Vuelta skelter: Ewan-na fight, Grmay?

Another unpredictable ramped finish in Spain resulted in the race’s fourth different stage winner in as many days as neo pro Caleb Ewan showed just why he’s an ‘MC’ (and a typo) away from becoming Australia’s next biggest sprinting sensation.

The 21-year-old from Sydney tops the deck today as we run through the hots and the nots of stage 5 of the Vuelta a Espana...

Having powered past John Degenkolb and kept a fatigued Peter Sagan at bay, the diminutive sprinter secured his maiden Grand Tour stage win at only the fourth roll of the die – all while becoming, at 21 years and 46 days, the youngest winner on the Vuelta since Moreno Argentin in 1981.

By keeping Australia’s five-year stage-winning run in Spain going, Ewan also joined an illustrious list of riders (and one asterisked Texan) in cycling’s pantheon of young victors.

Ewan also kept up Orica-GreenEdge’s streak of placing vertically challenged riders on the podium in Spain, making the local podium girls all look like towering Amazonians.

His eleventh win of the season was certainly a sobering thought for his team’s humbled communications director…

And it was inevitable that the neo-pro’s potential was talked up by those watching…

First on Monday, second on Tuesday, and now third; the decline and fall of the peloton’s chief showman is there for everyone to see.

The in-form Dutchman continued his fight back from his Tour de France withdrawal with another strong finish that saw him move onto the race summit – making up for the disappointment of team-mate John Degenkolb missing out on the stage win.

Dumoulin admitted it was an “unexpected surprise” but vowed to defend the red jersey for as long as possible. “I’m not giving this up without a fight,” he said.

Giant-Alpecin’s bittersweet day was mirrored by Orica-GreenEdge, who took the stage win but saw their Colombian climber lose the race lead thanks to a split in the peloton.

The first ever Ethiopian to ride the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana – and, for that matter, both in the same season – Lampre-Merida’s Grmay broke clear of the peloton at the gun before building up a two-minute lead ahead of the peloton.

Perhaps he was trying to give himself a late birthday present: Grmay turned 25 on Tuesday.

Grmay was only out alone for 20km after he was joined by Iljo Keisse (Etixx-QuickStep) and Antoine Duchesne (Europcar) on the front of the race. The trio built up a maximum lead of almost seven minutes before Grmay’s apparent refusal to take a pull angered Belgian track specialist Keisse.

In the end, the yo-yoing Ethiopian went from the first man in the race to the very last after he came home in 191th position, over seven minutes down on the stage winner, after being swept up inside the final 15km.

Tour de France winner Chris Froome stole a few seconds over his rivals at the finish to move into seventh place, but it was less rosy for team-mate Mikel Nieve according to a certain Welshman who knows a thing or two about the Spaniard’s predicament…