned the race and the fight for position started.

 

Malori ups the pace

That caused the pace to go up and when they hit the bottom of the climb, the escapees were just 8 minutes ahead. As soon as the road ramped upwards, Adriano Malori and Imanol Erviti hit the front for Movistar and it was the Italian who made the peloton splinter to pieces.

 

With 38km to go, disaster struck for Daniel Martin as the Irishman crashed. His entire team waited for him but as Javier Moreno had upped the pace a further notch, the peloton was down to just around 40 riders, meaning that it was very hard for the Garmin train to rejoin the peloton.

 

Martin far behind

With 35km to go, Martin was 1.30 behind while Moreno had brought the gap down to 6 minutes and now Jose Herrada had taken over the pace-setting. Niemiec led the group over the summit while Giampaolo Caruso, Daniel Moreno and Rodriguez hit the front in the peloton to start the tricky, wet descent in the best position.

 

Degenkolb was dropped on a small climb halfway down the descent while Andrey Amador led the peloton through the many wet turns. He got some assistance from Gorka Izagirre, Jonathan Castroviejo and Herrada before Samuel Sanchez (BMC) took over, briefly gapping the group.

 

Catroviejo crashes

Niemiec had briefly dropped his companions but as they hit a small climb, they found back together. The peloton was now just 4.10 behind but when Catroviejo hit the deck, Movistar briefly slowed down before Amador went back to work.

 

At the bottom of the descent, Amador set a fast pace and when he hit the final climb, he had brought Degenkolb back and reduced the deficit to 4.00. Meanwhile, Aramendia was dropped on the lower slopes while Martin managed to regain contact just in time for the climb to start.

 

Meyer drops his companions

With 10km to go, Meyer applied the pressure and dropped his companions while Herrada had taken over the pace-setting in the peloton. Niemiec managed to rejoin Meyer while Vandewalle was dangling a few metres behind for a long.

 

Warren Barguil (Giant) launched the first attack from the peloton and after a few attempts, Giampaolo Caruso (Katusha) joined him. Winner Anacona (Lampre) made the next move and he caught the pair of attackers while Jesus Hernandez (Tinkoff) led the chase.

 

Katusha attack

Herrada went back to work and he brought the Berguil trio back. A little later, he blew up and so Hernandez went back to work.

 

Caruso and Moreno launched the next attack and were joined by Barguil. Oliver Zaugg took over the pace-setting while Daniel Navarro and Wilco Kelderman were among many riders to get dropped.

 

Rodriguez attacks

With 6km to go, Rodriguez made a quick acceleration to bridge across to his two teammates. Contador, Valverde and Martin followed him and later Uran and Aru also made contact.

 

Barguil made a few attempts to get clear and finally got a gap. Caruso joined him but when Rodriguez countered a move by Martin, they were passed by the Katusha leader, Contador, Valverde and Uran.

 

Contador makes his move

That’s when Contador made his first attack but Valverde and Rodriguez were glued to his wheel. As they slowed down, Aru, Uran and Barguil rejoined them but Contador tried again.

 

Rodriguez and Valverde were still there and after a brief standstill, Contador tried again. As they again slowed down Aru, Froome, Barguil, Caruso, Uran and Martin rejoined them while Niemiec had now dropped Meyer and was 1.19 ahead.

 

More attacks from Contador

Barguil made another attack but he was passed by Contador when he launched a new attack. Again he was unable to drop his Spanish rivals and when they slowed down again, Rodriguez tried his move.

 

The Spaniard got a small gap and brought their deficit down to 35 seconds but when they rejoined each other, they slowed down.

 

Niemiec takes the win

Aru and Froome were about to rejoin them which prompted Contador to attack again. As usual, he couldn’t drop his rivals but now Valverd decided that he wanted to contribute to the pace-setting.

 

Going under the flamme rouge, Aru and Froome were 5 seconds behind but they never made the junction. Instead, Valverde and Rodriguez launched a furious sprint that dropped Contador and nearly was enough to catch Niemiec.