Race thread: 🇲🇨 🇫🇷 🇦🇩 Vuelta a Monaco y Francia y Andorra (Tour of Spain 2026, first days: Aug 22–25)
The Tour of Spain (Vuelta a España) starts tomorrow Saturday. In Monaco...
As we can see on the general map, despite starting in France and its dependent principalities, most of the tour will happen in the South of Spain, which is rather unusual (I believe?). In fact, there is not a single mile of stage in the Spanish Pyrenees, their foothils, or the Cantabrian Range!
Riders
The coming of Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) leaves little hope about the final victory to other riders (and spectators), unless something bad happens to him. Gall (🇦🇹 Decathlon) will try to get his second 2^nd^ place in GC this year after the Tour of Italy. Will Skjelmose (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) and Carapaz (🇪🇨 EF) aim for the podium, after taking part in the Tour of France?
Therefore, most teams will aim for stage victories, and bring the personnel accordingly. Van Aert🇧🇪, Laporte🇫🇷, Brennan🇬🇧 and Kuss🇺🇸 for Visma! M. Pedersen🇩🇰 for Lidl-Trek. Bora brings Roglitch🇸🇮 for his vacation package.
The first 4 stages
Stage 1, Saturday 22: 🇲🇨Monaco🇲🇨
9,4 km, ITT
The distance is barely over the limit for a prologue, and they managed to avoid any sort of climb.
Stage 2, Sunday 23: 🇲🇨Monaco–Manosque🇫🇷
214 km, D+ 3000m
The first of the two French stages proposes a very hilly course, over a distance longer than any of the Tour de France stages this year. The finish may be (I don't know) the same we often see on the Tour de la Provence in the beginning of the season, where it is usually won by sprinters who can handle punchy courses or strong uphill false-flat finishes.
Stage 3, Monday 24: 🇫🇷 Gruissan–Font Romeu🇫🇷
175 km, D+ 2600m
After a very long transfer along the French Mediterranean coast, this stage arrives already in the Pyrenees. Amusingly, the destination is basically the same as where the Tour de France entered France from Spain in July. Most of the approach is made of unbearable dozens of kilometres of a slightly then strongly uphill false-flat highway road. The final climb is pretty much the same.
Stage 4, Tuesday 25: 🇦🇩Andorra la Vieja–Andorra la Vieja🇦🇩
105 km, D+ 3000m
Familiar climbs with a finish at the bottom. The first half of the course consists of climbing the Envalira pass and coming back, which involves a lot of false-flat both ways. Riders better be ready for a direct, fast start over the uphill false-flat.
https://www.lavuelta.es/en/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
14 replies
Stage 4, Tuesday 25: 🇦🇩Andorra la Vieja–Andorra la Vieja🇦🇩
Visma was very willing to go on a breakaway. But perhaps halfway into the real Envalira Pass, Decathlon took command of the peloton and brought the gap down. They kept pushing in the descent to the Pas de la Case, after after the tunnel, they had caught everyone.
They kept on pulling until the Beixalis Pass started and when they had only one teammate left in front of F. Gall🇦🇹, the Austrian attacked. Hum, no, that's not what happened. The Slovenian attacked. Gall🇦🇹 tried to follow him for a few hundred yards, and then came back into next group.
So, basically what we've already seen again and again, and was expected after we saw Decathlon starting pulling.
After that (there were 50 km to go), I didn't watch much. The gap grew and grew and grew, although the guys behind Pogatchar🇸🇮 weren't dawdling around, because they were split in 2 little groups of about 3 to 6 guys each.
Gall🇦🇹 then tried to get rid of other guys, but couldn't.
The gap, which had grown over 3 minutes, was reduced by 30 seconds in the last 10 km.
A few things to note:
Allowed delays were conveniently changed from the 16% that was written in the regulations document, to 20%... 🙄 (equivalent to 'upgrading' the stage from difficulty category 4 to difficulty category 5).
Stage 3, Monday 24: 🇫🇷 Gruissan–Font Romeu🇫🇷
175 km, D+ 2600m
The summary will be short.
Hayter (🇬🇧 Soudal-QS) joined the breakaway and scored max points at I.S.
The peloton was lead by UAE all day long. They accelerated a bit 95 km from the line in an urban area, which caused a split; 90 km they accelerated again in the flat country, which caused echelons; they didn't do it long and everyone regrouped for a procession until the top. In Mont-Louis, UAE stopped the race because it was raining ice.
Despite the fact that it was just your classical ice storm that, while impressive when you are under it, ends after 5-10 minutes, the race wasn't restarted in any way.
I think that the two guys who were ahead in Mont-Louis are fucked as the race seems cancelled and not shortened. Wenzel (🇱🇺 Kern) from the breakaway and Fortunato (🇮🇹 Astana) who had attacked from the peloton.
Will they de deprived of the Mountain points for which they sprinted in mont-Louis as well? Will Hayter🇬🇧 be deprived of his I.S. points too? We shall see.
Let me just say that I'm glad I'm not the one trying to race in that mess. I think the hail was what caused the peloton to stop, but I think the standing water and lightning probably was what encouraged the organizers to end the day.
Wenzel worked so hard for those KOM points (that nobody saw because the camera cut out right before the line), so I hope he doesn't go completely empty handed.
TV highlights in the UK say all points from today's stage are cancelled.
Stage 1
The circuit displayed a ton of narrow lanes and curves, yet never looked dangerous. A surprising contrast.
