Dramatic Improvement

Monday's Vuelta stage was a mountain affair, mocking the piddling hills they'd struggled up in the first week. There was action from the off as a crash in the neutralised zone took a four riders out of the race, and then saw the disqualification of two further cyclists for drafting team cars for too long. One of the disqualified riders was Andy Fenn, halving the British representation in the race.

It was going to be a day to show who was the leader of the Katusha team as race leader Moreno seemed to be potentially outperforming the original leader, Rodriguez. There was also relief for Euskatel as news broke that they would be sponsored by F1 driver Fernando Alonso next year, saving the team and the jobs those involved. Once they got to racing the route went uphill significantly and the real action was on the last climb of the day. Moreno cracked and was dropped by the elite group where Nicholas Roche hung in on the back of the Nibali group as the Italian tried to stamp his authority on the slopes and Chris Horner went for a solo chance to try to get back in red. Nibali let him get 40-odd seconds and then burst from the pack to chase him down. This left two race lead challengers out on the hill and it was Horner who held the gap into the final kilometre and kicked on to take his second stage win and add a few days to the age of the oldest rider to win a Grand Tour stage and take the race lead. Nibali's second place put him clear of his rivals, but 43 seconds behind the American. Roche hung on to third, a further 10 seconds behind. It's a rest day today and then Wednesday sees an individual time trial where Nibali is banking on taking that time back.

Expect the usual questions for Horner's rest day press conferences and then more exciting mountain climbing in a few days.

My weekend riding was not so dramatically climbing as I popped out to ride, and slightly extend, a local favourite from this summer

The main points to bring up were the clear impact that regular riding has had on my condition as this is the fastest average speed I've hit all summer, on a flat route it's not spectacular, but it shows that fitness can just creep up on you.

Also I was a little disappointed that a previously pocked, bermed and loose track about halfway round has been improved and was less fun, with curb-stone drainage channels. It'll settle back in, but for now it's got less technical and far faster. Still, I guess it's good for the future.

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