Hello there, good morning, and a warm welcome to Cyclingnews’ live race centre.
What a day we have in store. It’s the Vuelta a España, but we’re heading across the border and into France for what could be one of the most spectacular stages of the whole race. The Col d’Aubisque – sound familiar? Up there is where stage 14 finishes, but there’s the small matter of three first-category climbs before the riders even reach the foot of the final climb. A big, big day.
They’re calling this one the ‘queen stage’. Here’s why:
The team buses have arrived in Urdax and the riders are, somewhat apprehensively, going through the pre-race routines. They will roll out just before 12pm local time, with racing proper getting underway around 15 minutes later.
That means you have plenty of time to read this in-depth preview from Alasdair Fotheringham, who is driving along in the direction of the Aubisque as we speak.
1 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 4:56:29 2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:54 3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:05 4 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-BikeExchange 0:02:34 5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff Team 0:03:08 6 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 0:03:09 7 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 0:03:25 8 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:03:34 9 David De La Cruz (Spa) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:03:45 10 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:03:56
And here's our race leader, Nairo Quintana, with today's stage profile taped prominently on his stem
Before we get going, how about a re-cap of what happened yesterday? Here's our stage 13 report, with photos, results, and highlights:
Vuelta a España: Valerio Conti wins stage 13
Today's jersey wearers:
Red (GC): Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
Green (Points): Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)
Polka-dot (Mountains): Sergey Lagutin (Katusha)
White (Combined): Chris Froome (Team Sky) - on loan from Quintana
The riders have just rolled out of Urdax and are making their way through this fairly lengthy neutralised zone.
#LV2016 stage 14. To quote DS @demoldirk minutes before the start: "This will be a crazy hard stage." https://t.co/B3GlALB5X8
And we're off! The riders reach KM0 and the race director waves the flag to declare the race underway.
Omar Fraile, prominent at the front for the entirety of that neutral zone, takes off immediately as the race strings out on a light downhill section.
A hard one to police on the downhill, but onto the flat now and a couple of small groups link up with Fraile to form a sizeable breakaway group. Will they be allowed to stay away? Who else will try and jump across?
Things come back together before Fraile goes again with Luis Leon Sanchez. This looks like it could take a while for a breakaway to form.
Air-time hunters from smaller teams, mountains points seekers, teammates of the GC leaders looking to strategically position themselves; there are plenty of riders who'd like to be in a break today.
FDJ's Odd Christian Eiking is joined by Magnus Cort (Orica-BikeExchange) to form a Scandinavian duo with a small gap at the head of the race.
183km remaining from 196km
Cort's teammate Jens Keukeleire joins him at the head of the race, along with three others. There's a chase group behind and more riders clipping of the front of the peloton. This is far from settled.
The peloton strings out into a long line as the various groups all come back together.
A large group of riders clip off the front once again but they're not given much leeway from Team Sky, who are lined out at the front of the peloton.
This is an interesting one. There are at least 40 riders in this front group and they've opened up a gap of 45 seconds. Sky continue to chase.
It's Movistar followed by Sky in the peloton but the pace isn't too high at the moment and consequently the big breakaway group is gaining time.
Sky have David Lopez in the break, just hanging at the back, but Movistar have two or three, it seems. One of them is Dani Moreno, who is 12th overall at 5:38.
We'll get you the full list of names in this breakaway shortly, but they're ticking along really nicely at the moment. Breakaways aren't usually this big, but they've organised this into a pretty slick rotation.
166km remaining from 196km
30km covered and this group of 41 riders now has a lead of just over two minutes.
Tejay van Garderen is in there, as is Pierre Rolland, who is just sheltering at the back without contributing to the pace-setting.
