Vuelta a Espana, stage 18 summary

Stage 18 : Sep 8, Solares - Noja, 169.7 km

1 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Lampre - ISD 4.24.42
2 Kristof Vandewalle (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team
3 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) Skil - Shimano 0.10
4 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
5 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
6 Volodymir Gustov (Ukr) Saxo Bank Sungard
7 Juan Jose Oroz Ugalde (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
8 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha Team
9 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Pro Team Astana
10 Francis De Greef (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0.15


Changes in GC, stage 18 compared to stage 17 :

Biggest gainers by position :
+10 Matteo Montaguti
+10 Kristof Vandewalle
+7 Volodymir Gustov
+7 Jaroslaw Marycz
+6 Yukihiro Doi
+6 Sep Vanmarcke
+6 Francesco Gavazzi
+6 Alexandre Geniez
+5 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho
+5 Robert Kiserlovski

Biggest losers by position :
-11 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga
-8 Dmitry Kozontchuk
-7 Tony Martin
-4 Imanol Erviti Ollo
-3 Juan Jose Haedo
-3 Leigh Howard
-3 Valerio Agnoli
-2 Alan Marangoni
-2 Carlos Sastre Candil
-2 David Moncoutie
-2 Janez Brajkovic

Biggest gainers by time :
+8:02 Francesco Gavazzi
+7:54 Kristof Vandewalle
+7:44 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver
+7:40 Robert Kiserlovski
+7:40 Alexandre Geniez
+7:32 Volodymir Gustov
+7:32 Nico Sijmens
+7:32 Matteo Montaguti
+7:32 Juan Jose Oroz Ugalde
+7:27 Francis De Greef

Biggest losers by time :
-11:30 Aleksejs Saramotins
-11:30 Antonio Cabello Baena
-11:30 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga
-11:30 Christopher Sutton
-11:30 Dmitry Kozontchuk
-11:30 Imanol Erviti Ollo
-11:30 Juan Jose Haedo
-11:30 Leigh Howard
-11:30 Mads Christensen
-11:30 Martijn Keizer
-11:30 Matthias Brandle

Favourites by position :
+1 Steven Kruijswijk
+1 David Blanco Rodriguez
-1 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil
-2 Janez Brajkovic
-2 Carlos Sastre Candil
-7 Tony Martin
-11 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga

Favourites by time :
-10:54 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil
-11:30 Tony Martin
-11:30 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga

Top 10 and favourites GC standings (previous stage in parens) :
1 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo 74:04:05 (unchanged)
2 Christopher Froome 0:13 (unchanged)
3 Bradley Wiggins 1:41 (unchanged)
4 Bauke Mollema 2:05 (unchanged)
5 Denis Menchov 3:48 (unchanged)
6 Maxime Monfort 4:13 (unchanged)
7 Vincenzo Nibali 4:31 (unchanged)
8 Jurgen Van Den Broeck 4:45 (unchanged)
9 Daniel Moreno Fernandez 5:20 (unchanged)
10 Mikel Nieve Ituralde 5:33 (unchanged)
.....
21 Carlos Sastre Candil 16:00 (was 19th at 16:00)
22 Janez Brajkovic 17:15 (was 20th at 17:15)
.....
41 Steven Kruijswijk 1:13:15 (was 42nd at 1:13:15)
.....
43 David Blanco Rodriguez 1:13:35 (was 44th at 1:13:35)
.....
49 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil 1:32:11 (was 48th at 1:21:17)
.....
80 Benat Intxausti Elorriaga 2:12:42 (was 69th at 2:01:12)
.....
124 Tony Martin 3:12:06 (was 117th at 3:00:36)

Top 10 on Points table with previous in parens:
1 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver 106 (was 3rd with 90 points) (???)
2 Bauke Mollema 101 (was 1st with 101 points)
3 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo 92 (was 2nd with 92 points)
4 Christopher Froome 88 (unchanged)
5 Peter Sagan 75 (unchanged)
6 Wout Poels 71 (unchanged)
7 Daniel Moreno Fernandez 70 (unchanged)
8 Daniel Martin 67 (unchanged)
9 Bradley Wiggins 64 (unchanged)
10 Daniele Bennati 56 (unchanged)

Top 10 on Mountains table with previous in parens:
1 David Moncoutie 63 (unchanged)
2 Matteo Montaguti 56 (was 3rd with 41 points)
3 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo 42 (was 2nd with 42 points)
4 Daniel Martin 33 (unchanged)
5 Daniel Moreno Fernandez 32 (unchanged)
6 David De La Fuente Rasilla 24 (unchanged)
7 Nico Sijmens 22 (was 0 points)
8 Christopher Froome 21 (was 7th with 21 points)
9 Chris Anker Sorensen 19 (was 8th with 19 points)
10 Bauke Mollema 16 (was 9th with 16 points)

Retirements to date : Stage
Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Movistar Team 18
Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Leopard Trek 18
David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team 17
Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Leopard Trek 17
Ignatas Konovalovas (Ltu) Movistar Team 17
Rafal Majka (Pol) Saxo Bank Sungard 17
Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 17
Sergio Pardilla Belllon (Spa) Movistar Team 17
Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita) Lampre - ISD 16
Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep Cycling Team 16
Karsten Kroon (Ned) BMC Racing Team 14
Michele Scarponi (Ita) Lampre - ISD 14
Andreas Kloden (Ger) Team RadioShack 13
Marcel Kittel (Ger) Skil - Shimano 13
Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team 13
Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Andalucia Caja Granada 11
Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Blr) HTC-Highroad 11
Murilo Antonio Fischer (Bra) Team Garmin-Cervelo 9
Michal Golas (Pol) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 8
Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 8
Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank Cycling Team 8
Tyler Farrar (USA) Team Garmin-Cervelo 8
Johann Tschopp (Swi) BMC Racing Team 6
Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Sky Procycling 6
Matti Breschel (Den) Rabobank Cycling Team 6
Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne 6
Jose Vicente Garcia Acosta (Spa) Movistar Team 5
Mauricio Ardila Cano (Col) Geox-TMC 5
Mark Cavendish (GBr) HTC-Highroad 4
Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad 2
Total retirements : 30


(This report can also be seen at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rvmartin2)