Kaixo, lagunak!

Welcome, friends!

So, let me paint you a picture: we've got a stage with Omar Fraile and M.A. Lopez in the top 10 and a time gap of almost two minutes between the main GC contenders. Are you picturing it? Must be a really hilly stage, right?

I don't think La Vuelta has had a stage this flat so far, yet it was filled with drama. Let's start with the day's break: After huge groups in the previous days, today we had our classic group of relunctant hero's, entertaining the crowd in a doomed break. Luis Angel Maté was there to collect points for his polkadot jersey, whole Jorge Cubero represented the continental teams. The third doomed warior was.... Richie Porte?? With no Willunga Hill in sight, even the sickly GC-contender couldn't save this break, and eventually it was caught by the peloton. This is the first break in La Vuelta this year without a Basque rider in it, so we score zero points on that front today.

The stage got even more interesting in the finale, albeit thanks to a very unfortunate fact: race organisation neglected to move road furniture from a very sharp corner, causing a minor crash but a major gap between groups in the peloton. The situation was blown-up by strong winds, causing trouble for the chasers to return. Not wanting to be outdone by Richie Porte, we saw another TdF contender perform duties normally reserved for lesser riders: Vincenzo Nibali pulling the front group in aid of his captain, Ion Izagirre. The gap to the second group eventually reached 1'44", with Wilco Kelderman and Thibaut Pinot on the losing end. The front was heavily populated by sprinters though, and from the final stage result-in which Nacer Bouhani pipped Danny van Poppel and Elia Viviani- betrayed nothing about the stage's wild happe... wait, is that Omar Fraile in 7th?! Basque of the day!

Best placed (stage): Omar Fraile (7th)
Best placed (GC): Ion Izagirre (5th)
Eguneko Euskara: Omar Fraile

Preview: Stage 7 - Puerto Lumbreras -Pozo Alcón

After today's drama on a flat stage, it's high time we get a more apropriatly Vuelta-esque flat stage. You know the type, the ones with 2500m of climbing in 'em! The terrain is constantly rolling from start to finish, giving the appearance of a flat stage only through the fact that every meter the peloton climbs, it descends shortly after. That is, untill the final thirty kilometres. A long descend from Cuevas del Campo is like the sharp intake of breath before the wild finale kicks off. The lowest point of the stage -500m above sea level- launches the pack into a 3rd category climb at twelve kilometres from the finish. If that climb wasn't enough to tempt late attackers, there's an uncatagorized Mur leading the remainder of the bunch into the intermediate sprint with bonus seconds. The streets until the finish are narrow, and with the highest placings in the GC still close together, this might even tempt GC contenders to take matters into their own hands to bombshell the peloton here - think Simon Yates versus Tom Dumoulin in Osimo. Do we think Simon has learned his lesson from back then?

In the end, I doubt it's as selective as that day has proven, and the battle is more likely to between one of three: the early break, the late attacker and the stronger sprinters in the bunch. Matteo Trentin would be one of the latter, as would Peter Sagan, an in-form Albasini or even the likes of Kwiatkowski. For the Basques, Eduard Prades could attempt a top-10 placing, if he doesn't lose position in the narrow streets. Our Basque to watch though....



Euskara to watch: Omar Fraile
He's working hard for his team captain, but today's result showed that he's regained form after an earlier crash. If he gets any freedom, this would be a great stage for him to fly. Not a threat to the GC at all, Omar might just break free in the finale while bigger names hesitate to chase. Aupa Omar!