Armirail (🇫🇷 Visma) got a puncture just after, what?, 3 km? anyway, before Eurosport had the time to play the interview with the Visma manager who was explaining how their team was the most meticulous with the hardware. 🤣
Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE): 1/1!
After 9 km of race, he is already 30″ ahead of Skjelmose (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek), 35″ ahead of Carapaz (🇪🇨 EF) and 45″ ahead of Gall (🇦🇹 Decathlon)...
Uno-X now wears the same jersey as Visma 🙄
Great showing by the Brits! Also was impressed with the Decathlon team.
Tarling for a win today! Would be a beautiful way to honour his brother (and guaranteed to make you cry a bit)
Stage 2, Sunday 23: 🇲🇨Monaco–Manosque🇫🇷
214 km, D+ 3000m
Okay, so I checked the finish. While the riders will enter the town in a different way, the last kilometre is indeed the same. Of the riders on this Vuelta, M.Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-trek) won the last 2 Provence stages finishing there, and Coquard (🇫🇷 Cofidis) the one before.
First big failure for Visma and wonderful effort by Hayter🇬🇧: the base pace of the peloton was set by Visma and Lidl-Trek against a breakaway of 3 Spanish ProTeam riders and Hayter🇬🇧, which never gained a big gap, as it is usual nowadays. With a bit more than 20 km before the I.S., Visma put Armirail🇫🇷 and Kruijswijk🇳🇱 to push hard, and the gap quickly dropped down to around 20 seconds. But then Hayter🇬🇧 switched to second gear, and managed to grow the gap from 15 to 25 seconds and keep it that way! The Visma boys only lost time over the last 10-12 km to the I.S.!
Another mistake by Visma: at the I.S., Laporte🇫🇷 lead Van Aert🇧🇪 and... instead of sticking with him, was beaten by Coquard (🇫🇷 Cofidis) for 3^rd^ place.
Therefore, Van Aert🇧🇪 is now 11+ seconds behind Hayter🇬🇧, thus cannot get the Red jersey only by the time bonus et the finish. And Laporte🇫🇷 also moves out of the 10 seconds limit, he is now at 12+ seconds from Hayter🇬🇧...
Lidl-Trek had decided they didn't care about the Red jersey.
Regrouped after the I.S., the peloton took the form of parallel trains. Nobody attempted anything, as they all wanted a sprint. Luckily, there were no crash in the finish with the town entry.
Van Aert (🇧🇪 Visma) attacked at 2 km, where there was a hump. He was only followed by... Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE). The EF behind them parked. Pogatchar🇸🇮 didn't relay the Belgian, nor counter-attacked; Van Aert🇧🇪 wasn't pushing very hard either in spite of the fact that they had quickly created a significant gap; they were caught up by one Astana rider and soon by the peloton.
edit: the Astana rider was Romele🇮🇹.
In the sprint, Brennan (🇬🇧 Astana) launched from very far, he was followed by M. Pedersen (🇩🇰 Lidl-Trek) but the Dane gradually lost his wheel. Behind him was... Pogatchar🇸🇮 again! The Red jersey took him over near the line, but was at the same time overtaken by a surprise rider: Pau Miquel (🇪🇸 Barhrein) while Brennan🇬🇧 was winning far ahead.
I am waiting for photo-finish recalculation of splits to comment on GC, because there were guys a bit everywhere and I don't trust immediate classifications in such cases (they tend to give splits where they aren't).
I am a bit disappointed that nobody used the very hilly terrain (3000m of D+) at any point. They let a mini-breakaway of PT go, and when there was regrouping with still 30 km to go, every single team rode for a sprint.
The hills were enough to create differences, we saw it when Armirail🇫🇷 lead the chase against Hayter🇬🇧: a lot of riders were dropped from the peloton.
We also saw Cian U*.* (🇧🇪 Movistar) in trouble in the hills... I am not sure whether he had crashed or was suffering from a crash that would have happened several days ago, or both. At the same time his arm was bleeding a bit but he had scabs, so it looked like he had ripped off a scab.
... So, they don't seem to have changed the classification, the splits have remained. Therefore, Hayter🇬🇧 is not rewarded for his spirit and his efforts as he came behind the 2^nd^ split. 😞
Also, Gall (🇦🇹 Decathlon) lost time too: the Austrian is now 1′08″ behind Pogatchar🇸🇮!
There are only a handful of riders left who can hope to get the Red jersey through time bonuses. Of those, only Van Aert🇧🇪 is (slightly) below 10 seconds. Brennan🇬🇧, Bisiaux (🇫🇷 Decathlon) and F. Fisher-Black (🇳🇿 Bora) are between 10+ and 14 seconds.
Hmmm... Pogatchar could win all 4 stages if he wanted to. Stage #2 is probably the more involved, though, he would have to get rid of sprinters before the finish, and the needed effort is probably not worth it.
Van Aert already stated in an interview with Sporza that he targeted the red jersey for stage 2. Stage 1 is - as he said so himself, but could be bluffing - too technical for him, but he'll try to get as close as possible and fly to victory in the second stage. Pogi said he's also riding with the worlds in the back of his mind, so he'll try to save as much energy as possible (although with Focaccia you never know what "conserving energy" means)
Yes, however saving energy may also mean crushing competitors in the 1^st^ week, and going easy after that. It might even be a better way to arrive not too tired at the following race(s), than to have to push hard in the last week of the Vuelta.
As it stands... Pogi in red the full 21 days?
There are 6/4/2 seconds to grab at the I.S. 36 km from the line, and of course 10/6/4 seconds at the finish.
There are a number of more or less likely candidates to take the Red jersey today (2^nd^ stage):