Yauheni Hutarovich pulled off a Vuelta upset so surprising that he managed to be dubbed "Who-Tarovich" by many of the top media sources. Well just how surprising was Hutarovich's sprint victory at stage 2 of the Vuelta? Oh, it was nothing too extreme unless you want to count flying past nearly every top sprinter in the sport. While Petacchi and Cavendish enjoyed nice leadouts and Farrar sat right next to them waiting in the wings, it was Hutarovich that came out of nowhere to stun the 3 sprint titans that were set to duel the stage out amongst themselves. Furthur analysis shows that Hutarovich in fact did not come from nowhere, as he did a great job getting on Cav's wheel while HTC and Lampre were fighting for control at the front. Though he did score a ProTour stage at the Tour de Pologne this August, he was still considered a major longshot and it took the major sprinters a little while to figure out just who he was. It wasn't all bad for Cav today, though, as he did hold on to his red leaders jersey for another day.
It's going to be very hard for Cav to defend tomorrow, as the climbing is not extreme but it is serious enough to be a major threat to the sprinters. The last major climb is a cat 1, and while many shouldn't be too negatively affected by it, it is just the type of climb that sprinters despise. To add to that, the finish is slightly uphill to the line and makes it very difficult to set up any kind of bunch sprint. If I had to make a guess, I would believe that there will be attacks on the final climb that form a breakaway on the descent. Then, I wouldn't be surprised to see some other riders from the splintered peloton try to join that breakaway just to see the breakaway split apart again in the uphill frenzy leading up to the line.
Yauheni Hutarovich pulled off a Vuelta upset so surprising that he managed to be dubbed "Who-Tarovich" by many of the top media sources. Well just how surprising was Hutarovich's sprint victory at stage 2 of the Vuelta? Oh, it was nothing too extreme unless you want to count flying past nearly every top sprinter in the sport. While Petacchi and Cavendish enjoyed nice leadouts and Farrar sat right next to them waiting in the wings, it was Hutarovich that came out of nowhere to stun the 3 sprint titans that were set to duel the stage out amongst themselves. Furthur analysis shows that Hutarovich in fact did not come from nowhere, as he did a great job getting on Cav's wheel while HTC and Lampre were fighting for control at the front. Though he did score a ProTour stage at the Tour de Pologne this August, he was still considered a major longshot and it took the major sprinters a little while to figure out just who he was. It wasn't all bad for Cav today, though, as he did hold on to his red leaders jersey for another day.
It's going to be very hard for Cav to defend tomorrow, as the climbing is not extreme but it is serious enough to be a major threat to the sprinters. The last major climb is a cat 1, and while many shouldn't be too negatively affected by it, it is just the type of climb that sprinters despise. To add to that, the finish is slightly uphill to the line and makes it very difficult to set up any kind of bunch sprint. If I had to make a guess, I would believe that there will be attacks on the final climb that form a breakaway on the descent. Then, I wouldn't be surprised to see some other riders from the splintered peloton try to join that breakaway just to see the breakaway split apart again in the uphill frenzy leading up to the line.
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