Froome takes stage 9
The British pro attacked within the final kilometre of the rough climb to Cumbre del Sol without any of his GC rivals being able to keep up. Froome managed to claim the victory and the 10-second bonus with a comfortable gap. He now leads the race, with Chaves (Orica-Scott) 36 seconds behind him while all the rest of the GC hopefuls are trailing more than a minute behind.
“Sometimes the best form of defence is attack and the way I’ve been feeling in this year’s Vuelta, it suits me to be in front and make the race faster. The team has worked so hard, especially in the final. Mikel Nieve was fantastic,” Froome said.
Team Sky’s leader is going to try to hold on to the red jersey as long as possible. He has never led a Grand Tour so early for so long, so it is still going to be interesting. Is he going to retain the red jersey till the very end? Let us know what you think!
GC after stage 9
1 Christopher Froome (GB) Team Sky, in 36-33-16
2 Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (COL) Orica-Scott, at 36s
3 Nicolas Roche (IRL) BMC Racing, at 1-05
4 Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) Bahrain-Merida, at 1-17
5 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing, at 1-27
6 David de la Cruz (SPA) Quick-Step Floors, at 1-30
7 Fabio Aru (ITA) Astana, at 1-33
8 Michael Woods (CAN) Cannondale-Drapac, at 1-52
9 Adam Yates (GBR) Orica-Scott, at 1-55
10 Ilnur Zakarin (RUS) Katusha-Alpecin, at 2-15
Ludvigsson’s whip
https://twitter.com/CyclingHubTV/status/901826462491316224
You must have a large set of cojones to pull a stunt like that! Tobias Ludvigsson found some excessive energy while trying to hold off the peloton in the breakaway and pulled a sweet, sweet whip. Talk about racing on the limit.
Siesta time for Puccio
Vuelta is hard!
Marcin Bialoblocki was too good on 25-mile time trial
The Polish pro has been disqualified from Realteam.co.uk TT after setting a time which would have been a new record for the distance. Bialoblocki did the 25 miles in just 43 minutes. That means an average speed of 56 km/h. More than a minute faster than the competition record set by Bialoblocki last year.
He was disqualified, though, for riding too far out from the left of the road, close to the centre line of the dual carriageway where the event was held. The officials deemed that an offence because the Polish pro possibly benefited aerodynamically from the cars forced to drive in the right lane during the race.
Bialoblocki still can appeal the disqualification. The win went to Andy Jackson from SSLL Racing Team, who clocked a time of 46 minutes and 56 seconds.
