La Vuelta a España 2014

woah sad news.

Betancur....seriously brother? Is he on strike of some sort? Is this a protest ride?

He's definitely not on a hunger strike, that much we know.

oof!

Cracking racing on the final climb today. Definitely worth a watch later.

Great to see Froome back on form. Saturday is going to be exciting.

Betancur attacked?

The pies?

He's not last any more! He's taken 2 seconds off Andrea Guardini. Next stop, top 10.

Just caught up via...
Vuelta a Espana 2014 HD - Stage 18 - FINAL KILOME…: http://youtu.be/zEYsei13bhk

Great stuff.

That was as good a finale as I can remember. Wonder if Astana will use Aru to support Nibali at the Tour or give him leadership at the other GTs again next year. Can't help but think they'd scare some other teams if they lined up together.

Aru must fancy a shot at the Giro next year. All the (other) big names will surely head for the Tour...

I did think that Carlton strayed into 'Clare Balding' territory with his comments about Aru's teeth.. Was a tad unnecessary..

He was there this year on step 3.

I wonder if Fugslang might get a go, with Aru going to the TDF with Nibali?

Last opportunity to take the lead for Froome, he hasn't got much of a chance to do it in tomorrow's TT as it's only 10km long, so I'm looking forward to today's uphill battle

I doubt he's going to make 1.19 over today.

He doesn't need to. If he got a minute, plus a 10 second time bonus, he could probably gain back the 9 seconds left in the TT tomorrow.

But I don't think he'll get a minute on Contador today unless the latter suffers a complete collapse (which hasn't happened often in his career).

I think Contador is weakening, there was no tactical reason for him stay with Valverde rather than chase Froome the other day, but I'm not sure by how much. Sky look strong, even without Cataldo. Had Froome been in better form a week earlier I am sure he would have won the race but I suspect he will lose it by about the same as he did to Cobo. Which is galling.

he looked stronger than Bertie indeed, it was just a shame he couldn't win stage 18 and get some more bonus seconds. just hoping to see an all-out battle today. the break has over 10 minutes on the peloton now(!) that way there will be no chance of any bonus for Froome...

Arse.

Could the hard riding that Betancur did as the last every day in this race be the ideal training and make him a favourite for the world championship?

So the top three is two drug cheats and a tax avoider.

Meh.

classy

Great photo but yh bunch of cheats

Anybody notice froome getting hit by a stick? just before contador attacked.