Movistar’s Joaquim Rodriguez won his second stage of the 2012 Vuelta a España with an explosive rush up a brutal final climb with slopes up to 30 percent—yes, thirty, that’s not a typo.
Rodriguez is a master of the short, sharp climb, and he mastered this one, dropping his nearest rival Alberto Contador with a late attack and gaining 35 seconds on second-placed Chris Froome.
Contador can usually best Rodriguez on longer climbs—the Saxo-Tinkoff rider used to be unequalled at repeated vicious attacks on climbs of a few to several kilometers normally considered steep (seven to ten percent.) Rodriguez will be hard pressed to maintain his 13-second gap over Contador on the four mountaintop finishes remaining in the Vuelta.
Sky’s Chris Froome has fallen back to 51 seconds behind the leader. Also he is good in the mountains as a rule, one has to wonder if the season’s miles have taken their toll. He didn’t seem able to respond when Rodriguez and Contador attacked halfway through the final climb, and while he did hang on to finish fifth, his performance was less than confidence-inspiring.
Froome climbed wonderfully in the Tour de France. It seems less than likely that he will be able to take almost a minute out of Alberto Contador unless the Spanish rider has a bad crash or a complete physical collapse. Unfortunately for Froome, Contador appears to have come off his six-month suspension rested and very ready to race.
It is early to discuss a General Classification winner. Nonetheless, Alberto Contador looks like he will be hard to beat. Thirteen seconds down an a rider not known as a great sustained climber and 38 seconds ahead of his most powerful rival with nothing but mountains and flat stages left, the Spanish champion looks to be back on the scene and at full power.
Brutal Final Climb
The stage started at a very high pace into a headwind; it took over almost two hours for four riders—Amael Moinard (BMC,) Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEdge,) Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi,) and Kevin De Weert (Omega Pharma-QuickStep)—to establish a break.
Sky’s Xavier Zandio (Sky) and a few other riders had an unfortunate sudden introduction to a bit of traffic furniture about 30 km from the finish. Zandio hit a raised granite curb with the bridge of his nose and had to retire—Zandio wanted to continue but the doctor didn’t appear to think the Sky rider was altogether conscious and composed.
The escape group was largely ignored as the peloton rode a measured pace for 100 km; then Movistar began chasing down the escapees 15 km from the finish. The peloton really hit the gas in the final ten km, because position was very important for the final climb—in places the road was narrow and with the steep slope few riders would be able to pass.
This climb up to Mirador de Ézaro was the focus of the whole stage. Riders started the race with extra-low gearing just for the final two kilometers. The ascent featured gradients from 11 to 30 percent. The first part started steep and got steeper for about 900 meters. Then the climb eased a bit for 100 meter and then shot up at 30 percent for 600 meters, then eased (?!) to perhaps 20 until the finish.
The grade was too steep for power climbers like BMC’s Philippe Gilbert; it should have been too steep for Alejandro Valverde, but since coming back, the Movistar rider has dropped some weight and developed his climbing legs. This climb could have been named “Joaquim Rodriguez Hill,” it so perfectly suited the race leader.
Once the breakaway hit the climb it fragmented; Astarloza attacked, though he must have known he didn’t have enough of a gap to stay clear. Ian Stannard pulled the peloton for Sky, with Froome right behind.
Astarloza’s teammate Igor Anton attacked early, perhaps hoping to support his fellow Euskaltel rider. He never got the chance.
