La Vuelta Espana stage 4- Escaldes to Tarragona

Daroxtar

A flattish stage of 198.2 kilometres, which takes the riders across Catalonia from Escaldes to Tarragona on the Mediterranean Sea.




There is one Cat 3 climb, the Alto de Beltall, 13km@2.9%, at the 132km mark and an intermediate sprint at the 167km. I can't see Froome nabbing the 3 bonus seconds today.
The last 500m are a slight uphill finish at around 3%.



Last time the Vuelta finished here was 2013 with Philip Gilbert taking victory.
Paddy Power is giving
Matteo Trentin 5/2
Sacha Modolo 3/1
Edward Theuns 7/2
John Degenkolb 5/1
Adam Blythe 13/2
Magnus Cort Neilsen 16/1

Overall standings

1. FROOME Christopher 21 TEAM SKY 08h 53' 44''
2. DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David 11 QUICK - STEP FLOORS 08h 53' 46'' + 00' 02''
3. ROCHE Nicolas 36 BMC RACING TEAM 08h 53' 46'' + 00' 02''
4. VAN GARDEREN Tejay 38 BMC RACING TEAM 08h 53' 46'' + 00' 02''
5. NIBALI Vincenzo 151 BAHRAIN - MERIDA 08h 53' 54'' + 00' 10''
6. CHAVES RUBIO Johan Esteban 41 ORICA - SCOTT 08h 53' 55'' + 00' 11''
7. ARU Fabio 131 ASTANA PRO TEAM 08h 54' 22'' + 00' 38''
8. YATES Adam 48 ORICA - SCOTT 08h 54' 23'' + 00' 39''
9. POZZOVIVO Domenico 89 AG2R LA MONDIALE 08h 54' 27'' + 00' 43''
10. BARDET Romain 81 AG2R LA MONDIALE 08h 54' 32'' + 00' 48''

death1234567

Blythe to win it.

neris

Tejay to try be a hero and go for red but cock it up in spectacular fashion and loose a heap of time.

Inquitus

The 3 sec bonus is good enough to give any of these 3 the Red Jersey!

2. DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David 11 QUICK - STEP FLOORS 08h 53' 46'' + 00' 02''
3. ROCHE Nicolas 36 BMC RACING TEAM 08h 53' 46'' + 00' 02''
4. VAN GARDEREN Tejay 38 BMC RACING TEAM 08h 53' 46'' + 00' 02''

MPFGLB

Inquitus wrote: »

The 3 sec bonus is good enough to give any of these 3 the Red Jersey!

2. DE LA CRUZ MELGAREJO David 11 QUICK - STEP FLOORS 08h 53' 46'' + 00' 02''
3. ROCHE Nicolas 36 BMC RACING TEAM 08h 53' 46'' + 00' 02''
4. VAN GARDEREN Tejay 38 BMC RACING TEAM 08h 53' 46'' + 00' 02''

The fastest of the above 3 is NIco but SKY went for bonus seconds yesterday for Froome and they will today if avaialbe

So Nico would need Ventoso & Dennis to help him ....but typical of BMC they will not know who to help as wont leave TJ out of it ....

TJ has had more GC chnaces than most and not delivered but BMC keep slogging away at it

neris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KADe1gFSVE8

neris

what happened to Kelderman?

neris

aqua blue down

irishrover99

Kirby; "Aqua blue rider down,did he get he by the medical,he was very close by so looks like he could have"
But lets not cast any aspersions.

Bloody blames them first but then tells others not to do the same.

neris

aqua blue tucked in there at 1km behind quickstep for the sprint

neris

Trentin for Ettix.

dastardly00

I didn't see any of the stage, but is there any reason why 4 of the Aqua-Blue boys finished last?

190. Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport @07:16
191. Peter Koning (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport "
192. Mark Christian (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport @09:05
193. Stefan Denifl (Aut) Aqua Blue Sport @10:10

gordongekko

dastardly00 wrote: »

I didn't see any of the stage, but is there any reason why 4 of the Aqua-Blue boys finished last?

190. Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport @07:16
191. Peter Koning (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport "
192. Mark Christian (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport @09:05
193. Stefan Denifl (Aut) Aqua Blue Sport @10:10

Christian had a crash. Dont know about the rest

MPFGLB

dastardly00 wrote: »

I didn't see any of the stage, but is there any reason why 4 of the Aqua-Blue boys finished last?

190. Conor Dunne (Irl) Aqua Blue Sport @07:16
191. Peter Koning (Ned) Aqua Blue Sport "
192. Mark Christian (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport @09:05
193. Stefan Denifl (Aut) Aqua Blue Sport @10:10

I'd say they are tired...its been hetic so far with TTT , very hard cross winds stage and SKY train drilling it in the heat yesterday .... 38 degress today with little or no shade on the stage

If you are not used to it it can be a killer

Keeks

Koning and Denili did big shifts on the front of the peleton today, so she once that done probably just rolled in......Dunne seems to be struggling with heat and winds.....

MPFGLB

Diary

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/froome-proves-again-that-every-second-counts-36055949.html