Vuelta a Espana Stage 16 is the final stage before the second rest day. Looking at the riders this weekend they certainly need a day away from the intensity of the racing!
What an incredible stage on Sunday. I don’t think anyone saw that coming – certainly not Team Sky! Chris Froome looks to have lost any chance of overall success and Leopold Konig lost 53 minutes.
Vuelta a Espana Stage 16 – The Profile
Stage 16 takes the riders away from the mountains. Yippee say the entire peloton!
The stage begins in Alcañiz and finishes 156kms later in Peñiscola. The profile map shows that the riders will essentially climb from the start. They will gain too metres in altitude over the first 90kms of the race. They will peak the only categorised climb of the day – the Alto Castillo de Morella (3.4kms at 5.2%) at 75.4kms. Bizarrely they will continue to climb after this!
From the high point of the day the remaining 60+kms of the day are relatively straightforward for the 2016 Vuelta. The riders get 50kms of downhill followed by a 15km flat section to the line in Peñiscola.
A breakaway will definitely form and the onus will be on the teams with sprint aspirations to chase. That is if the sprinters have the energy after 15 gruelling stages!
The Power in Peñiscola
Gianni Meersman (Etixx-Quickstep) must be favoured to win stage 6. He has already won two sprint finishes in this years Vuelta. A couple of his main rivals put in a lot of work on stage 15. Fabio Felline as he chased the stage win and Jens Keukeleire as he tried to help his Orica team-leaders close the gap on the break. In spite of that I would favour Meersman in a sprint finish even at 3.5-4.0.
Fabio Felline (Trek-SegaFredo) was magnificent again on stage 15. He picked up his third 3rd place finish to go along with two 2nds. I’m not sure he will have the legs to challenge for stage 16. Felline does now have the chance of winning the sprinters jersey as the gap to Alejandro Valverde has narrowed considerably. This might now be Felline’s focus going forward. Felline can be backed as high as 19.0 or as low as 10.0 if you shop around. Not for me I’m afraid.
Jens Keukeleire (Orica-BikeExchange) has a stage win in this years Vuelta winning a sprint from a small group. I would like his chances on stage 16 but for the fact he put so much effort into his teams GC fight on the last two stages. Keukeleire can be backed generally in the 26.0-34.0 range. There would be value had he not used so much energy on Sunday.
Magnus Cort Nielson might be Orica’s best hope on Monday. The bookies favour him over Keukeleire at 7.5-10.0. He has the advantage of not being in any breaks in recent days. He finished 3rd on stage 2 but that was a little way behind Meersman. I’m not convinced he can top that result on Monday.
Kristian Sbaragli (Dimension Data) has finished in the top 5 in sprint finishes on a couple of days in this years race. Given the exertions of some of his rivals he could be in the mix for the stage win on Monday. At odds of 11.0 EW a small bet could pay dividends.
Nikias Arndt (Giant) is second favourite for Mondays stage at 5.0. Of the sprinters mentioned here he has the advantage of not having been in a break in the last few days. He should have strong legs for the sprint. My fear is that he has yet to feature at all in the finale – he has no sprinters points. I don’t think this changes much on stage 16.
Jonas Van Genechten (IAM Cycling) will be looking to continue his teams impress race and grab a second stage win on Monday. He was too quick for a big bunch on stage 7 but the tricky finale meant the sprint wasn’t a classic bunch finish. I think he is a little short at odds of 7.5-8.0.
Vuelta a Espana Stage 16 – Tips
Back Gianni Meersman to win stage 16 with a 1.5/10 stake at 4.00 with Skybet.
Bet here:
Back Kristian Sbaragli to win stage 16 with a 1.0/10 stake EW (1/4 odds top 3) at 11.00 with Winner.
Bet here:
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