Here we go then. These are the breakaway men:
Ruben Fernandez, Dani Moreno and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), Deniele Bennati (Tinkoff), David Lopez (Team Sky), Tejay Van Garderen (BMC), George Bennett, Victor Campenaerts and Robert Gesink (Lotto NL Jumbo), Simon Gerrans, Jens Keukeleire and Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica - BikeExchange), Dario Cataldo (Astana), Kenny Elissonde, Odd Christian Eiking and Alexandre Geniez (FDJ), Haimar Zubeldia and Julien Bernard (Trek - Segafredo), Jan Bakelants and Quentin Jauregui (AG2R - La Mondiale), Alberto Losada and Egor Silin (Katusha), Bart De Clercq and Sander Armée (Lotto Soudal), Gianni Meersman (Etixx - Quick Step), Moreno Moser, Pierre Rolland and Davide Villella (Cannondale - Drapac), Omar Fraile and Jacques Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data), Mathias Frank and Larry Warbasse (IAM Cycling), Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre - Merida), Romain Hardy and Rudy Molard (Cofidis), Christoph Pfingsten (Bora-Argon 18), Pello Bilbao, Hugh Carthy and Sergio Pardilla (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Romain Sicard and Pierrig Quemeneur (Direct Energie).
As mentioned, Moreno is the best-placed at 5:38, while Sergio Pardilla is two places back in 14th at 5:55.
156km remaining from 196km
The gap goes out to over three minutes and this is a tricky one for Sky, who have had to knock it off and will have to wait until the first climb of the day and hope there'll be a favourable restructuring.
Sky still lead the peloton, with six riders in front of Froome. They're doing their best to contain this one but the gap is nearly four minutes now.
Safe to say: Movistar will be pretty content with this situation.
At Vuelta similar start to stage 9 of '13 TdF in Pyrenees, with big Movistar onslaught. That day they isolated Froome, couldn't twist knife.
We are now on the approach to the first climb of the day, and this is what it looks like.
Col Inharpu: 11.5km long with an average gradient of 7.1%
146km remaining from 196km
The breakaway riders covered 48.3km in the first hour of racing. A fast start.
The breakaway riders are onto the climb and are currently slowing as they hit the early double-digit gradients. We await the first selections from this big group.
143km remaining from 196km
4:15 is the gap as Sky lead the peloton onto the climb
No attacks just yet in the breakaway as they make their way up the narrow road that makes up this climb. It's Campenaerts who's setting the pace on the front at the moment. He has strong climbers Robert Gesink and George Bennett as his teammates in the break.
'The hardest Grand Tour stage of the season'
Movistar DS José Luis Arrieta isn't underestimating this one, as he told the Vuelta's website: "Today is the big stage. Everybody has been talking about us needing to have two or three minutes for the time trial but we won't talk about it for now. We have to do our race and then we will see where we stand for the TT.
"It's the hardest Grand Tour stage of the season. There will be gaps at the end of the day. Froome is the most dangerous but we will never underestimate Alberto Contador. I'm amazed by Alejandro Valverde who despite having ridden already two Grand Tours, does not seem to be suffering."
140km remaining from 196km
The gap is pretty steady at 4:30 at the moment without any real injection of pace in either group.
Who's going to win this stage? Will Movistar make this situation count? Will we see big GC time gaps?
Let us know your thoughts and predictions via Twitter - @paddyfletch
Just a few kilometres remaining of this striking climb. Sky still working pretty hard - they might find themselves on the front for most of the day. There are a few struggling on the back of the breakaway but it seems the major shake-ups will wait for the other climbs on today's menu.
This climb is a beauty to behold. Thanks to @lukascph for this screenshot from the TV coverage.
Sky must be kicking themselves that they didn't emulate Movistar and get Leopold Konig in the break. If it carries on like this their resources will be considerably depleted by the time we reach the final climb, where Movistar should have a reasonably fresh Valverde and Quintana ready to launch an assault on Froome.
The breakaway are approaching the summit of the Inharpu and soon they'll slug it out for mountains classification points. Fraile is third in the standings.
And it's Fraile who lights it up, and no one can match the Spaniard. The FDJ duo of Geniez and Elissonde follow several bike lengths behind.
