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Stage 9 » Torrevieja › Cumbre del Sol. Benitachell (168.3k)
Another flattish stage with a finishing circuit a twice taken, horrid looking wall at the end. This is a typical Vuelta flat flat flat wall stage, and a last chance for the more powerful climbers before an easier day on Monday, then a rest day before we head to the Pyrenees for some longer climbs. Start town for this 168m stage is Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca, in the region of Alicante. It's another one that should provide some stunning helicopter shots, and Torrevieja itself is a lovely family holiday destination with none off the holiday high rises of somewhere like Bendorm. Even so, it is a rapidly expanding town, and the whole area is framed by the large saltwater lakes, the Salinas de Torrevieja, where salt is produced and provide home for a wide variety of bird species. The route takes the riders North along the coastal road through Alicante and Benidorm. At 110km the peloton passes through the town of Calpi, and it is not long afterwards that the riders encounter the Alto de Puig Llorenca for the first time.
First time round this climb is only a Cat 2 climb. It is still very steep in places but they do not take the whole climb, forking off before the final ramps which will take the riders to the top next time round. This is still a steep, hard climb however. After the summit they still have 41km to travel, and they do a large loop round before taking on the Alto de Puig Llorenca again. By the time they have got back there they will also have contested the intermediate sprint and another small uncategorised bump. This time they do the whole climb and it is a Cat 1. It is very steep, averaging very nearly 9% for 4.1km. It has a section of roughly 800m that see ramps of 19%. There is a brief respite in the middle but the riders take a sharp turn off the main road onto a smaller route that heads to the top of the climb, the gradient quickly heads back up to 10% or so for the final km.
This might suit someone like Domenico Pozzovivo.
Another flattish stage with a finishing circuit a twice taken, horrid looking wall at the end. This is a typical Vuelta flat flat flat wall stage, and a last chance for the more powerful climbers before an easier day on Monday, then a rest day before we head to the Pyrenees for some longer climbs. Start town for this 168m stage is Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca, in the region of Alicante. It's another one that should provide some stunning helicopter shots, and Torrevieja itself is a lovely family holiday destination with none off the holiday high rises of somewhere like Bendorm. Even so, it is a rapidly expanding town, and the whole area is framed by the large saltwater lakes, the Salinas de Torrevieja, where salt is produced and provide home for a wide variety of bird species. The route takes the riders North along the coastal road through Alicante and Benidorm. At 110km the peloton passes through the town of Calpi, and it is not long afterwards that the riders encounter the Alto de Puig Llorenca for the first time.
First time round this climb is only a Cat 2 climb. It is still very steep in places but they do not take the whole climb, forking off before the final ramps which will take the riders to the top next time round. This is still a steep, hard climb however. After the summit they still have 41km to travel, and they do a large loop round before taking on the Alto de Puig Llorenca again. By the time they have got back there they will also have contested the intermediate sprint and another small uncategorised bump. This time they do the whole climb and it is a Cat 1. It is very steep, averaging very nearly 9% for 4.1km. It has a section of roughly 800m that see ramps of 19%. There is a brief respite in the middle but the riders take a sharp turn off the main road onto a smaller route that heads to the top of the climb, the gradient quickly heads back up to 10% or so for the final km.
This might suit someone like Domenico Pozzovivo.
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Pozzovivo 22/1, Nieve 50/1 & Brambilla 100/1, not a day to get too heavily involved imo. Just smallish each ways.
Have also backed Nieve but at 66/1 (365), as on all the uphill finishes so far sky have tried to send a man up the road early, which has so far been Roche but not really happened for him so think they might try sending Nieve or Henao on the attack early on the final climb, i think Nieve is the more likely. Have also done Meintjes at 28/1 both ew. As MC says a hard day to call as although its a tough finale its not a huge climb and still early days in terms of knowing who is the strongest of the main contenders.
The market for stage 9 has been forever in going up, and has been formed similarly to what I was working on, nevertheless am following the consensus of the forum and have added Nieve at 50/1. He has been looking very good so far, agree with HB, and if Froome is not coping as I believe than SKY may try something with him today. Also, Stephen Cummings at 200/1. Small stakes -- looks like the breakaway may go close.
Good luck to all,
SP
Good luck to all,
SP
Big break established. Serry, Thomas and Bouet look like the best climbers in it.
Crash -- GC riders involved, including Aru, Landa, Pozzovivo and Valverde.
All back in the peloton -- no significant injuries.
I see you've given a lot of thought to your selections, v. 
Prior to the start KAT DS Azevedo says that they're not going to do a lot of work -- so far KAT has been pretty-much the only team doing work on the front. Breakaway were consolidating their gap in the last 10 kms, was good riding, but now starting to lose it.
Now MOV on the front finally, not really a surprise, was only a matter of time. SKY will pass, maybe AST next.
I see the Cycling fans have come out today -- massive crowds!
The climb helped the peloton to re-establish their gap -- the peloton were just tempo, though.
Sorry, go again, the climb helped the breakaway re-establish their gap.
1 min at 10 kms is decent on a flat road, however on such a difficult climb I don't think it's enough for the breakaway.
I'm not really able to watch properly at the moment, but how has Dumoulin managed that?
Not that I won, but great racing, big names and a hard finish.
He just accelerated up to Froome who looked the winner, went past him and won -- amazing! Can he now be regarded as a climber legit?
Dumoulin seems to make good use of any flatter stages in the climbs to build gaps then works at tempo when the gradient moves up
With his TT skills it throws the proverbial spanner into the works.
Wow! The best finish to any Grant Tour stage that I can remember! Viva La Vuelta! Dumoulin now a real contender as he will make minutes over most of the other contenders in the TT and he looks as strong as anyone in the mountains. That's my money matched on him at 1000 in the GC. Shame I only got 10p matched
Not willing to lay at all, but Dumoulin is yet to face the Andorra stage, MC. I'm sure you'll remember it's being described as the hardest stage of any GT in history. For instance, Unzue has described it as follows: “There has never been such a hard Vuelta, and there’s never been such a hard stage as Andorra in the history of cycling." And he has been around pro-cycling since the '80s.
An even wiser cycling voice said this on 17th August "Talking of climbing, eyes will be drawn to Stage 11 which starts in Andorra in the Pyrenees. This is about as tough a stage of climbing I can ever remember in a Grand Tour" although modesty forbids me from saying who that sage was.
I'm fully aware of everything you say MC, your hard work for this forum would mean nothing if people were to ignore your thoughts, and as I am grateful to you for your time and thoughts, I make sure to read every line and paragraph of your posts. That's why, I'm sure, you'll notice that I said, "I'm sure you'll remember..."?
Watching the end to the stage again, prior to giving my opinions.
Cheers,
SP
Watching the end to the stage again, prior to giving my opinions.
Cheers,
SP
Was just kidding mate 
what do you fancy for today? Break?
what do you fancy for today? Break?
Only saw the last 20 mins of yesterdays stage but I noticed Landa finished 14 minutes down! Anyone know what happened to him yesterday? Did he have a crash or is he simply here killing time before leaving Astana? Really thought he would be strong here after his giro performance.
Same here, I actually thought at the time that he came over the line with Nieve but only realised after that it was Rosa and Landa was well down.
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