The finale of the Vuelta promised a battle and it delivered! The fight for the stage was in the front, a huge breakaway was let go early in the day and David Gaudu was clearly the strongest men from the group, taking his second stage win and climbing into the Top10 (alongside David de la Cruz who benefited a lot GC-wise), he beat Gino Mader and Ion Izagirre whilst in the peloton Jumbo was a tad more fragile than usual, Carthy and later Carapaz attacked Roglic and in a dramatic finale it seemed as if Carapaz could take red back, but Roglic managed to limit his losses and keep the Equatorian away by 24 seconds.
Positive: Gaudu AND Armirail were a perfect duo in this race, netting a second stage win and Gaudu came up to 8th, De la Cruz climbing to 7th overall which is also a great result, Carapaz didn't get the red jersey but put on a hell of a show, a great performance in the end of a great race.
Negative: Vlasov rode very strong again but unfortunately ended up outside the Top10 with the breakaway that went up the road.
The Route
The final day. Parade into Madrid with a small final circuit that is used every year with a small gradient to the finish, but nothing special to add, should be a normal pure sprint.
The Weather
Smoother weather to wrap the race off, a slight southwestern breeze will be present making for a tailwind in the finishing straight.
The Favourites
It's the final preview of this race and the season. First of all I really want to thank all the readers, not just of the Vuelta but of the whole season we luckily managed to have, who have supported me and allowed me to keep writing and developing Echelons Hub, thank you! With all of the Grand Tours, most of the monuments, the world championships, lots of exciting races, dramatic finishes and a whole array of new stars, I'm very satisfied to wrap off a complicated year, happy that most races were able to keep a very good race bubble, to the organizers who managed to work under incredibly complicated circumstances, to the riders who had possibly their most complicated year and specially those that aren't on cameras much, all of them are heroes, and to everyone envolved in cycling from all of the cycling community on twitter to every volunteer in races of any level, each and every one of you makes a difference in what is our beautiful sport.
With that said, there's still one last stage to talk about and there is a clear set of favourites for it, those being the sprinters that have resisted this harsh race and will be rewarded with a rare sprint. Top man to beat should be Sam Bennett who has Michael Morkov, Jannik Steimle and a team full of riders focused on bringing this last win of the season, he's the fastest sprinter and will like the tailwind which will help the heavyweight sprinter, unlike the main contender who should be Jasper Philipsen who's also had a great race, has a solid leadout and is great at positioning but will have to directly beat Bennett if all goes normal. Pascal Ackermann will always be in contention, he's won a stage due to a relegation of Sam Bennet in stage 9 and also has a very strong team to put him in position.
This is the main battle, these three men are the strongest sprinters and the ones who should also be in the top places leading up to the final hundred meters. The best of the rest, who are they?
You can have Trek's Emils Liepins, Sunweb's Max Kanter, Astana's Alex Aranburu, Mitchelton's Dion Smith, EF's stage-winner already Magnus Cort Nielsen, Lotto's Tosh van der Sande, NTT's Reinardt Janse van Rensburg and Carlos Barbero, Israel's Mihkel Raim, Direct Energie's Lorenzo Manzin and finally Caja Rural's Jon Aberasturi who is one of the biggest wildcards for tomorrow.
Prediction Time
⭐ Rensburg, Aberasturi, Kanter, Cort Nielsen
This final one will be for Sam Bennett is what I think. He's resisted the whole race, proved to be the strongest sprinter, won't have any climbing to stop him and has the most powerful train in Spain at the moment, let's finish it off in a high!
Make sure to let me in on your opinion, and of course follow me on twitter for the latest updates!
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