Fraile sits up, happy with his work, but the FDJ boys kick again and they look keen to push on and open up a gap here on the descent.
A reminder of the stage profile - the break has just crested the first climb.
Wow! This descent is narrow and hairy - especially when you take it like Geniez is doing. The Frenchman is still keen to push on with Fraile and Elissonde and he overcooks a corner, and it's so narrow that he is almost sent tumbling over the side of the road and down the hillside.
Crash. Jacques Janse van Resnburg comes down on the exact same corner that nearly caught Geniez out. He's lying on the grass verge with ripped jersey.
Rojas had a mechanical there, but he's back in the break now.
126km remaining from 196km
Word will have filtered back about the dangers of this narrow descent, and the Sky men are leading Froome down calmly.
124km remaining from 196km
5:11 is the gap between the break and the peloton, so it's gone out slightly.
The pace in the breakaway is high thanks to the impetus of Geniez and Elissonde.
#LV2016 word is that Janse van Rensburg is back on the bike after crashing on the descent of the Col Inharpu.
Abandon: Kenneth Van Bilsen (Cofidis) leaves the race - he's been suffering with a stomach bug.
112km remaining from 196km
There's not much time in the valley before the second climb of the day, and the road rises gently even before the foot of the climb proper. Sky have managed to reduce the gap to 4:30.
And here's what the climb looks like.
Col du Soudet (Cat 1): 24km long at an average of 5.2%
Fraile leads the Mountains Classification after collecting the maximum 10 points atop the Inharpu.
Van Rensburg is in the peloton but looks pretty bashed up, and the way he's holding the bars with his left hand would seem to suggest he's in some discomfort.
107km remaining from 196km
Sky continue to reduce the arrears in the valley - it's back down to 4 minutes as they pass through the feed zone.
The riders are currently on the lower slopes of this long climb, which are pretty gentle. Things really start to become difficult when they pass Pierre Saint Martin - a place that'll be familiar to a certain Chris Froome...
98km remaining from 196km
And the steeper gradients are beginning to take their toll in the breakaway. We should see more action on this climb than we did on the last one.
With over 5000metres over vertical gain on today's menu, yesterday's racing - if you can call it that - was somewhat subdued. Nairo Quintana defended the tedious go-slow that saw the peloton roll in well behind the breakaway. Read his comments here:
Ruben Fernandez, Dani Moreno and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), Deniele Bennati (Tinkoff), David Lopez (Team Sky), Tejay Van Garderen (BMC), George Bennett, Victor Campenaerts and Robert Gesink (Lotto NL Jumbo), Simon Gerrans, Jens Keukeleire and Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica - BikeExchange), Dario Cataldo (Astana), Kenny Elissonde, Odd Christian Eiking and Alexandre Geniez (FDJ), Haimar Zubeldia and Julien Bernard (Trek - Segafredo), Jan Bakelants and Quentin Jauregui (AG2R - La Mondiale), Alberto Losada and Egor Silin (Katusha), Bart De Clercq and Sander Armée (Lotto Soudal), Gianni Meersman (Etixx - Quick Step), Moreno Moser, Pierre Rolland and Davide Villella (Cannondale - Drapac), Omar Fraile (Dimension Data), Mathias Frank and Larry Warbasse (IAM Cycling), Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre - Merida), Romain Hardy and Rudy Molard (Cofidis), Christoph Pfingsten (Bora-Argon 18), Pello Bilbao and Sergio Pardilla (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Romain Sicard and Pierrig Quemeneur (Direct Energie).
#LV2016 confirmation that @PhilippeGilbert has abandoned the race. More details to come.
The peloton hit one of the steeper, double digit sections of the Soudet, and still it's Sky en masse at the front - a situation that hasn't changed for the best part of two and a half hours. 4:30 is the gap that they're still keeping under control.
This climb is beginning to take its toll, with riders getting dropped from both groups.
Bennati, Jauregui, Moser and Pfingsten are unable to hold the pace being set by Orica in the breakaway.
