Contador was aggressive again today, but race leader Rodriguez has had the measure of him so far
Nicolas Roche has had a slightly tougher time of it in the Vuelta on today’s stage 15 in the high mountains, losing time to some of his GC rivals and slipping down a couple of places overall.
The Ag2r La Mondiale rider found himself losing ground on the final climb up to the summit finish at Lagos de Covadonga after 186.5km.
With the early breakaway easily surviving to the finish, the fact that any hope of stage honours were gone did not deter the GC favourites on the final ascent, with some aggressive riding from those hoping to wrestle the leader’s red jersey from Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) splitting the lead group.
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While Alberto Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) tried repeatedly to shake Rodriguez, the pair again finished on the same time with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), some 9:25 after Antonio Piedra Perez (Caja Rural) took a great stage win.
He rode away from his breakaway companions up the final climb and built a lead of 2:02 by the finish over second placed Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel–Euskadi).
The big three of Rodriguez, Contador and Valverde put 35 seconds into a group of nine riders containing the only other GC contender, Chris Froome (Team Sky).
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With Froome in that group were some of Roche’s rivals for the top ten placings overall, including Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) and Daniel Moreno (Katusha), with Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) coming in just 18 seconds down on that group.
Roche came home in 30th, losing 55 seconds to those in the Froome group. That sees Talansky and Ten Dam leapfrog over him on GC, with the Irishman 9th overall this evening compared to 7th before today’s stage.
Tomorrow is another very mountainous stage with a summit finish and is arguably the hardest of the three week tour.
Stage 15: Result
1 Antonio Piedra Perez (Spa) Caja Rural 5:01:23
2 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:02:02
3 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
4 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Caja Rural
5 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:07
6 Simon Geschke (Ger) Argos-Shimano 0:02:12
7 Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:02:25
8 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:03:35
9 Vicente Reynes Mimo (Spa) Lotto Belisol Team 0:03:49
10 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:06:45
11 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:09:25
12 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
13 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank
14 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:09:38
15 Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:09:48
16 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:10:00
17 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team
18 Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre - ISD
19 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin - Sharp
20 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team
21 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre - ISD
22 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team
23 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling
24 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team
25 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:10:04
26 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:10:08
27 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling 0:10:26
28 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:10:42
29 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Radioshack-Nissan 0:10:55
30 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale same
General Classification
1 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team 58:17:21
2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank 0:00:22
3 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:41
4 Christopher Froome (GBr) Sky Procycling 0:02:16
5 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha Team 0:04:51
6 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:05:42
7 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin - Sharp 0:06:48
8 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:07:17
9 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale 0:07:21
10 Igor Anton (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:07:39
11 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:09:01
12 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre - ISD 0:09:23
13 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:10:21
14 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Radioshack-Nissan 0:10:56
15 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Movistar Team 0:11:03
16 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Belisol Team 0:11:08
17 Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre - ISD 0:11:09
18 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:11:24
19 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:13:23
20 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:14:19
21 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling 0:14:27
22 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:15:52
23 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:16:44
24 Maxime Bouet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:17:33
25 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:18:42
26 Andre Fernando S. Martins Cardoso (Por) Caja Rural 0:18:55
27 Marcos Garcia (Spa) Caja Rural 0:19:29
28 Rob Ruijgh (Ned) Vacansoleil-Dcm Pro Cycling Team 0:19:43
29 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:20:12
30 Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Astana Pro Team 0:21:06
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