Davide Villella pulled on the Vuelta a España’s blue and white spotted King of the Mountain jersey in Andorra la Vella on Monday. The Italian made it into an eight-rider breakaway and picked up points on two of three categorized climbs on the stage three menu.
“This morning at the bus, I was one of the riders that could go into the escape,” explained Villella. “I wasn’t really thinking about the mountain jersey – only about the good opportunity the break might have to make it to the finish. We were a strong group of eight riders.”
Stage 19 of the Vuelta sees the race finish into the magnificent city of Toledo, the inspiration for the jersey draws on a number of very specific elements, the first being the colours, the steel grey. 2020 La Vuelta Espana King of the Mountains Cycling Jersey by Santini - Made in Italy. We love La Vuelta! Unforgiving team and individual time trials, explosive, high-altitude finishes, and who-knows-what kind of weather make the Vuelta a race that can break a champion or launch the career of an up-and-comer. The blue and white polka dot jersey is worn by the cyclist with the most hill climb points in the overall race.
The plan shifted from chasing the stage win to hunting mountain points early on in stage three. The 153-kilometre day took the peloton into the Pyrenees as it headed out of France and into Spain and Andorra. Three categorised climbs tested fresh legs: Col de la Perche (category 1), Coll de la Rabassa (category 1) and Alto de la Cronella (category 2).
Fabrico Ferrari (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) was the first to attack, and Villella was part of a trio of riders that bridged across. Another four joined the escape before the group hit the lower slopes of Col de la Perche after 12 kilometres of racing with a four-minute advantage over a Quick Step-led peloton.
“There was a small possibility that the break was going to be a successful one today,” said sport director Juanma Garate. “We decided this morning to involve five riders and Villella was one of them. He jumped in the right moment and went in the move, but once he was in, we saw the reaction of QuickStep and decided to go for the points. We saw that we didn’t have chances to arrive at the finish because QuickStep was riding too hard.”
Villella was second to crest the summit of Col de la Perche, behind de Gendt, to pick up six points.
“It wasn’t stressful to race for the points,” said Villella, who spent much of the stage as virtual race leader. “I was having fun.”
Villella and company continued to collaborate until the run-in to Coll de la Rabassa when Dumont attacked the group. His escape was short-lived. The rest of the break caught Dumont at the base of the Rabassa. They began the climb three minutes ahead of the peloton.
The break shattered up the Rabassa, and Team Sky, who took over the pace-making in the peloton, thinned out the field to less than 50 riders en route to the summit.
Toward the top of the Rabassa, only Genize and Villella remained out front. Geniez led over the top of the Rabassa. Villella pocketed another six points in the KOM classification.
The pair were swept up by the reduced bunch on the decent, but by then, Villellla had all but secured the KOM jersey.
With the general contenders battling up the final climb, the Alto de la Cronella, Villella’s 12 points proved plenty. He’ll start the pan-flat stage four with a two-point advantage over both Geniez and De Gendt.
“I’ve never worn a jersey at a Grand Tour,” said Villella. “I won the mountain jersey in 2014 in the Basque Country, but that’s it.
“I hope to keep the jersey as long as possible,” he added. “It will be tough, but it’s also not the main priority. The biggest goal here is to fight for a stage victory, so that will be my focus.”
The King of the Mountains competition was first introduced into the Vuelta a Espana in 1935 along with the overall general classification.
From 1935 to 2005, the leader in this competition wore a green jersey. However, that color has been switched over to the points classification like the other two Grand Tours. From 2005 to 2010, the KOTM leader wore an orange jersey.
In 2010, the king of the mountains jersey was switched to a white jersey with blue polka dots. That remains the current colored jersey for the Vuelta’s King of the Mountains classification.
This year’s KOTM competition is going to be an exciting one as there are six mountain stages including a mountain time trial on Stage 13. Furthermore, there are at least three or four more “hilly stages” with tough mountains to climb.
Cycling betting sites have released their odds for the King of the Mountains classification. Let’s take a closer look at this competition, identify the best betting options, and predict who will win the polka dot jersey.
The 2020 Vuelta a España is the final grand tour of 2020, which has been a pretty jam packed season due to the delayed start. This promises to be an exciting edition, and one for the climbers with only 4 flat stages!
Watch it here ?https://t.co/trHghPNKW0pic.twitter.com/YHUiN14KXU
— GlobalCyclingNetwork (@gcntweet) October 17, 2020
Previous KOTM Winners
Edoardo Molinar won the first KOTM jersey back in 1935. Since then, Jose Luis Laguia has won this competition a record five times. David Moncoutie holds the record for the most consecutive wins in this competition with four.