More abandons to report. Davide Malacarne (Astana), Johan Le Bon (FDJ) and Angel Madrazo (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) have all climbed off. More details to follow.
No real attacks or moves being made just yet in either group - just a pace-setting that's seeing some riders lose contact.
89km remaining from 196km
3:45 is the gap now as Sky make some inroads on this climb. Just a few kilometres to the top for the breakaway men.
Another plug for Alasdair Fotheringham's in-depth preview of today's stage, which will be culminating on the Col d'Aubisque later.
Fraile moves to front of the breakaway - breaking Orica's control - towards the top of the Soudet. He'll be looking to increase his lead in the mountains classification standings.
Fraile does indeed strike out for it, and Elissonde is quickly onto his wheel. It's those two with a clear gap.
Fraile takes maximum points once again - Elissonde choosing not to sprint there. Lots of riders saving their energy for later on, where a stage victory is still a possibility.
80km remaining from 196km
20km of descending now for the breakaway, which has thinned out on the climb. You can see the list of riders to the right of your screen.
Sky - still - lead the peloton over the top of the climb, just under 4 minutes in arrears.
There are some problems with the GPS systems but we're hearing that the gap between the still-large breakaway and the Sky-led peloton has grown out to just over 6 minutes.
That makes Dani Moreno the virtual leader of the Vuelta. He started the day 5:38 down on teammate Quintana. Still no sign of panic from Sky, who continue to calmly go about their business.
65km remaining from 196km
65km to go now as the breakaway near the end of this long descent. 16km of valley roads then await before the penultimate climb of the day, which is where, in theory, things should start to kick off.
59km remaining from 196km
More sustenance being taken on board by the riders as they continue along these flatter roads. Time checks are few and far between as the race organisers try to sort out their systems, but we understand that it's around the 5:45 mark.
"When the organisers make the course so hard it sometimes has the opposite effect," says Movistar's Rory Sutherland, talking somewhat presciently this morning about the action in prospect.
Despite the interesting balance of the race situation - with the large break with Moreno and Sky's chasing - there has been relatively little action so far on the stage.
It's still all-Orica at the front of the breakaway. The Australian team has been doing all the work up there for some time now. What has team leader Esteban Chaves got up his sleeve?
47km remaining from 196km
Eiking and Campenaerts are dropped from the breakaway ahead of the penultimate climb. Orica's work is taking its toll, and it's also causing the gap to the peloton to grow back out to 6:15.
46km remaining from 196km
The breakaway hit the penultimate climb of the day. This is what it looks like.
Col de Marie-Blanque (Cat 1): 9.2km at an average of 7.5%
Simon Gerrans pulls off the front of the break after doing a huge amount of work in the valley. Rather more surprising is the sight of Omar Fraile, the new leader of the Mountains Classification, also off the back.
Away from the Vuelta, Tom Boonen has just won the Brussels Cycling Classic, where none other than Marcel Kittel was part of his leadout train as he beat Arnaud Demare and Nacer Bouhanni.
Magnus Cort, Pello Bilbao, and Gianni Meersman all fall away from the break on the Marie-Blanque as LottoNL take over.
This climb may be short but it's starting to get tough - especially with all the climbing that's already in the legs. Five riders are starting to move clear at the head of the break as Losada loses contact.
41km remaining from 196km
Jack Haig attacks from the peloton. Orica are clearly up for trying things today. Keukeleire begins to fall away from the break and it remains to be seen what exactly the plan is for Orica. Haig could act as a useful bridge for Chaves - or even Simon Yates, who's seventh overall.
And Yates attacks! The young Brit quickly links up with his teammate Haig, and they're going to put the pressure on the other teams here.
A reminder of Orica's GC men:
Esteban Chaves: 4th overall at 2:34
Simon Yates: 7th overall at 3:25
39km remaining from 196km
Yates and Haig have 30 seconds over the peloton. The breakaway, which is breaking up all the time on the upper slopes of the Marie-Blanque, is 5 minutes up the road.
