Blue polka-dot jersey – King of the Mountains
Blue polka-dot jersey – King of the Mountains
After David Moncoutie was crowned King of the Mountains in four consecutive Vueltas between 2008 and 2011, the last three editions have seen three different winners.
Only one of those – defending champion Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) – returns this year, however, and with the Spaniard a domestique to Nibali and Aru (and possibly Landa, too) he’s unlikely to be given the same freedom as last year, when riding for Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, and we’re likely to see a new winner this time out.
Cofidis’ Nicolas Edet won in 2013 (like Leon Sanchez, riding for a ProContinental team eager to see its riders in the break) and it’s men from the second tier squads who are likely to feature among the contenders again this year.
Cofidis, however, will be targeting the sprints with Nacer Bouhanni and the overall with Daniel Navarro, so expect to see riders from Caja Rural, MTN-Qhubeka, Europcar and Colombia battle it out for the King of the Mountains crown.
That means keeping an eye on the likes of Tirreno-Adriatico King of the Mountains Carlos Quintero (Colombia) and team-mate Fabio Duarte, or MTN-Qhubeka’s climbing ace Louis Meintjes.
Former under-23 world champion Duarte, in particular, has been a breakaway regular this season, bagging the mountains titles at the Vuelta a Burgos and Skoda Tour, and has enjoyed two top-30 finishes overall at the Giro in his career-to-date.
Back in the WorldTour, Frenchman Pierre Rolland (Team Europcar) is another who can’t be written off but, like Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), a bid for a good overall placing will come before the secondary classifications.