2011 Vuelta a España Stage 17: Faustino V --> Peña Cabarga 211,0 km

[spalco]

Haha just seen the finish on ITV4, lol at Keenan calling a Cobo win 100m from the finish!

I thought so too. Excellent sandbagging by Froome to let Cobo pass instead of trying some kamikaze attack from the front.

 

[luckyboy]

lol ITV4 just going over the stages. The stage to Vitoria really is ridiculously bad.

 

[3wheeler]

Froome looked pretty nippy in that Sprint the Other Day.. Could imagine him picking up some more bonuses if Sky keep the Bunch together .. Bit of a Gamble but worth a Shot..

 

[roundabout]

Damn... what happened to the Leopard guys today? Monfort and Fugslang were here yesterday:

5 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek 0:02:40
7 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek 0:03:08

Today they apparently lost over 4 minutes as they dropped from the top ten:

10 Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:07:06

Crazy... I expected some time gaps on the tough final climb, but it's not a long climb. I didn't think top ten riders who'd performed well in the difficult mountain stages last week would lose so much time. Somehow both Leopard riders completely blew up. Maybe they hung out with the Moviestar guys?

Monfort is still 6th on GC. Fuglsang was overraced so he did ok to get that far.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

How big did the gap ever reach? On the part where Cobo looked parked, just as the top half of the screen went grey, I reckon it was about 8secs. I guess unless Cobo locked up entirely, Froome needed someone else to get in between them to make the relevant distance 2 or 10 seconds, rather than 14.

 

[hrotha]

Damn... what happened to the Leopard guys today? Monfort and Fugslang were here yesterday:

5 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Leopard Trek 0:02:40
7 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Leopard Trek 0:03:08

Today they apparently lost over 4 minutes as they dropped from the top ten:

10 Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:07:06

Crazy... I expected some time gaps on the tough final climb, but it's not a long climb. I didn't think top ten riders who'd performed well in the difficult mountain stages last week would lose so much time. Somehow both Leopard riders completely blew up. Maybe they hung out with the Moviestar guys?

Fuglsang has struggled in every single climb, but the Vuelta has been so easy he was still up there thanks to the TT. Monfort has been much the same, except he hasn't run out of gas and he was very good on the Angliru.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Chris Froome and Mo Farah: are there any British endurance athletes who are not East African?

 

[Ragerod]

Chris Froome and Mo Farah: are there any British endurance athletes who are not East African?

Wiggins is Belgian and Cavendish is Manx, so no.

 

[autologous]

Hindsight is 20/20. It was a sensible move at the time. Froome had nothing in his career before this Vuelta to indicate that he could podium, let alone win. Wiggins did. Wiggins is also still in a position to podium in a Grand Tour. Calling him "the great pretender" is ridiculous.

Froome has burst on the scene as a grand tour rider in this Vuelta. How many people were predicting that one? Good for him!

Hindsight? They had a pretty good idea of the riders' form after the TT. That's not hindsight. Sky/Wigans maintained the misguided stance of Wigans being leader and getting support in the face of that reality.

They maintained it in the face of reality on the lower slopes of the Angliru. Wigans knew he wasn't at Froome's level, one quick flick of the elbow or a quick selfless chat on the radio is all it would have taken, instead he tied his great pretender's boat anchor to Froome. No hindsight needed.

Dauphine? BFD. 3rd place in this Vuelta? BFD. This is as much as he will ever achieve, the hype that he would ever win a GT was just that. Assuming he would ever do better is what is ridiculous. Vaughters is laughing at the $$$ he fooled Sky into wasting.

Here's hoping Wigans wakes up and realizes his track skills are better served keeping the pace high in Cav's leadout.

 

[patrick767]

Monfort is still 6th on GC. Fuglsang was overraced so he did ok to get that far.

Where do you see that? Top ten per CN's stage results don't show him in the top ten. Oops... checked the official Vuelta site and they've got Monfort in 6th at 4:13. Someone messed up.

On the CN stage detail:
Igor Antón says...
"This is a very beautiful and explosive finish. The final ramps are very hard although the gaps will not be that big. Everyone will have to keep an eye on any potential attacks on the climbs before the stage’s final climb."

So yeah... top ten guys that got through the tough second week of climbing losing over four minutes surprises me.

 

[Havetts]

Argh just got home and missed this cause my bus was stuck in a traffic jam!

 

[Descender]

Let's remember Cobo is not only Spanish, but from Cantabria and they were in Cantabria today...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Where do you see that? Top ten per CN's stage results don't show him in the top ten. Oops... checked the official Vuelta site and they've got Monfort in 6th at 4:13. Someone messed up.

