Daily Archives: September 4, 2014

Jonas Ahlstrand (Sweden/Giant-Shimano) came around Belkin’s Theo Bos (The Netherlands) in the acceleration to the line to win Thursday’s sprint in Red Deer. Wednesday’s winner Ruben Zepuntke (Germany/Bissel) placed third. Ahlstrand’s teammate Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands) keeps the yellow leader’s jersey for another day.

The Vuelta a España made its way to La Rioja Thursday for Stage 12, a 166-km circuit race around the city of Logroño. Early on, the peloton enjoyed a siesta, letting a sole rider, Cannondale’s Matthias Krizek, gain nearly nine minutes advantage. Eventually, Giant-Shimano and FDJ.fr came to the fore, setting a gentle tempo to keep Krizek in check. Krizek’s advantage slowly dwindled as the kilometres passed by, before FDJ.fr finally decided to mount a serious chase. With two, of eight, 21-km laps to go, Krizek was 3:30 up on the peloton. With one to go, he was 1:20 in front. He was brought back to the fold, after a gallant fight, with 12 km remaining.

Red Deer was the site of a two-man sprint for the line last year. Silvan Dillier, a stagiaire with BMC, beat Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly presented by Kenda) after they completed the three-lap circuit in town. This year’s Stage 2 looks like it could provide the same opportunity to the peloton’s opportunists. That final circuit is back in Red Deer.