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2015 Vuelta a España post-race analysis

The 2015 Vuelta a España was a fantastically engrossing race, surpassing this season's Giro d'Italia and Tour de France for excitement and drama. The lead changed hands eight times.

September 14, 2015
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The 2015 Vuelta a España was a fantastically engrossing race, surpassing this season’s Giro d’Italia and Tour de France for excitement and drama. The lead changed hands eight times. Three to six seconds separated the top two cyclists from Stages 17 to 20 and then, in a Grand Tour rarity, the race leader was toppled on the last day riders could make gains.

However, the “Tom Du vs Aru” battle was merely the most outstanding story of the three weeks. Canadian Cycling Magazine takes a look at the final stage race of the 2015 WorldTour calendar.

First, let’s examine the riders of the top 10 on GC:
1) Fabio Aru (Italy/Astana) 85:36:13
2) Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain/Katusha) +0:57
3) Rafal Majka (Poland/Tinkoff-Saxo) +1:09
4) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) +1:42
5) Esteban Chaves (Colombia/Orica-GreenEdge) +3:10
6) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Giant-Alpecin) +3:46
7) Alejandro Valverde (Spain/Movistar) +6:47
8) Mikel Nieve (Spain/Sky) +7:06
9) Daniel Moreno (Spain/Katusha) +7:12
10) Louis Meintjes (South Africa/MTN-Qhubeka) +10:26

Aru: The Sardinian must now be considered one of the Grand Tour Big Dogs. In the past two seasons he placed 3rd and 5th in the 2014 Giro and Vuelta respectively and came runner-up to Alberto Contador in the Giro this season. He’s also taken five stage wins in those two years. He can climb, he can limit losses in time trials and he has a strong team, a fact illustrated by Stage 20’s sky-blue mugging of Tom Dumoulin.

Aru’s struggle to get rid of Tom Dumoulin reminded me of Vincenzo Nibali’s desperate bid to ward off Chris Horner in the 2013 edition, except, of course, Nibali couldn’t stanch the bleeding and Aru finally popped Dumoulin. The ecstatic relief overwhelmed Aru after Stage 20, the way despair gripped him 24-hours early when Dumoulin increased a 3-second lead to 6-seconds.

It will be interesting how Astana plays Nibali and Aru next season, especially as the Giro is time trial intensive again.

Rodriguez: El Purito is destined to fail in his bid to win a Grand Tour. At 36, Rodriguez has been Grand Tour runner-up twice, third twice and fourth four times. Without a title, he is still one of the greatest Grand Tour racers of his generation, having a fine GC palmares and twelve stage wins to his name.

Majka: If Aru is now one of the Big Dogs, the Pole is now an Official Podium Contender. Having secured the first Polish Grand Tour podium since Zenon Jaskula in the 1993 Tour de France, Majka has shown that he is versatile enough to take King of the Mountains titles (2014 Tour), win three stages of the Tour and climb onto the steps.

Quintana and Chaves: The Colombian block that anchors the top five consists of the two best Colombian stage racers in the game. We’ve known that about the 2014 Giro winner Quintana for a couple of years, but Chaves has been merely a Colombian with potential, mentioned in the same breath with Darwin Atapuma (BMC) and now-teamless Carlos Betancur. Chaves busted out at the 2014 Vuelta, taking two wins, wearing the red for six days and placing fifth.

Quintana was not at his strongest, having suffered from illness early in the race that had him considering climbing off. But he was the best of the two Movistar captains, and it’s important to establish that hierarchy. Even in a weak Grand Tour, Quintana placed just off the podium. That’s a win, two runner-up places and a fourth in his last four completed Grand Tours.

Dumoulin: If Aru was the Grand Tour revelation of 2014, then Dumoulin was the 2015 revelation that came late in the season. With a team that was set up to deliver sprinter John Degenkolb for the win and then did so on the final day as if to underscore its purpose, Dumoulin resisted with great gusto, winning two stages along the way.

The big Dutchman, who drew far too many Miguel Indurain comparisons over the past two weeks, even from me, will learn something from the penultimate day’s drubbing, much like he learned from losing last year’s Tour of Alberta on the final day. Dumoulin matches compatriot Robert Gesink’s sixth at the Tour de France in July.

Valverde: In some ways Rodriguez’s twin, except with a 2009 Vuelta title, Valverde had his worst Vuelta ever in terms of GC. However, he won his 9th Vuelta stage and nicked the green points jersey–his third in his four last Vueltas–from El Purito on the very last day. That’s fourteen Grand Tour top-10’s in eighteen starts.

With Tim Wellens’ victory at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, Valverde also won his second consecutive WorldTour individual prize with a huge buffer over runner-up Rodriguez.

Nieve: How’s this for consistent? Mikel Nieve has been in the top-23 of the ten Grand Tours that he’s started, including four top-10’s. Moreover, eighth in this race is his Grand Tour career best.

Moreno: Katusha was the only squad besides Movistar to have two men in the top-10. Moreno is also a consistent Grand Tour rider, having placed in the top-20 of ten of the fourteen he’s raced. His career high is fifth at the 2012 Vuelta.

Meintjes: He’s the first South African to finish in the top-10 of a Grand Tour and the first MTN-Qhubeka rider to do so. For some reason he’s going to Lampre next year.

Crashes: Wrecks spoke louder than usual during this Grand Tour–screamed, really. Not only did crashes lead to Nibali’s expulsion and eliminate Froome, Van Garderen, and Dan Martin from the race, but they also crept under the skin of the contest.

Kris Boeckmans’ terrible crash on stage eight, which sent him to the hospital to undergo a medically-induced coma, once again reminded us of the vulnerability of the riders. The wreck cast a shadow over the race, which led to Peter Sagan’s angry response at being knocked over by a race motorcycle on Stage 9. Sagan had to withdraw from the race and one can only imagine what items he threw two days later when his teammate Sergio Paulinho was also struck by a moto and couldn’t continue.

The Teams: Movistar won another team competition while taking a stage triumph. Giant riders took three stage wins, as did Trek. BMC and Lampre won two a piece.


One For the Vets: With the majority of the top-10 26-years-old and younger, the race was also long on accomplishments for the older guys, and not just the Spanish mid-30’s gang of Rodriguez, Valverde and Moreno.

Besides stage victories from Valverde and Rodriguez, grizzled Ruben Plaza earned his second Grand Tour stage win of the year a decade after his first Vuelta triumph.

Few things have been sadder for race fans over the past five years than the fading stars of the Schleck brothers. Frank took Stage 16 with élan, his first win in four-and-a-half seasons. The Luxembourger ended up 24th on GC, right behind 38-year-old Haimar Zubeldia.

Adam Hansen, Ironman: Aussie Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal) is known for toasting the crowds with a beer as he climbs Alpe d’Huez, and he’s had plenty of opportunities to practice. Hansen’s 13 consecutive Grand Tours completed breaks a 57-year-old record held by Spaniard Bernardo Ruiz. Thirteen in a row…just think about that.

The Pro Continental King of the Mountains: Omar Fraile grabbed hold of the blue polka dots on the second stage and held tough until Madrid, giving his Pro Continental squad Caja Rural its second consecutive KOM title. Over the past seven seasons, wild card Pro Continental teams have won six Vuelta KOM’s.

The Canadians: Antoine Duchesne and Dominique Rollin were both in two breakaways of the day over the three weeks, as Duchesne finished his first Grand Tour and Rollin completed his third out of five attempts.