The break near the top of the climb, and with no Fraile in the frame, Elissonde skips away and helps himself to the 10 points on offer for the mountains classification.
And now Yates goes solo. He thanks Haig for his efforts and kicks on. He still has teammates who were formerly in the break who will soon be able to lend a helping hand.
Yates crests the climb and sees Keukeleire and Cort just over the brow of the hill. He links up with his teammates and now has 1:10 over the peloton now. Great work, this, from Orica.
Six riders have stolen a march at the front of the break on this decent.
Bakelants, Gesink, Elissonde, Silin, Bernard, and De Clercq have 20 seconds' advantage
Orica's creativity forces Movistar into action, taking the pressure of Sky for the first time today.
25km remaining from 196km
The breakaway hit the valley. The road once again rises gently on the approach to the climb, which, after a somewhat incongruous intermediate sprint, begins with 16.5km remaining.
Correction: It's George Bennett in the leading group of six - not Gesink.
In any case, that group has 45 seconds over the rest of the breakaway.
Meanwhile the Yates group, which is making its way past many of the breakaway remnants, has 1:25 over the peloton.
20km remaining from 196km
Tinkoff commit men to the chase now, with Contador's fifth place under threat from Yates.
These are the men in the pursuit of our six leaders. With such a big climb still to come, they still have every chance of a stage win, and the gap is down to 40 seconds.
Orica still driving the third group on the road, with Keukeleire now dropping back into the fold. That's three teammate with Yates, and they're still gaining time.
17km remaining from 196km
It's almost time for the Col d'Aubisque!
16.5km at an average of 7.1%
16km remaining from 196km
The six leaders hit the climb, but their lead is already down to 25 seconds.
The leaders remain together but they start to play a few games as the gap to the chasers narrows to 10 seconds.
14km remaining from 196km
Yates is on his own again. Gerrans and Keukeleire pulled off, and Magnus Cort didn't last too long on the climb, so the British rider is going to have to do this the long and hard way. He has 1:40 at the moment.
Yates gets out of the saddle and picks up the pace once again. He's riding impressively here, and his advantage is just under 1:30. Movistar lead the peloton up the climb but it's all calm in there for now.
Will we see fireworks on the Aubsique?
Some think so, some don't.
"I don't see much happening," Tinkoff DS Sean Yates told CN yesterday. "In terms of climbing metres it's the hardest, but it all depends on how they do it. In my opinion, it's much easier to take time differences on the shorter, punchier climbs than it is on a stage like the Aubisque, which isn't that steep and won't really tax the guys like Froome and Quintana. They're used to these kinds of climbs, and they'll be dictating things, and they'll just follow each other."
For a full take on what's in store on this climb, here's Alasdair Fotheringham with a preview:
Yates is making his way past breakaway remnants, who appear to be crawling in comparison with the Orica rider's pace. That said, Yates has ceased to gain time on the peloton. He's now losing ground - it's still around 1:25, but it has stabilised and the GC group has yet to really spark into action.
10km remaining from 196km
10km to go and our six leaders are still 30 seconds clear of the chasers. But Yates is now just 2 minutes back, and the peloton 3:20.
And now the lead group splits up, with Elissonde and Bakelants kicking on, while Silin and De Clercq finding themselves in real difficulty.
Gesink attacks! The Dutchman is in the second group on the road and, with the gap going up thanks to Elissonde's attack, he takes matters into his own hands. Pardilla, Moreno, and Lopez jump across.
9km remaining from 196km
Gesink goes again with 9km to go, and he passes Bernard and De Clercq as if they're not there.
8km remaining from 196km
All the GC favourites are together, and the group is really thinning out here. It's been a thinning-out process all day, but now it's really reduced. Where will the attacks come from?
Samuel Sanchez attacks from the red jersey group. There's only 15 riders in there now after Movistar's pace-setting on the climb.
What a ride from Gesink, who makes it over to the leaders in no time. He has a teammate in Bennett with him now.
8km remaining from 196km
Quintana attacks!