The following is a list of recent KOTM winners dating back to 1997:
- Jose Maria Jimenez in 1997-1999, 2001
- Carlos Sastre in 2000
- Aitor Osa in 2002
- Felix Cardenas in 2003, 2004
- Joaquim Rodriguez in 2005
- Egoi Martinez in 2006
- Denis Menchov in 2007
- David Moncoutie in 2008-2011
- Simon Clarke in 2012
- Nicolas Edet in 2013
- Luis Leon Sanchez in 2014
- Omar Fraile in 2015-2016
- Davide Villella in 2017
- Thomas De Gendt in 2018
- Geoffrey Bouchard in 2019
Vuelta a Espana KOTM Betting Odds
The following cycling betting odds are courtesy of BetOnline:
- Angel Madrazo (+1000)
- Primoz Roglic (+1000)
- Richard Carapaz(+1000)
- Luis Angel Mate(+1800)
- Alexander Vlasov (+2500)
- Johan Esteban Chaves (+2500)
- Mikel Nieve (+2500)
- Tim Wellens (+2500)
- Tomasz Marczynski (+2500)
- Davide Formolo(+2800)
- Michael Woods(+2800)
- Omar Fraile (+2800)
- Simon Geschke (+2800)
- Daniel Martinez(+3300)
- David Gaudu (+3300)
- Enric Mas Nicolau (+3300)
- Mattia Cattaneo (+3300)
- Thibaut Pinot (+3300)
- Alejandro Valverde (+4000)
- Chris Froome (+4000)
- Dan Martin (+4000)
- David de la Cruz(+4000)
- Fernando Barcelo (+4000)
The Top Choices for the King of the Mountains Competition
Based on the riders in this year’s Vuelta a Espana, the following cyclists are the best choices to win this year’s King of the Mountains competition:
Angel Madrazo (+1000)
Madrazo makes his first appearance in a Grand Tour this year. He’s competed in four previous Vuelta a Espanas and was 2nd in the KOTM competition last year as he also won a stage.
This year, Madrazo is the favorite to win the KOTM along with Primoz Roglic who’s a betting favorite to win the overall race, which is represented by the red jersey.
Since Madrazo races for a team without a clear GC contender (Burgos-BH), it’s believed that he will be given freedom to pursue the King of the Mountains competition.
Primoz Roglic (+1000)
Primoz Roglic had a dominating performance in the 2020 Tour de France. Unfortunately, he came up short in the final stages and finished 2nd overall. He was also 3rd in the KOTM competition.
Roglic’s best performance in a KOTM classification came in the 2017 Tour de France when he finished 2nd.
Last year, Roglic won the Vuelta a Espana, but finished 11th overall in this KOTM competition. He has a better chance at winning the points classification in addition to the overall GC rather than the King of the Mountains.
Richard Carapaz (+1000)
Carapaz enters as the leader of Team INEOS and will get plenty of support in his pursuit of the red jersey, which represents the overall race leader and winner.
Although his focus will be on the race win, he does have solid finishes in KOTM competitions for Grand Tours.
Carapaz was 2nd in the KOTM competition for this year’s Tour de France. He also finished 4th in the KOTM for the 2019 Giro d’Italia and 5th in the 2018 Giro.
Carapaz is going to need to attack in the mountains since he won’t be able to handle Roglic or Dumoulin in the time trial on Stage 13. That could improve his chances at winning this King of the Mountains competition.
Luis Angel Mate (+1800)
The 36 year old Spaniard races for Cofidis, Solutions Credits and will be called upon to perform well in the mountains this year especially to help out his team leader. Furthermore, he’s a perfect candidate to get into breakaways and finish high on mountain stages.
This will be Mate’s 9th Vuelta appearance and his best finish in the KOTM competition was 3rd in 2018. Mate could be a sneaky pick for this year’s competition as well.
Mikel Nieve (+2500)
Mikel Nieve will be one of the top riders for Mitchelton-Scott and he’s a Spaniard with plenty of climbing success in Grand Tours. This year’s Vuelta will mark Nieve’s 20th Grand Tour race and his 8th Vuelta a Espana.
Chaves and Nieve lead Mitchelton-Scott into Vuelta a España
No Adam Yates after Liège crash as team decides to race in Spain following Giro d'Italia withdrawalhttps://t.co/pvMke6tbMqpic.twitter.com/Iv8KqwQTfo
— Cyclingnews.com (@Cyclingnewsfeed) October 15, 2020
Althoug he’s never won a Grand Tour, Nieve has won four Grand Tour stages including one in the Vuelta. Additionally, he’s finished in the Top 10 for the KOTM competition six times, in the Top 5 four times, and won this competition at the 2016 Giro.
Nieve’s 2020 season has ben relatively forgettable, but the Spaniard would love nothing more than to have a strong performance in his country’s biggest race.
Who Will be Tour of Spain’s King of the Mountains?
Spaniards have won 50 of the previous 74 KOTM competitions and there’s a great chance they do it again this year with Mate, Nieve and Madrazo leading the pack.
? Favoritos para el maillot de la montaña / Mountain jersey: contenders
?? @AngelMadrazo
??♂️ @BurgosBH#LaVuelta20 / @loterias_espic.twitter.com/vYh9jXxG1U
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) October 18, 2020
Another stat to consider before we make our prediction, is that in the last 50 years the overall Vuelta a Espana race winner has also won the KOTM competition just five times:
- Denis Menchov in 1997
- Laurent Jalabert in 1995
- Tony Rominger in 1993
- Lucho Herrera in 1987
- Jose Manuel Fuente in 1972
In fact not even the great Eddy Merckx or “The Badger” Bernard Hinault could pull off winning the red jersey and the KOTM jersey.
With that said, it makes me think that Roglic and Carapaz won’t be able to accomplish this either. In fact, Roglic won the Vuelta last year, but was just 11th in the KOTM competition.
Of the three Spaniards that I’ve listed above, Madrazo has the best shot at winning this competition. He has no GC contender to support on his team and he was 2nd in this competition last year. He didn’t race the Vuelta in 2017 and 2018.
Vuelta A Espana King Of The Mountains Jersey City
I like the 32 year old to capture the polka dots this year and give Spain its first King of the Mountains winner since 2016.
Vuelta A Espana King Of The Mountains Jersey Boys
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