On the CN stage detail:
Igor Antón says...
"This is a very beautiful and explosive finish. The final ramps are very hard although the gaps will not be that big. Everyone will have to keep an eye on any potential attacks on the climbs before the stage’s final climb."

So yeah... top ten guys that got through the tough second week of climbing losing over four minutes surprises me.

Then you should have checked last years finish.
number 10 at 1:30.
Gaps were bigger in 2010 on EXACTLY the same climb...

 

[Duartista]

Fuglsang has struggled in every single climb, but the Vuelta has been so easy he was still up there thanks to the TT. Monfort has been much the same, except he hasn't run out of gas and he was very good on the Angliru.

It's hardly been easy - the gap from first to last will probably end up being even bigger than in the Giro...

I thought Fuglsang was a Brajkovic 1 week-and-no-more type, but he's proved me wrong.

 

[rides like a girl]

Froome showed Wiggins whose boss again.
Kinda reminds me of astana at tour 2009.

I was thinking the same thing as I followed the race on live update guy. Sky might have messed this up by trying to set up the wrong leader. AC was better and proved it by winning in the mountains. Can Froome do the same? He is clearly superior to Wiggans in the the mountains.

Sad his day in the jersey was neutered by pulling for a guy who can't climb.

Tough lesson for Sky, lose a GT by a few seconds, if they can't overcome the time in the next few stages.

 

[Youngblood]

How big did the gap ever reach? On the part where Cobo looked parked, just as the top half of the screen went grey, I reckon it was about 8secs. I guess unless Cobo locked up entirely, Froome needed someone else to get in between them to make the relevant distance 2 or 10 seconds, rather than 14.

Froome could have done with someone else in that final kilometre, The fact that he was without a rival who had no GC aspirations has probably cost him the Vuelta.

 

[Parrulo]

has machado abandoned? i don't see him listed on the official site. . .

 

[El Pistolero]

It's hardly been easy - the gap from first to last will probably end up being even bigger than in the Giro...

I thought Fuglsang was a Brajkovic 1 week-and-no-more type, but he's proved me wrong.

That has nothing to do with difficulty. I'm assuming Nuyens is still last, he had a nasty crash. This Vuelta has been hard for the climbers.... To actually gap each other because the mountain stages are so freaking easy with only one real climb in all of them. Oh and they're very short as well.

The gap between first and tenth at the Giro was 14 minutes and 10 seconds. At the Vuelta 5 minutes and 33 seconds. And that's with a 47km time trial Long time trials always make for bigger time gaps than climbs.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

It's hardly been easy - the gap from first to last will probably end up being even bigger than in the Giro...

I thought Fuglsang was a Brajkovic 1 week-and-no-more type, but he's proved me wrong.

meh he has just been limiting his losses. I agree this field isn't mind-blowing.
IMO this will probably be one of fuglsang's better GT results.

 

[3wheeler]

Sad his day in the jersey was neutered by pulling for a guy who can't climb.




You Kidding... Guess Nibali cannt climb either . Where was he Sunday..

 

[hrotha]

It's hardly been easy - the gap from first to last will probably end up being even bigger than in the Giro...

I thought Fuglsang was a Brajkovic 1 week-and-no-more type, but he's proved me wrong.

Everything is relative. It wasn't easy for the sprinters because there were few flat stages and it was up and down every day, often having to tackle significant climbs from the get go. But for the overall contenders it was easy because the only mountain stage where real gaps could be made was the Angliru.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

That has nothing to do with difficulty. I'm assuming Nuyens is still last, he had a nasty crash. This Vuelta has been hard for the climbers.... To actually gap each other because the mountain stages are so freaking easy with only one real climb in all of them. Oh and they're very short as well.

some of the climbs have been hard enough, but I don't think there has been enough climbing collectively. Maybe a few tougher climbs before the finish climbs would have made this race hard enough.

 

[luckyboy]

Let's remember Cobo is not only Spanish, but from Cantabria and they were in Cantabria today...

What are you getting at?

 

[Parrulo]

Sad his day in the jersey was neutered by pulling for a guy who can't climb.




You Kidding... Guess Nibali cannt climb either . Where was he Sunday..

wondering how the hell did he managed to miss the peak for the vuelta?

 

[roundabout]

has machado abandoned? i don't see him listed on the official site. . .

Just because he isn't in the top-75?

You may be overrating him.