We are coming to the business end of the 2018 Vuelta a Espana and the general classification standings and racing for stage victories is hotting. This year, stage 11 of the Vuelta is the longest stage of this years race with riders making a 208km journey from Mombuey to Luintra. Italian rider Alessandro De Marchi of BMC Racing managed to win the stage in the rain ahead of Jhonatan Restrepo of Katusha-Alpecin, who managed to come in second a further 28 seconds down. Thibaut Pinot of Groupama-FDJ who we thought had lost touch with the leaders of the general classification, almost took the over all lead, with Simon Yates, still handing onto the Red Jersey for now.
Link to stage eleven route map
Stage 11 included only 11km of what could be considered flat terrain, and with this came a large number of attacks from riders to try to establish a break. A group of 19 riders managed to pull away including both De Marchi and Pinot, with about 100km left in the stage. With the break away group increasing their gap to over 2 minutes 30, Pinot moved into the overall race lead, but he grew frustrated with a lack of work from the rest in the break away and tried to go it alone, and wasted energy as a result. BMC had more riders in the break and used this to their advantage.
The peloton eventually closed the gap to the break, stopping Pinot's time as the race leader, and with 18km to go the rain started and De Marchi made a move in the final climb to the finish.
Overall classification after stage Six
The top three riders have not changed with, and Pinot's gallant effort only allowed him to catch up a further 14 seconds on the leaders. Simon Yates will have another day with the Red Leaders Jersey only one second ahead of Alejandro Valverde.
- Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 41 hours 3 minutes 0 seconds
- Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team at 1 second
- Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team at 14 seconds
Tomorrow - Stage 12 Start From Mombuey to Luintra
Stage 12 of this years Vuelta a Espana is a 181km ride from Mondonedo, with riders making their way to the north edge of Spain in Faro de Estaca de Bares. From the start the riders make their way to the 5.8km climb of Alto de Cadeira which will be a 6.5% incline. They will then make their way along the coast across continuous rolling roads until they move back inland with a number of short climbs of 7% and 5% inclines.
Link to stage twelve route map
When the riders reeach the final 30km of the stage, they will be climbing one hill after another with the roads becoming more windy and narrow as they reach their final approach to Faro de Estaca de Bares. The first three riders over the finish line will get a time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds.
I'll be covering each stage of the Vuelta A Espana, giving a breakdown of each days stage, my previous post for @cyclefeed were the results of stage ten of this years Vuelta, so feel free to have a look:
@run.vince.run/2018-vuelta-a-espana-stage-10
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Please Note all maps are made by myself using Strava