Not This Year…

Everyone goes through a time when they seem to try just as hard as before, give nothing less than they used to, and yet nothing works — everything slips through their fingers.

Stage 7 of the Vuelta stirred exactly that feeling. Wasn’t it only recently, at the Tour de France, that he crashed on the first two stages in a row?

 

 

He kept fighting, but later he was still forced to get off the bike and abandon the race.

 

 

In my summary of stage 6 I wrote that a nervous finish awaited us. Stage 7 can no longer count as the start of the race, but since the general classification is still a carousel of temporary faces, and no serious battle has yet taken place on a long climb, riders turn up who fight for seconds even in a sprint finish — and naturally the others try not to lose time either. This topic has been trodden ten thousand times over. I share the view that in sprint finishes time should be neutralized over the last three kilometers, leaving only the sprinters to fight in that section. I don’t think such a decision would take anything away from the charm of the sprint; on the contrary, there would be fewer riders around who aren’t actually fighting for the stage, and that would seriously reduce the risk of injury. I would also add that I cannot share the views of a rider fighting for overall victory in a Grand Tour who, for the sake of a few seconds in a sprint, puts himself in danger and forces others to do the same.

 

 

Unfortunately, on the last stretch of the sprint, with a couple of hundred meters left, Alberto Contador crashed — for who knows how many times this year. True, his injuries are lighter than at the Tour de France, but this will undoubtedly have a serious effect on El Pistolero’s chances.

There was another disturbing incident on the stage: one of the team directors’ cars hit Estonian Rein Taaramäe. When you see his smashed bike, you wonder how the man riding it survived at all.

 

 

Of course, it was an accident. Fortunately Rein only had to leave the race, and we hope he’ll soon be back to his normal rhythm of life.

The stage itself followed the classic script: a few dozen kilometers before the finish, the peloton caught the breakaway. Astana fought for the stage again, but once more nothing came of it.

The sprint was won by Belgian Jonas Van Genechten of IAM Cycling.

 

 

As I mentioned, the riders wearing red are still temporary ones, but even a temporary red jersey is a great honor and counts as a major achievement in such a rider’s career. Today the red jersey was again worn by Puma (Colombian Darwin Atapuma of BMC), and he happily shared these unforgettable moments of glory with his loyal fans.

 

 

Before the first rest day, three consecutive stages with summit finishes of different character were held, and the way they unfolded answered some questions. More on that later; here I’ll just underline one thing. After stage 7, a video of Colombian Nairo Quintana circulated in which he promised the fans he would switch to attacking tactics. We have been waiting for attacks from Nairo for two Tours now, and on the very day when one of his main rivals had crashed, I think it would have been better to refrain from such statements.

 

 

 

 

Featured image: Yuzuru SUNADA/www.yuzurusunada.com

Inside post thumbnail image: Yuzuru SUNADA/www.yuzurusunada.com

 

Special thanks to the Japanese photographer Yuzuru SUNADA for permission to use his works in our publications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Translated from Georgian with the assistance of Claude (Anthropic), reviewed by the Velorbola editors.