La Vuelta: Good week/bad week - Who’s up and who’s down after the second week of the Grand Tour

Good week: Richard Carapaz If the Ecuadorian is too good a rider to be flirting below the bottom of the top 20 of a Grand Tour, then his lowly position has enabled him to get into a position where a hat-trick of wins in the second week looked momentarily on the cards. Ad After being in the large break on Sunday’s queen stage in Sierra Nevada, Carapaz faded on the final climb and was not able to add to his wins at Penas Blancas and La Pandera.

But the 29-year-old’s brace was a timely reminder of what he’s capable – and has put him in with a chance of battling Jay Vine for the polka dot jersey in the final week. Vuelta a EspañaOpinion: Why Roglic may have missed his chance to take control of La Vuelta18 HOURS AGO Riding his last Grand Tour for Ineos Grenadiers before joining EF Education-EasyPost, Carapaz is clearly one of the form riders of this Vuelta, having arrived at ‘gran salida’ in Utrecht under-raced and lacking in sharpness.

Well out of the GC picture, we can expect more from him on the remaining three mountain stages – although he has 29 points to make up on Vine after the Australian put in a good showing on Sunday. Bad week: Ineos Grenadiers GC prospects The British team had three riders in the top 10 after Tuesday’s time trial to Alicante but now they have a real battle on their hands to preserve Carlos Rodriguez’s place in the top five.

After Pavel Sivakov’s Covid withdrawal and Tao Geoghegan Hart’s freefall to 18th place, below team-mate Carapaz, on the Alto Hoya de la Mora, Rodriguez remains the sole focal point for Ineos. The Spanish debutant has had a good enough week – taking fourth in the TT and a promising fifth at La Pandera – but he traded places with compatriot Juan Ayuso in the top five on Sunday,