Barredo Attacks for the Win in Vuelta a España Stage 15

Perennial attacker Carlos Barredo’s aggressiveness finally paid off in a very big way. The Quick Step rider, who always attacks, even when it makes no sense, picked the perfect time this time, and his charge up the slopes of the Covadonga earned him a win in Stage 15 of his home race, the Vuelta a España.

The victory was the Spanish rider’s first, in a Grand Tour. He did finish second in a stage of the Tour de France, and has won stages in lesser races. And he won the stage containing what many consider to be the most famous climb in Spain, the Alpe d’Huez of the Vuelta.

“This has been a very important year for me: I almost won a stage in the Tour and today, a very important day in the Vuelta,” Barredo told Fromsports.com. “It is very important for me to go home from this race with a win. It means a huge amount to me.

“This is a local race for me since my family is pretty close to here. It meant a lot to me to win this. I rode my bike around here when I started riding. Cycling is my life, it has been, all my life.

“My win at San Sebastián [Clásica de San Sebastián, a one-day race in Spain] last year was the most important to me, until this stage in the Vuelta.”

Barredo attacked in the final kilometers up to Lagos de Covadonga, on the Beyond Category climb which finished Stage 15. The Quick Step rider was part of a six-man escape involing Nico Sijmens (Cofidis), Pierre Cazaux (FdJ), Oliver Kaisen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Martin Velits (HTC-Columbia) and Greg Van Avermaet (Omega Pharma Lotto).

The weather was miserable, cold and raining, as the peloton rolled over the first 175 km of the stage. The first four hours of riding really didn’t matter. Only the final climb would decide who would rise or fall in the general Classification.

The peloton didn’t care that the escape opened a gap of 12 minutes. As they approached the climb, the pace increased, thanks largely to Caisse d’Epargne, and the gap shrank, but none of the escapees were GC threats anyway.

Xacebo-Galicia then took up the pace-setting, wanting to advance Ezequiel Mosquera.

Barredo Attacks

The gap was seven minutes when the escape hit the climb and the attacks began. Martin Velits, twin brother to his HTC-Columbia teammate Peter Velits, made the first attempt. Very quickly Barredo took off after him, passed him, and dropped him.

Behind him, the peloton slowly unraveled as the climbers took over. Liquigas rider Roman Kreuziger pulled for red-jersied teammate Vincenzo Niblai, with Ag2R’s Nicholas Roche, Saxo Bank’s Fränk Schleck, Xacebo’s Eziqiel Mosquera, and a dozen other riders laboring along.

Carlos Sastre was in this lead chase group—until he attacked. Ezequiel Mosquera marked him, and Kreuziger dug deep to eventually ride him down. When Sastre was caught, Mosquera pushed ahead, hoping to take a minute out of Nibali and win the red jersey.

Kreuziger was spent by his chase of Sastre, and Sasrre was spent from his attack. Nibali took over the chase, with Peter Velits and Katusha’s Joaquin Rodriguez.

Nibali rode mainly to catch Mosquera; he had no reason to hurt himself trying for a stage win. He had thirty seconds on Schleck, Sastre and Roche, and couldn’t hope to drop Rodriguez, his nearest competitor.

In the end, the breakaway riders straggled across the line successful, but none within a minute of OPscar Barredo; his will be the ride people remember. Mosquera beat Niblai by 11 seconds; Veltis and Rodriguez finished together with the Liquigas rider.

Big losers were Cervelo’s Xavier Tondo, who fell off the back and lost 1:40, and his teammate Carlos Sastre, who lost 38 seconds, and Fränk Schleck and Nicholas Roche, who lost 30 seconds. They will be hard-pressed to overcome those gaps in the two remaining serious climbing stages, and none of them are time trailers of any note.

Last Chance for Nibali?

Stage 15 didn’t select a winner, but it did thin the ranks.

Stage 16 will be another tough day of climbing, with a Cat 3, two cat 1s and another Beyond-Category climb to the finish. The first Cat 1 climb, Puerto de San Lorenzo, has ramps up to 15 percent, while the final climb, Alto de Cotobello, is a 10 km. climb with ramps up to 12 percent.

This final peak will test even the best climbers. It is also where Nibali will have to hope he can open a gap over Rodriguez.

There is only one more pure climbing stage, the very difficult Stage 20, which ends with a very long (22 km) climb up to Bola del Mundo. This ascent, with an average gradient of just over six percent, might not be steep enough for a real selection.

The final climb in Stage 20 suits Nibali’s style, but if Nibali hasn’t turned in the best time trial of his life, the Vuelta might come down to his performance on this final climb, and it might even come down to a sprint at the end of this climb.

Nibali would be well advised to attack the Cotobello with all he has. The Vuelta may well hang in the balance.

Vuelta a España Stage Fifteen
	Rider	Team		Time
1	Carlos Barredo	Quick Step		4:33:09
2	Nico Sjimens	Cofidis		+0:01:07
3	Martin Velits	HTC-Columbia		+0:01:43
4	Greg Van Avermaet	Omega Pharma-Lotto		+0:02:06
5	Pierre Cazaux	FDJ		+0:02:10
6	Olivier Kaisen	Omega Pharma-Lotto		+0:02:12
7	Ezequiel Mosquera	Xacobeo Galicia		+0:02:15
8	Vincenzo Nibali	Liquigas-Doimo		+0:02:26
9	Peter Velits	HTC-Columbia		+0:02:26
10	Joaquin Rodriguez	Katusha		+0:02:26
2010 Vuelta a Espana General Classification
	Rider		Team	Time
1	Vincenzo Nibali		Liquigas-Doimo	65:31:14
2	Joaquin Rodriguez		Katusha	0:00:04
3	Ezequiel Mosquera		Xacobeo Galicia	0:00:39
4	Peter Velits		HTC-Columbia	0:02:29
5	Xavier Tondo		Cervélo Test Team	0:02:30
6	Nicolas Roche		Ag2R	0:02:47
7	Frank Schleck		Saxo Bank	0:02:48
8	Thomas Danielson		Garmin-Transitions	0:03:48
9	Carlos Sastre		Cervelo	0:04:29
10	Vladimir Karpets		Katusha	0:05:27