2011 Vuelta a España - Stage 13: Sarria - Ponferrada 158.2 km (2/9)

[Tank Engine]

Still think neither Moreno nor Nieve are any threat to the top GC anyway. Only for top 10

I agree. But it's always better to be in the top 10 rather than outside.

 

[Tank Engine]

Very true but I don't think Sky will be that worried. In fact, they could send Froome up the road or allow one of the GC contenders up the road to force the hand of the other teams.

These three days are the decisive ones on the tour so, like today, I expect some of the other teams to come to the fore.

True. If a threatening group goes there's bound to be some other team that will help chase. No-one will let Froome away early, unless a whole load of others go with him. I guess his job will be to go with anything threatening on the penultimate climb which will hopefully allow Wiggins to go at his own pace

 

[Climbing]

True. If a threatening group goes there's bound to be some other team that will help chase. No-one will let Froome away early, unless a whole load of others go with him. I guess his job will be to go with anything threatening on the penultimate climb which will hopefully allow Wiggins to go at his own pace

I don't think Froome is going anywhere tomorrow... saw him struggling more and more lately, but ofc you never know for sure.
That descent is good terrain for an attack, but you need support or the strength to climb last mountain alone.
Hard, considering especially the first flatty part and the next stage sunday.
I hope someone gonna try on the penultimate climb anyway!

 

[Parrulo]

With time yes, he become popular.
In the beginning he was not, at all, but after you replay a couple of his descent... it grows on you, at least he can handle a bike

i have always been a fan but on this forum his popularity rate probably went like this(i think):

not rated during the 2010 giro, then during the vuelta people started to "hate" him because they though he was too defensive, overrated and had been lucky that the vuelta had a poor field and anton had crashed, then he changed some people's minds during the bola del mundo battle, changed a few more minds on the poggio this year, then with his downhill attacks and giro performance gained a lot of fans there and now with his vuelta performance and shutting the people who say he never attacks up for good he gained even more fans.

honestly i think its a joy to watch nibali ride because he has lots of panache, is aggressive and smart at the same time.

 

[jsem94]

I love watching skilled downhill riding, so I've always had a soft spot for Nibali.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

honestly i think its a joy to watch nibali ride because he has lots of panache, is aggressive and smart at the same time.

Yes. Nibali isn't the very best climber of the world's GC specialists and he isn't the very best time triallist either, but he may be the smartest of them. Give Andy his brain or give Nibali Andy's climbing legs and Contador would have a true rival.

 

[Carols]

Yes. Nibali isn't the very best climber of the world's GC specialists and he isn't the very best time triallist either, but he may be the smartest of them. Give Andy his brain or give Nibali Andy's climbing legs and Contador would have a true rival.

+10000

I've always liked Nibali, not the most naturally gifted but has a great mind and a Shark Bite to him

 

[Tuarts]

Must say it was a fairly entertaining stage even if none of the attacks paid off. At least the break stayed away and a few on GC were rewarded:
Moreno - 16th to 9th
Sorensen - 17th to 13th
Roche - 18th to 14th
Seeldrayers - 21st to 16th
Nieve - 24th to 20th

It was a hard day too, look at the time gaps after 72nd!

Speaking of timegaps we talk about it all being real close but once you get up to the 30's after Lagutin the times really explode, not like the tour where they went up at least fairly incrementally. Here you can se clearly who are the leaders and the strong climbers.

 

[ferryman]

Yes. Nibali isn't the very best climber of the world's GC specialists and he isn't the very best time triallist either, but he may be the smartest of them. Give Andy his brain or give Nibali Andy's climbing legs and Contador would have a true rival.

Captured in a nutshell. Add to it his fantastic descending and you have one very classy cyclist.

Oh for Andy to have a brain of any upgrade

 

[Parrulo]

and to think that of those 2 kids liquigas had kreuziguer was supposed to be the talented one

btw how world tour points is nibali worth for a team?

i mean this year he has 2 monument top 10's(the 2 monuments he rode) 1 GT podium and might still have a GT win and may podium the GdL.

also top 10 in T-A iirc.

 

[Winterfold]

The forum's former negativity to Nibali is another indicator of how little the forum knows or in this case knew

He has shown himself to be a smart rider at a very high level from - publicly - the 2009 Tour and before.

But panache? How exactly? As much as I like him, I don't see it. He is a calculating energy efficient allrounder, its all admirable, particularly to we plebs, but I dont see the panache...

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

T
But panache? How exactly? As much as I like him, I don't see it.

You have seen him going downhill, right?

 

[Winterfold]

You have seen him going downhill, right?

Yah he definitely has huge downhill skills and technical competence - I hadn't thought of that as panache though - mountain bikers can do it with hairy legs and baggy shorts after all

But it is stylish and the right aggressive state of mind so you're right and now I like him even more

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Kloden DNF?
I missed most of the race.
Any one know what happened to our RS star?

 

[Christomir]

Yes. Nibali isn't the very best climber of the world's GC specialists and he isn't the very best time triallist either, but he may be the smartest of them. Give Andy his brain or give Nibali Andy's climbing legs and Contador would have a true rival.

LOL! Yes, very well said, Andy definitely could use his brain

 

[hrotha]

Kloden DNF?
I missed most of the race.
Any one know what happened to our RS star?

He signed a new contract.

 

[Descender]

Yes. Nibali isn't the very best climber of the world's GC specialists and he isn't the very best time triallist either, but he may be the smartest of them. Give Andy his brain or give Nibali Andy's climbing legs and Contador would have a true rival.

Well said.

 

[greenedge]

Happy for Albasini but boring stage. Anton is now officially out of any chance for a comeback and has screwed up my fantasy team.

 

[Tank Engine]

I don't think Froome is going anywhere tomorrow... saw him struggling more and more lately, but ofc you never know for sure.
That descent is good terrain for an attack, but you need support or the strength to climb last mountain alone.
Hard, considering especially the first flatty part and the next stage sunday.
I hope someone gonna try on the penultimate climb anyway!

I only saw the stage from the last big descent onwards, so I didn't see Froome on the climb, but looking at pictures from the climb, he did look pretty cooked. I can't see a lone attack going on the last climb, but if a few go or there are helpers up front (the first part is not very mountainous so that's quite likely) the race could become very interesting. I guess it will be the guys around 20th who might attack on the penultimate climb today, but they are only 3-4 minutes down.

 

[kjetilraknerud]

This might have been mentioned before, but if Agnoli hadn't messed up stage six, Nibali would have been in red now...

 

[cineteq]

This might have been mentioned before, but if Agnoli hadn't messed up stage six, Nibali would have been in red now...

He didn't mess up, Nibali did't want to pass him