Froome is forced into action, Contador also looks to get on terms with the race leader.
Froome closes it down. Just a short one from Quintana - a little test of his rivals' legs.
No sign of Valverde in this red jersey group. The Spaniard has been dropped, it seems.
Gesink attacks from the lead group now! The Lotto rider is clearly feeling good as he catches the others napping and quickly gets himself a sizeable gap. Bakelants is the only one who can react for now.
6km remaining from 196km
6km to go and Bakelants links up with Gesink.
Silin, Bennett, and Elissonde are several seconds behind.
5km remaining from 196km
Simon Yates is doing a great job here. He has opened out his advantage over the GC group to almost two minutes. He's riding his way towards the podium.
Yates joins up with the chasing group, while Sanchez is joined by BMC teammate Ben Hermans to continue his attack ahead of the red jersey group
Quintana attacks again!
4km remaining from 196km
Konig is there with Froome and will look to pace the Sky leader back to Quintana, who continues with this move.
4km remaining from 196km
Yates skips away from that small group of breakaway remnants. There's absolutely nothing they can do about it - Yates clearly flying.
Quintana is still alone. Contador and Chaves are with Froome and Konig in a four-man chase group behind the race leader.
3km remaining from 196km
3.5km to go for Gesink, but Yates is now 55 seconds back.
Quintana links up with Moreno and they drive on again. Froome, now without Konig, puts in a real acceleration, with Contador in tow.
And Froome shuts the Quintana move down. There's a small let-up, which allows Chaves to get back on, and then attack himself.
2km remaining from 196km
Bakelants is well and truly dropped but Gesink has company at the head of the race as Eilissonde makes up a remarkable amount of ground to link up at the head of the race.
Contador attacks!
The Spaniard has to swerve around a veering Froome but he skips clear and gets a gap.
Quintana jumps across, Froome gets back on terms too.
Contador dropped.
The TInkoff rider pays for his effort as Quintana drives again.
Quintana goes again!
He's with Moreno for a short moment but then accelerates once again to distance Froome.
Froome is equal to Quintana here but he's panting. This is great racing.
1km remaining from 196km
Gesink and Elissonde still have 45 seconds as Yates reaches Bakelants. It looks like they'll contest stage honours.
Another attack from Quintana, but Froome shuts it down from the saddle.
1km remaining from 196km
Flamme rouge! And Silin has regained contact with the two leaders!
Contador could lose half a minute here.
Silin leads this one into the final 500 metres, but Gesink attacks now
Gesink has a gap but Silin is trying to close it down. Elissonde dropped.
Robert Gesink wins stage 14 of the Vuelta a España
Eilssonde grabs second, Silin third. And now we watch the clock.
Yates crosses 38 seconds down.
Froome and Quintana come into the final couple of hundred metres together.
Quintana opens up the sprint and Froome has to respond, letting only the slimmest gap open up on the line. What a duel this Vuelta is between those two.
Froome and Quintana were 1:48 down, while Contador was a further 20 seconds back.
With no Valverde in the frame today, that pushes Yates up into third overall, by my calculations. We await the official results.
Top 10
1 Robert Gesink (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 05:43:24 2 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) FDJ 00:00:07 3 Egor Silin (Rus) Team Katusha 00:00:09 4 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 00:00:31 5 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 00:00:39 6 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 00:00:49 7 Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 00:01:11 8 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 00:01:14 9 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-BikeExchange 10 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 00:01:16
GC
Nairo Quintana
Chris Froome +54 seconds
Esteban Chaves +2:01
Simon Yates +2:17
General classification after stage 14
1 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 58:41:40 2 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky 00:00:54 3 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-BikeExchange 00:02:01 4 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 00:02:17 5 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 00:02:38 6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff Team 00:03:28 7 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 00:03:59 8 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 00:04:30 9 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 00:05:37 10 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Movistar Team 00:05:52
Vuelta a Espana: Gesink wins stage 14 atop Col d'Aubisque
