Velits Wins Stage 17, Nibali Back in Red in Vuelta a España

After a surprise-filled Stage 17 time trial, the 2010 Vuelata a España will come down to the final climb of the penultimate stage. The Vuelta organizers could not have scripted a better finish; the final heart-straining 22-km climb up the Bola del Mundo that caps Stage 20 will be the focal point of three weeks of riding.

Stage 17 brought some resolutions, but asked more questions than it answered.

The only unsurprising part of the stage was that World time trial champion Fabian Cancellara, riding for Saxo Bank, set fastest time early in the race.

Surprising was the performance of Rabobank’s Denis Menchov, who had been having a terrible Vuelta. Menchov beat Cancellara’s time by 25 seconds—an amazing performance and one most people would not be beat.

Most surprising, HTC-Columbia’s Peter Velits beat both with a time of 52:43 over the 46-kilometer course, beating Menchov by 12 seconds and vaulting himself into third in the General Classification, from sixth.

“I felt so good on the bike. I saw [Garmin rider Tom] Danielson in front of me and when I saw that he was coming closer and closer, it was a big motivation. Everything went my way and I am so happy now I can’t believe it,” Velits said on Fromsports.com.

When asked how he felt about the overall win, he replied, “I am not thinking about this now I ‘m just enjoying this, that I won the stage. I am not thinking about the General Classification.

“Of course it would be really nice to move up a little bit and be in the front, but sorry, I am not thinking about it now.”

Before the stage the talk was whether Tom Danielson of Garmin-Transitions would make up the two-second gap and pass the Columbia rider. Instead, Velits took two minutes out of the leader, while Danielson made up only 34 seconds.

Top Two to Contest the Race

Race leader Joaquin Rodriguez of Katusha blew up on the route and lost the red jersey for the second time in this Vuelta. In fact, he lost the Vuelta. His performance dropped him to fifth overall, 3:45 behind the new leader, Vincenzo Niblai of Liquigas.

Rodriguez worked so hard to win the red jersey and to take it back, but he never managed to hold onto it. Now it is gone for good.

Vincenzo Nibali had a mechanical issue near the start of his run, yet came back to turn in a respectable time. Nibali now leads the race by 39 seconds over Xacebo-Galicia’s Ezequiel Mosquera.

Had he not had a wheel failure early in the stage, The Liquigas rider’s lead might have been more than a minute—an insuperable gap. Instead, Nibali will be forced to defend on the slopes of the Bola del Mundo.

The situation will be similar to Stage 16, when Mosquera attacked successfully and Nibali cracked, losing significant time. Both riders will be much fresher for Stage 20. We can expect to see the best of both on the final climb.

Mosquera turned in a surprisingly strong performance in Stage 17. Many picked Nibali as the better time–trialer, but Mosquera’s time was only 19 seconds off the leader’s. Yes, the Xacebo rider was helped by Nibali’s wheel woes, but still Mosquera turned in a far better ride than expected, and kept himself in the game.

The Best of the Rest

Saxo Bank’s Fränk Schleck managed to hold onto fourth overall, but Ag2R’sNicholas Roche, who had been looking stronger as the Vuelta went on, dropped to eighth overall.

At Cervelo, the contest between Xavier Tondo and Carlos Sastre will also be resolved on the final climb. Sastre finished a respectable 13th in the stage, but Xavier Tondo, who had been suffering badly in the past few stages, bounced back to finish 11th, advancing from eighth to sixth in the GC.

Tondo, 4:43 off the pace with Sastre ten seconds behind him, has no real hope for even a podium, but his rivalry with his teammate could make the final climb more interesting.

Stage Eighteen will be one for the sprinters; it has only lumps and bumps, nothing resembling a real climb.  Stage Nineteen starts off with a Cat two climb, and finishes 200 kilometers of small hills. This could be a day for the sprinters.

However, with Stage 20’s climbs in the offing, the leaders will be more interested in saving their strength than in running down breakaways. A good group of half-a-dozen riders could take over this stage.

Stage 20 will select the winner. With four categorized climbs and a Beyond-Category finish, this stage will be the ultimate battleground. It is unlikely that Peter Velits or Fränk Schleck could overcome their deficits. But Ezequiel Mosquera has to attack, and he will. Look for Xacebo Gaicia and Liquigas to push the pace very hard, and then leave the final battle to the leaders halfway up the final climb.

Vuelta a España Stage Seventeen
	Rider	Rider	Rider
1	Peter Velits	HTC-Columbia	0:52:43
2	Denis Menchov	Rabobank	0:00:12
3	Fabian Cancellara	Saxo Bank	0:00:37
4	Gustav Larsson	Saxo Bank	0:00:50
5	Luis-Leon Sanchez	Caisse d’Epargna	0:01:03
6	Leif Hoste	Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:01:07
7	David Zabriskie	Garmin-Transitions	0:01:10
8	Carlos Barredo	Quick Step	0:01:14
9	Philippe Gilbert	Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:01:24
10	David Millar	Garmin-Transitions	0:01:27
2010 Vuelta a Espana General Classification
	Rider	Team	Time
1	Vincenzo Nibali	Liquigas-Doimo	71:19:49
2	Ezequiel Mosquera	Xacobeo Galicia	0:00:39
3	Peter Velits	HTC-Columbia	0:02:00
4	Frank Schleck	Saxo Bank	0:03:44
5	Joaquin Rodriguez	Katusha	0:03:45
6	Xavier Tondo	Cervélo Test Team	0:03:45
7	Tom Danielson	Garmin-Transitions	0:03:55
8	Nicolas Roche	Ag2R-La Mondiale	0:04:03
9	Carlos Sastre	Cervélo Test Team	0:04:13
10	Luis-Leon Sanchez	Caisse d’Epargne	0:05:43