So Astana did it, Aru did it. A brilliant bit of tactical racing on the penultimate climb finally blew Dumoulin and he finally was dropped. Well done to Aru, we'll take the 8/1 winner on him, but I'd have been far happier seeing Dumoulin win the race. So on to the final stage, a ridiculously short stage at just 97.8kms that finishes with 10 laps of a 5.8km circuit.
So it all comes down to this then, a long and hard day in the saddle that takes them over the same climbs twice, once from each side, on an out and back sort of route that should make for a fantastic climax to a brilliant Vuelta. 3,585m of climbing and 3,325m of descending will sap whatever strength is left in the riders legs after 3,250kms.
There is no stopping Thomas the Tank, he is just so, so strong - Aru to his credit gave it everything he had, but Tom never looked in trouble, he was able to just ride along with him, sitting in the saddle the whole time. It is now evens each of the two of them on Betfair with only 3 stage left - no one can separate them!
Four stages to go and this race is far from over! The TT may have rearranged the GC and put Tom Dumoulin in pole position, but boy is it close!! Fabio Aru did an incredible job to limit his losses to Dumoulin and now trails the Dutchman by just 3 seconds??. 3 Seconds?! It could turn out to be the closest GC result in Grand Tour history, and we never thought Lemond's 7" would ever be beaten.
The race of truth, the race against the clock, the race that decides this Vuelta? It could well decide not only the winner of this race, but the finishing order of the entire top ten. There's only 1" between the first two in the GC and only 3'11" between the first eight in the GC. And besides Dumoulin, there's not exactly a wealth of top time triallists in this race! It's all to play for!
The graphic on the left is probably too small to read, so make sure you check it out in larger form below... Suffices to say that the final climb on tomorrow's stage is an absolute beast. With around 3kms to go the climb starts hitting sections of 19%, 22%, 24% and in the final 500m hit gradients of up to 30%!
A jaunt along the coast for 70kms and then things start to get a bit more serious as they start to make forays in to the hills above the coast. It may look like a jaunt, but being on the coast, winds could play havoc if teams really look to take advantage of it. It's a stage that's a bit of a slow burner again, culminating in a beast of a climb.
A long stage and another summit finish on the Alto Campoo after a roller coaster of a day. 215kms long makes it the longest stage of the race and with over 3,400m of climbing it's going to be a tough day in the saddle again for a weary peloton. Can Aru extend his lead or can his rivals fight back?
Friday, the 13th stage. Will it be an unlucky stage 13 today for someone? There has been a fair amount on bad luck and misfortune already in this race, just ask Peter Sagan, Sérgio Paulinho, Chris Froome, Dan Martin, Tejay Van Garderen, Nacer Bouhanni and all the guys who have had to abandon for various reasons.
Well, how do you follow a stage like that in Andorra with 5,000m of climbing?! With a day that is downhill for almost all of its 173kms, that's how. I say almost all downhill, there is the rather sizeable interruption of their downhill coast to Lleida of the Cat 2 climb of the Coll de Boixols, which at 15.8kms long will test some very tired legs.
Here we go then, the test to see who really has the credentials to win the Vuelta a Espana. Tom Dumoulin has looked imperious so far, winning on mountains ahead of Chris Froome, Joaquim Rodriguez and Nairo Quintana, and chasing down every attack on Monday to set up Degenkolb for a go at the sprint.
is it time to start taking Tom Dumoulin's challenge in this Vuelta really seriously? He was sensational again today, to cap a magnificent week for him and should go in to the rest day as the leader of the race. He was 1000/1 with Bet365 two weeks ago, he's 8/1 4th favourite now. And he is probably the best time triallist in the race.
120km of boring nothingness, then this stage gets interesting for the last 45kms. Well, that's at least what it looks like on paper, but those 120kms are spent hugging the coastline and the winds could make this stage more interesting than it looks like at first glance.
After yesterdays' first high altitude finish, they spend most of today's stage descending. It should make for a very fast stage, they could be averaging over 50kmph for the first two hours as they descend towards Archena. They then have the double obstacle of the Alto de la Cresta del Gallo before a probable sprint finish.
So we've had Peter Velits, Esteban Chaves, Tom Dumoulin and Esteban Chaves again in the Red Jersey so far in this race, but this is the first real test for the GC men and pre-race favourites. We've already lost Vincenzo Nibali to the stickiest of sticky bottles, and Aru hasn't exactly been lighting up the road so far.
Just over 200kms in today's stage, making it the fourth longest stage of the Vuelta on a route that takes them across the centre of Spain over increasingly lumpy terrain. They take in two Cat 3 climbs, including one at the finish in Sierra de Cazorla but a whole host of small uncategorised climbs too.
It was oh-so-close for Nicholas Roche today and his valiant effort almost brought him a sensational stage victory, just being collared with 100m to go. We almost got the 1-2 though with Sagan just being beaten by Valverde and Moreno sneaking past Roche on the line to land the each-way money. Can Sagan get back to the top step again tomorrow?
From one side of the southern tip of Spain to the other, via the Parque Natural Los Alcornocales, this is a pretty featureless and boring stage with an interesting finish through narrow streets in Vejer de la Frontera. It could get interesting also out on the road if they meet some crosswinds coming in off the sea after they hit Cadiz.
After a day inland, we're back on the coast for a stage that takes in some more of the sights of the beautiful Costa del Sol. They leave the stunning white-washed town of Mijas, and after a loopy route that takes them inland and in to the hills they some back to the coast and on to Malaga.
Alhaurín de la Torre to Caminito del Rey
Sunday August 23rd, 158.7kms
So after the farcical scenes with the neutralisation of the first stage over the sand, boardwalks, plastic, brick and marble road surfaces, we head on to a normal stage with Peter Velits sitting in the red leaders jersey after BMC won the TTT by just 1 second from Tinkoff-Saxo. But it was ridiculous to watch some teams potter about like it was a Sunday spin.
Here's a selection of other bets that caught my eye for the Vuelta, there's not as many bets available as in the Tour de France but there's still a few of interest.
Katusha won this competition by a massive 39 minutes last year from Movistar with Tinkoff Saxo a minute further back in 3rd place. It helped of course that they finished with all 9 starters, but Joaquim Rodriguez led the line with seven top 5 placings and a 4th place overall result, with Daniel Moreno and Giampaolo Caruso also faring well, finishing in 11th and 15th place.
The Red Jersey of the Vuelta race leader is a pretty distinct jersey in cycling, going against the traditiional yellow as used in so many other races. But it's not the only jersey in the Vuelta that gets a change of colour, with the King of the Mountains leader's jersey a distinctive blue polka-dot. The Points leader's jersey is a more common green though.
The Vuelta kicks off amongst the yachts and the supercars of the super-rich in the Costa del Sol with a short team time trial from Puerto Banús to Marbella. It may be short but it will need to be ridden at full gas so GC men don't lose valuable seconds on the very first day.
The 2015 Vuelta a España kicks off in Portabanus on Saturday the 22nd August with a 7.4km Team Time Trial and finishes on Sunday the 13th September with a stage for the sprinters in Madrid. It is the 70th running of the race and will cover 3,374.4kms over the three weeks on a route that takes them all around Spain and even in to Andorra for a day.
This looks like being one of the most competitive Vuelta's in many a year. Not what you want to hear when trying to pick a winner, we'd rather it was less competitive and it was a narrower field of possibilities! But as a cycling fan, this has all the hallmarks of what could be a monumental battle in the Spanish sun.
