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2015 Vuelta a España Stage 9: Dumoulin on top after surprise summit win

Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Giant-Alpecin) suggested that he's a stage race threat in the Miguel Indurain tradition when he climbed to victory and the red jersey on Sunday's mountain stage.

August 30, 2015
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Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Giant-Alpecin) suggested that he’s a stage race threat in the Miguel Indurain tradition when he climbed to victory and the red jersey on Sunday’s mountain stage. Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) showed better form in coming runner-up to the big Dutchman. There was a considerable shake-up in the GC, with overnight leader Esteban Chaves (Colombia/Orica-GreenEdge) shuttled down to third.

News overnight was not good. On top of Kris Boeckmans (Belgium/Lotto-Soudal) being in a medically-induced coma after Saturday’s crash, green jersey wearer Peter Sagan (Slovakia/Tinkoff-Saxo) withdrew due to injuries suffered in a crash with a race moto. Even Stage 8 winner Jasper Stuyven (Belgium/Trek) didn’t start Sunday because of a broken scaphoid bone in his hand.

There was a crash early in Sunday’s stage involving several of the GC favourites. Meanwhile, a breakaway of 14-riders was up the road, heading towards the steep little Cat. 2 Alto de Puig Llorenca, the first of two ascents of the mountain near Cumbre del Sol.

King of the Mountains leader Oscar Fraile (Spain/Caja Rural) was in the break and he was one to watch on the first passage of Puig Llorenca. The gap from breakaway to Sky-led peloton was 2:40 when the fugitive platoon started the climb. The Puig Llorenca was a standing-on-the-pedals grunt for both groups, and several riders dreamed of a 28-tooth cog. Fraile had to fight back to nip over the crest in the lead.

The second passage was 4.1-km instead of 3.3-km, with a 19% section mid-way. Now streamlined to a nontet, the fugitives had to battle 30-km of lumpiness before the Puig Llorenca kicked up again. Katusha set the pace of the chasing peloton. When the gap got under the 1:00 mark, the breakaways began to attack one another.

On an uncategorized hill three of the escapees distanced the others. The final fugitive to be swept up at the start of the climb was Yoann Bagot (France/Cofidis). Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) made a strong move at 3.5-km to go and when the favourites congealed again, Alejandro Valverde attacked. Dumoulin threw down the next gauntlet and only Valverde could grab him. Chaves took up the chase with 2.3-km to go.

Another surge from Dumoulin gave him a gap and once more Chaves led the pursuit. Froome took over and Majka made an attack just as Dumoulin went under the red kite. Froome rode several rivals off his wheel in leading a small group to Dumoulin. Chaves was falling behind.

El Purito made his move with 300-metres to go and Froome came around him. In the final 60-metres Dumoulin caught and passed the Brit to take the incredible win and retake the red jersey.

Monday’s stage is a medium mountain stage with two Cat. 2 climbs, the second of which peaks 17-km from the line in Castellon.

2015 Vuelta a España Stage 9
1) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Giant-Alpecin)
2) Chris Froome (Great Britain/Sky) +0:02
3) Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain/Katusha) +0:05
79) Dominique Rollin (Canada/Cofidis) +7:58
158) Antoine Duchesne (Canada/Europcar) +18:23

2015 Vuelta a España GC
1) Tom Dumoulin (The Netherlands/Giant-Alpecin) 35:22:13
2) Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain/Katusha) +0:57
3) Esteban Chaves (Colombia/Orica-GreenEdge) +0:59
145) Dominique Rollin (Canada/Cofidis) +1:23:41
165) Antoine Duchesne (Canada/Europcar) +1:35:50

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