Nicolas Roche falters, big names abandon as torrential rain and hypothermia batter Vuelta

The rain and cold battered the Vuelta in the high mountains today, Saturday, and while Ireland's Nicolas Roche lost time, there remain plenty of stages to claw back some of the deficit and target another stage win.

By Gavin McLoughlin

Nicolas Roche fell to sixth overall after being dropped around 6 kilometres from the summit finish of stage 14 of the Vuelta a Espana today, Saturday.

On a day in which the riders were battered by an ungodly torrent of rain, the Saxo-Tinkoff leader eventually arrived home in 20^th place at 7:22 behind breakaway stage-winner Daniele Ratto (Cannondale).

Overnight leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was the best of the general classification contenders, and the Irishman surrendered 3:29 to the Italian. Roche is now 4:06 behind Nibali’s red jersey, having also lost his lead in the combined classification.

The dreadful weather conditions led many big names to abandon the race, with a rain-sodden Ivan Basso (Cannondale) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Belkin) climbing off their bikes as a result of hypothermia.

Roche suffered badly too and the Irishman’s hopes of finishing this race on the podium have been dealt a significant blow. He is now 2:24 behind third-placed Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

The new challenge for the Saxo-Tinkoff leader is to forget the pain of today and regroup ahead of another punishing test in the mountains tomorrow.

He is still on course for a very strong final overall result, and there remain plenty of opportunities to claw back some of the time losses of today. Roche may also be give a bit more leeway to try and take another stage win.

But regardless of what happens over the remainder of the race, the Saxo-Tinkoff leader will emerge from this race with great credit. A fabulous victor on stage 2, Roche then became the first Irishman to lead a Grand Tour in 25 years with his courageous ride on stage 8.

Today was an arduous 156 kilometre slog from Bagà to the summit of the first-category Collada de la Galina. The sweltering weather of the previous days was gone, replaced with a vengeance by a ghastly downpour.

The rain played havoc with the television arrangements and viewers were left staring at an image of the finish line for the first hour of coverage.

Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Luis Leon Sanchez (Belkin), Graeme Brown (Belkin), Daniele Ratto (Cannondale) and Steve Chainel (AG2R-La Mondiale) constituted the break of the day, but five men became three on the vicious first mountain.

Brown and Chainel were dropped on the 27-kilometre, hors-categorie Port de Envalira, and the gap to the peloton stood at 8:30 when their erstwhile companions crossed the summit.

Soon Sanchez would be distanced after hitting the deck on the slick, treacherous descent. Though he pressed on for a time, the Spaniard’s hypothermia rendered him unable to get very far and ultimately he was forced to climb off his bike and out of the race.

The duo of Ratto and Gilbert continued to work hard at the head of the race, but the Italian was the stronger and eventually he left the World Champion trailing in his wake.

Still the rain fell as word filtered through that the group of favourites had dwindled to thirty riders, Roche among them.

Big names were suffering everywhere as the Irishman bobbed along in the middle of the group. Basso was another with hypothermia and he too had abandoned, while Movistar leader Alejandro Valverde had been dropped by the favourites and was languishing 40 seconds behind.

Up front, a resilient Ratto had by now left Gilbert for dead and remained out of the peloton’s reach. The Italian was uncatchable and an epic stage triumph would inevitably be his.

All attention shifted to Roche’s group as the overall contenders prepared to draw swords.

Onto the final mountain and the rain-capes were discarded as the day’s most serious business had begun. The impressive Movistar domestique José Herrada had done a sterling job with his team-leader and now Valverde was passing rider after rider as he fought to get back to his rivals.

But as Valverde progressed, Roche started to go backwards. The Irishman was already quite a distance behind the general classification contenders and his loss of a hefty packet of a time looked inevitable.

Prior to today, overnight leader Nibali and Radioshack-Leopard veteran Horner had been the strongest climbers in the race and it was no surprise when none of their rivals could match this pair’s pace.

Nibali was content to sit in the American’s wheel, whose form at the age of 41 years has been surprising, as they wound their way up the slope.

The race-leader was getting an easy ride and on the final run to the line he opened up a two-second gap on his rival. It was all so easy for the Italian and his hold on the red jersey grows ever tighter.

Roche arrived 3:29 later, and faces another infernal day tomorrow as the riders tackle a 225-kilometre marathon that is probably the most difficult stage of the race. Three first-category ascents will be scaled before yet another first-category summit finish in the French ski-resort of Peyragudes.

Let’s just hope the rain stays away.

@gavmcloughlin