2011 Vuelta a Espana Stage 10: Salamanca ITT, 47km (28/9)

[auscyclefan94]

The Dutch Mafia haven't got behind their man as much as I expected. I was expecting some size 7 font barracking, swearing and completely biased support!

 

[cineteq]

nibali only loses 1 minute on wiggins. he did better then i expected tbh. the vuelta is his to lose

Told you so

 

[Climbing]

Here comes the Shark!

Well inside 59 minutes, solid solid ride. 14th on the stage, 2:24 down

I would say exactly as expected from his previous TT, not bad at all.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Mollema will come in roughly 2.50-3.00 behind.

Pretty good i say.

 

[Jamsque]

Wiggins ride is looking less and less impressive. I wonder if he went out too hard chasing the stage win and ran out of gas.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Mollema going to lose an awful lot.

Jrod going to lose an awfl lot + 2:45

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Mollema already in the 55 minutes. That's going to be 3.30 to Martin I think

less, I am certain. I think he will just go under 3 minutes.

 

[boomcie]

I'm going to give Froome a big WTF anyway.

 

[Jamsque]

Has any African ever worn the leader's jersey at this or any other Grand Tour?

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Wiggins ride is looking less and less impressive. I wonder if he went out too hard chasing the stage win and ran out of gas.

In 1. Very poor by his standards.

 

[Parrulo]

funny enough nibali once again does better then people expect him to do . . .

the guy really does top himself on every ride

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Mollema going to lose an awful lot.

Jrod going to lose an awfl lot + 2:45

I don't think it is going to be that bad for mollema.

 

[Jonny7c]

Froome has done 'ok' on climbs and TTs in the last couple of years but i'd never have considered him as amongst the best in a GT. surely even his biggest fans are very surprised to see him leading the Vuelta after more than a week of racing?

 

[Merckx index]

I think the GC looks like this at the moment:

Froome
Fugl 0:12
Wiggins 0:20
Nibs 0:31
Kessi 0:34
Brak 0:57
Monfort 1:00
Mench 1:28
Zubeldia 2:12

 

[luckyboy]

Mollema going to lose an awful lot.

Jrod going to lose an awfl lot + 2:45

To who? He's going to lose that to Bauke. 5mins+

 

[auscyclefan94]

Nibali did quite well compared to what I was expecting. tbh, he'd have to move into favourtism for vueltta win.

 

[cineteq]

Wiggins ride is looking less and less impressive. I wonder if he went out too hard chasing the stage win and ran out of gas.

I was expecting that, but Froome was working for him!!!

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Are you serious?

I am entirely serious. Froome has shown talent and has shown that he's a promising time triallist and a promising climber. But he has never shown anything to suggest that he's such a good climber and so good at tting that he could take the lead in a Grand Tour, after the time trials and some significant mountains, despite working all along as a domestique and without the assistance of a break.

What exactly would you count as a surprise, if this doesn't count? Are any of the people affecting to be unsurprised going to show us their pre Vuelta posts where they predicted that Froome would be a main GC contender?

 

[hrotha]

Just cos you haven't heard of him doesn't mean he isn't talented. He's been climbing solidly for a few years, this is just his first good GC performance.

You can't possibly be suggesting his performance isn't a huge, massive surprise.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

As a piece of perspective, Jrod just equalled Coppi's hour record distance.

 

[Lexman]

3:56 loss for Van den Broeck

 

[Moondance]

Mollema fighting till the end...

Good job for a non-TTers such as he.

 

[Zoncolan]

TGBM also very strong.

 

[Tuarts]

GC atm (without last 2 finishes)

1 [Great Britain] Froome (SKY) 38:09:13
2 [Denmark] Fuglsang (LEO) +12
3 [Great Britain] Wiggins (SKY) +20
4 [Italy] Nibali (LIQ) +31
5 [Sweden] Kessiakoff (AST) +34
6 [Belgium] Monfort (LEO) +59
7 [Spain] J.J. Cobo (GEO) +1:47
8 [Slovenia] Brajkovic (RSH) +2:04
9 [Spain] Zubeldia (RSH) +2:13
10 [Italy] Bruseghin (MOV) +2:15

 

[Jamsque]

Froome has done 'ok' on climbs and TTs in the last couple of years but i'd never have considered him as amongst the best in a GT. surely even his biggest fans are very surprised to see him leading the Vuelta after more than a week of racing?

Absolutely I am surprised, but this hasn't come out of nowhere. Froome has always been a good climber and a good TT rider, he's clearly made a step up this Vuelta but it is nothing 'extra-terrestrial'.