Despite missing out on the number of Vuelta a España stage wins the team had accumulated at this point last year, Giant-Alpecin’s run in the red jersey of the Vuelta leader with Tom Dumoulin has done well to make up the deficit.
Team sprinter John Degenkolb, who won four Vuelta stages last year and five in 2012, has so far notched a goose egg in the Spanish Grand Tour, while Dumoulin has taken a stage and worn the leader’s jersey for two days heading into Wednesday’s mountainous stage 11. It’s a shift of fortune that has taken Dumoulin himself by surprise.
“I am very satisfied with the course of the race so far, as it has turned out far above my expectations,” he said on the first rest day in Andorra. “Especially my stage win was unbelievable and very special for me.
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“Also the red jersey is great and a really nice bonus. If someone would have told me two weeks ago that I would win a stage with an uphill finish and have the leader’s jersey on the first rest day, I would have said he was insane.”
Insane or not, Dumoulin will have the difficult task of defending the race lead as the Vuelta heads into one of the hardest days in recent memory, the 138km test from Andorra la Vella to Cortals d´Encamp. The stage includes six categorised climbs and a summit finish.
“Tomorrow we will have the hardest stage of this Vuelta, and at the finish we will know more,” Dumoulin said if his chances to hang on for the general classification. “Normally I would say that it is too much for me, but stage 9 was also not typical, so we will see.
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