The Helta Skelta Vuelta has done it again.
Who among us would seriously entertain the argument that the Spanish grand tour isn’t the most riveting, surprising and competitive event compared to the tightly scripted and Sky-dominated Tour de France and Giro d’Italia?
The 2018 edition was exciting from beginning to end with aggressive racing, closely matched GC contenders, successful and confident breakaways and yeah, let’s just say it, some pretty damn beautiful helicopter shots of beach resort towns, beautiful cities and ancient ruins. As a die-hard francophile, I’ll admit Spain looked awesome.
First, let’s start with with the Vuelta missed that went a long way toward making it wonderful. No Chris Froome, no peloton-crushing Team Sky killing off the race and stifling any attempts at aggressive racing. This omission opened up the entire race and while Movistar, Astana and Mitchelton-Scott had the forces to control parts of the race, no team had the ability to shut it down.
How wonderful was it to tune into the race and not immediately be depressed at the sight of seven Sky riders on the front? David Brailsford’s squad gave Michal Kwiatkowski his shot at leadership and he faded quickly after the first rest day.
David De La Cruz was their highest placed rider on GC and he was over 28 minutes behind winner Simon Yates. This open racing is what the UCI and ASO dream of but struggle to somehow encourage or mandate thought changes in rules. With Froome and the Sky A-team out of the equation it was a completely different race and a better one in every way. If there are entrance fees paid to top riders, I would pay Froome to stay away in order to guarantee an exciting race that fans enjoy from stage one to stage 21.
A few takeaways from this Vuelta.
Simon Yates looks scary good and set to be a top contender in any grand tour for years to come. If not for his unfortunate implosion late in the Giro d’Italia, he would have won both the Giro and Vuelta this year. While he will always lose time against the clock with Froome and Dumoulin, his time trailing will continue to improve and he climbing skills are exceptional. It’s exciting to see new GC talents come to the front. In addition, his Mitchelton Scott team continues to build around him with his brother and riders like Jack Haig providing strong support all the way up the mountain.
Enric Mas is the real deal. His second place on GC was masterful and validated the statement from Alberto Contador that Mas was the future of Spanish cycling. He rode with confidence, always well-positioned and focused. Watching 38 year old Alejandro Valverde fall off the podium in the final climb in Andorra as Mas and Angel Lopez (Astana) rode away was a clear changing of the guard. What’s the Spanish world for wowza!
Who wasn’t pulling for Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) to make the final podium? His aggressive racing was one of the many highlights of this Vuelta and a sign that the team’s full gas attitude in the Tour wasn’t a one-off. As many observers noted, he was up and down, one and off, but he was always looking for opportunity and willing to take risks. You want to see an athlete like that rewarded for giving us a show. Like his teammate Primoz Roglic, who just missed the podium in this year’s Tour de France, Kruijswijk will be back and hopefully one step higher up.
Speaking of aggressive and joie d’attaque, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) was another exciting show in this year’s Vuelta. He took two big mountain stages with truckloads of panache and seemed to be having a fabulous time doing it. It was a pleasure to see him animate the race and someday, somehow we hope to see him back on the Tour de France podium.
No review of this year’s Vuelta could leave out the most inspirational rider of the race, Ben King of Dimension Data. How good do we all feel when a career domestic and all-round nice guy takes not one, but two stage wins from breakaways?
King used all his experience and tactical guile to outsmart his rivals on stage four. Then he came back on stage nine and did it again, outwitting an even bigger breakaway group and then winning an mental battle with Bauke Mollema (Trek Segafredo) who chased him up the summit and almost caught him before King simply went deeper then he’d ever gone in his entire life on the bike. Two beautiful moments that you rarely see in Le Tour.
That brings us to Superman, Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana). He managed to knock Valverde off the podium on the final day in the mountains but we’re just not sure about his tactical abilities. A few days earlier, he had an opportunity to work with Nairo Quintana when the Movistar rider went up the road and opened a gap. Even with the possibility of putting time into everyone, he refused to work and sat on Quintana’s wheel. That seemed baffling and I don’t know why made that decision. It probably wasn’t going to win him the Vuelta but might have gotten him the 48 seconds that would have put him into second place. Superman, yes, super tactician, uhh, not so sure.
What an odd picture it was day after day to see Vincenzo Nibili (Bahrain-Merida) laboring at the back of the peloton, fading on the climbs, playing domestique. His quote was rather dark, suggesting he was seriously concerned about the back injury he sustained when he was taken down by a spectator on Alpe d’Huez in the Tour de France. He made it sound like it could be a permanent issue and compromise he performance. He had it to Madrid but certainly doesn’t look like he’ll be a factor for the World’s road race on a hilly, climbers deluxe course that normally would be idea for him. A true shame.
Last but not least, what to think of Nairo Quintana, who seems to have completely lost his terrifying accelerations in the high mountains. He skipped the Giro d’Italia to be fresh for Le Tour but was simply lackluster despite pulling out a face-saving stage win on stage 17’s Col du Portet.
In the Vuelta, Quintana simply admitted he didn’t have the legs. Not the first or second week and certainly not the third. There was no sign of the man who used to supply rocket from the front group, opening a minute gap and holding it not matter how insane the gradients. That makes two years of general failure in grand tours and creates all sorts of fundamental questions — is there something wrong with his training, his nutrition, his team tactics, his mentality? One wonders if he simply doesn’t need a change of scenery at this point. Hard to say with the solution is but it’s clear a shakeup in in order.
Congratulations to the Helta Skelta Vuelta for once again reminding us how thrilling a grand tour can be.
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