You wouldn't want to be a cycling fan living in the south of Spain
Just when you thought you couldn't get anymore good cycling this fine summer -- what with an fantastic Giro d'Italia in the early days of the summer that now seems oh-so-long-ago, and then a Tour de France that itself seems longer ago than it really is thanks to the Olympic games which offered us two weeks of wheel-to-wheel action from the road race, to the time-trial, the track cycling, the BMX and on the final days of those brilliant London games, the mountain bike race -- this past weekend seen the start of another Grand Tour: the Vuelta a España.
The route itself has the potential to throw out lots of drama and right from the beginning. The climbs come early, and as we have seen, they're testing enough to separate the contenders from the rest and let us know before the race is even a week old just who will be contending for the red jersey.
British cycling is in the midst of its finest year in history. A golden age and the crest of a high wave, though don't tell anyone too loudly that this is the 'crest', but it's seen British track cyclists clean up at the World Championships earlier in the year and dominate the track at the Olympics, a British winner of the Tour de France for the first time ever thanks to Bradley Wiggins and the same man winning Gold in the Olympic time-trial. Throw in the dominance of the British team in general at the Olympics and how quickly England's failure at the European Championships -- remember those? -- back in June has subsided into forgotten memory. Even Andy Murray's Olympic Gold allowed everyone to forget his defeat at Wimbledon just a few weeks before on the same court to the same man he beat in his Gold medal game.
And here we are in Spain, still in the throws of summer and another British cyclist is out there chasing glory and looking to extend this monumental year. Chris Froome -- yes born and raised in Kenya and only British thanks to his cycling license after a falling out with the Kenyan cycling federation but whose looking at the details? -- is right in the mix to win this race. I joked about waiting for a British winner of the Tour de France to be like that of London buses where you wait forever for one and two come along at once when Wiggins and Froome finished first and second, but the idea of a British winner of both the Tour de France and the Vuelta -- not to mention a Canadian winner of the Giro -- is more than surreal for this fan.
Action got underway on Saturday with a team-time-trial of which I watched as a re-run later the same night from my bed in a hotel room after a wedding. It was won by the Movistar Team of pre-race contender Alejandro Valverde giving them that rare distinction that only occurs when a team-time-trial opens up a stage race of having the top six on GC occupied by riders from the same team.
Sunday was a sprint stage won by John Degenklob, who would also win this afternoons (Wednesday) stage marking him out as the fast man to beat on this years flat stages at the Vuelta. Monday and Tuesday however were full of action with two challenging climbs right at the finish. The Tour de France did this as well, though these climbs were tougher still, but it's something we're beginning to see more of as the days of the first week being one for the sprinters are becoming a thing of the past.
On the way up Monday's final climb Alberto Contador -- back in his first major stage race since his suspension for doping ended -- put his foot on the gas in true Contador style to hurt his opponents. Unlike the Contador of old however, those springing attacks were shorter and less prolonged and while the majority still dropped off because of them, a handful of riders were able to follow. It was still great to see ... no hanging around marking one another, but Contador putting on the pressure right from the first opportunity. It was bike racing at its finest.
Valverde and Joaquim Rodriguez marked every one of his five little bursts, while Froome would see a gap appear only to ride himself across once Contador's fast kick relented. In years gone by it might not have relented and this Tour might have risked being over by the third day, but as they crested the summit and raced for the line it was the four of them ahead of the rest. Valverde pipped Rodriguez on the line while a handful of other outsiders including Ireland's Nicolas Roche came in six seconds behind.
On stage four and with another uphill finish, an early break was allowed to go clear and stay clear to take the spoils. Simon Clarke of Orica-GreenEdge took the win in a sprint ahead of Tony Martin, while behind Valverde's race was being thrown into chaos. The Spaniard, who had surprised me by his sudden form the day before, got mixed up in a crash and was left behind. He closed the gap with help from others until the last climb but then the elastic snapped. Contador tried his accelerations only to be matched by Froome. The attacks relented and Contador, Martin and other big names finished in a large group 1-04 behind Clarke. Valverde came in 55 seconds behind Contador, while Rodriguez took over the race lead.
The stage has now been set for what's looking like a classic duel between four men and whoever else can plunge themselves into the mix. Just 46 seconds separate the top ten on GC with a lot of action still to come.
General classification after stage 4
1. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha Team in 17-29-22
2. Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling at 1 sec
3. Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank at 5 sec
4. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team at 9 sec
5. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team at same time
6. Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling at 11 sec
7. Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha Team at 14 sec
8. Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale at 24 sec
9. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team at 36 sec
10. Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team at 46 sec
