Blink and you’ll have missed it - or, indeed, them. Sunday's stage 2 could end up being one of the 2017 Vuelta a España's very few bunch sprints this year, although, as John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) points out, it might not even happen.
“There are not many sprinters here and there are not many sprint opportunities in the whole race - probably four - but you always have to see how the stages actually work out,” Degenkolb, one of the very few specialists in fast finishes on this year’s Vuelta, told Cyclingnews ahead of the start of the race on Saturday.
“This lack of sprinters also means that, even on the theoretical bunch sprint stages, nobody is actually there to control the race. Maybe today, in any case, will be a crosswind stage and we won’t get a bunch sprint.”
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Degenkolb is also one of another fast-disappearing breed: riders using the Vuelta as preparation for the World Championships. In the noughties, prior to the Vuelta’s latest trend of multiple hill-top finishes, it used to be stuffed to the gunwhales with racers building for the Worlds. But, as a pathway to the battle for the rainbow jersey in late September, the much more mountainous Vuelta has been all but been abandoned.
Discussing the Worlds, Degenkolb says: “That’s my main objective, to get in really good shape for it. Every day here you get your hours in on the bike and you focus on a few, maybe a couple of days, when you know there can be a possibility of a win.
“For the rest of the time, I’ll just do my job in the team, and I will try to support the team as much as possible, getting better day by day.”
Bergen
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