It's hard to escape a sense of déja-vu in the final week of this Vuelta a España. Mitchelton-Scott's Simon Yates is the convincing leader of a Grand Tour going into the final five stages, while Movistar have two cards without a clear indication they know how to play them. How it unfolds from here, though, is anyone's guess.
Tuesday's stage 16 time trial, in the absence of specialists such as Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin, didn't produce huge swings in the general classification but, nevertheless, in the space of 32 undulating kilometres in the Cantabrian hinterland, we saw more significant gaps than in all the previous mountain stages combined.
It has been that sort of Vuelta so far – a cagey affair – but there's plenty of room for it to burst into life between here and Madrid on Sunday.
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The headline on Tuesday was that Yates not only limited his losses but actually gained time on his direct rivals, putting seven seconds into Movistar's Alejandro Valverde, 42 into the Spaniard's teammate Nairo Quintana, and 52 into Astana's Miguel Angel Lopez.
Yates now leads the race by 33 seconds from Valverde and, given he has already won a mountain stage and conceded precious little ground to any of his adversaries, is the favourite in the eyes of most.
The big question surrounding Yates is whether he can hold on, with three crucial mountain stages to come in the final five days. His dramatic, late Giro d'Italia collapse continues to haunt him, and there will be no definitive answers until the very top of the final climb up the Coll de la Gallina on Saturday afternoon.
Movistar maintain double-pronged attack
Kruijswijk and Mas enter the fray
Talking tactics
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/all-to-play-for-vuelta-a-espana-gc-analysis
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