Ireland's Conor Dunne looks shattered atop the final mountain yesterday. But he has the back of this Vuelta broken and he knows it. Dunne says that if he can he'll try and get off the front again before this race is out.
Conor Dunne wins Vuelta time limit battle
Conor Dunne yesterday made the Vuelta time limit and so survives to the second rest day of this race. As a result, he is now on the home straight of his first Grand Tour.
It’s been a steep learning curve. He is not only new to this kind of racing, but is also in his first season at ProContinental level.
Yesterday’s stage 15 took the riders 129km from Alcala La Real to Sierra Nevada Alto Hoya de la Mora.
The first climb of the day was the cat 1 Alto de Hazallanas crested at 74km.
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And that was followed by a double serving of extreme pain towards the back end of the stage.
The cat 1 Alto del Purche was peaked at 109.5km. But rather than being followed by a descent, the riders kept climbing.
They were immediately taken all the way to the finish at the top of the HC final mountain.
Anyone distanced on the first climb of the day faced a battle to make it to the finish inside the time limit.
“It was going to be a really tough day for me – with the big mountains and the time limit,” said an honest and exhausted Dunne at the finish.
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“I rode my rhythm on the first climb. But the peloton were going too strong for me. And I got dropped straight away.
“I just rode my threshold (power) for the whole first climb and went full on the descent. And I managed to get into the grupetto.
"And then I just hacked home, job done. Next week we have a TT and a couple of less hilly days, if that’s possible.”
While fighting to survive on this Vuelta, Conor Dunne has already been in the breakaways twice. And he is not ruling out getting off the front again before the race is out.
“I might do something. You never know. Let’s see what happens,” he said after finishing 166th in a large group 30:38 down.
Yesterday’s stage was won by Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana). The Colombian took off from the select group on the upper slopes of the final ascent.
He would win by 36 seconds from Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), who is 3rd overall.
Vuelta leader Chris Froome (Team Sky) would place 5th some 47 seconds down, and alongside Esteban Chaves (Orica-Scott).
As a result, Froome gained 6 seconds on his nearest challenger in the general classification, Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida). The Italian placed 7th some 53 seconds down on .
Tough Vuelta stage for Roche
Unfortunately, one man who endured a very poor day by his own standards was Nicolas Roche.
The Irish rider with BMC Racing lost contact with the thinning peloton around halfway through the stage.
Consequently, he would finish back in 54th and lost 16:18 on the day. He is now 17th overall, some 21:40 down.
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