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

[Libertine Seguros]

I don't really believe that. Gesink had more or less the same injury in that Vuelta and he can still climb... well, until this year, that is

Rather I think Fuglsang has focused on his TT to the detriment of his climbing.

Yea, but different people react differently to accidents. Fuglsang continued to ride well in that Vuelta, stagehunting some jagged stages and getting a couple of 2nd places. But it put back his breaking out in his own right by 2 years; he's spent most of the last 2 years as a domestique for the Schleck brothers; he was 3rd in the Tour de Suisse last year so obviously his climbing legs hadn't deserted him, but he had been looking less assured on long climbs and more adept on the shorter climbs. Perhaps also he was a bit less motivated, having gone from a free role to a domestique, even though he was getting to do bigger races.

 

[Papparrazzi]

Contenders that did Dauphine TT 42.5 km

VUELTA DAUPHINE
T Martin 55’54” 55’27
B Wiggins 57’16” 55’38”
Y Brajkovic 57’53” 56’44”
F Kessiakoff 58’12” 1’00’16”
H Zubeldia 59’27” 1’01’21”
N Roche 59’50” 58’58
JVD Broek 59’50” 58’06”
J Rodriguez 1’01’18” 59’21”
D Martin 1’01’59 1’00’19”

Wiggins 1'45" slower today
Brajkovic 1'09" slower today
Kessiakoff 1'56" faster today
Zubeldia 1'54" faster today
Roche 0'48" slower today
JVD Broek 1'44" slower today
Rodriguez 1'57" slower today
D Martin 1'40" slower today

(Unfortunately this has uploaded all wrong )

 

[mr. tibbs]

I'm out of the loop for a couple of weeks and I come back to find that you guys let Froome beat Spartacus and an on-form Wiggins in a TT? I guess it's not a "surprise" surprise, but it is still a little surprising...

Also, TGBM GOGOGO =D

 

[Parrulo]

VUELTA DAUPHINE
T Martin 55’54” 55’27
B Wiggins 57’16” 55’38”
Y Brajkovic 57’53” 56’44”
F Kessiakoff 58’12” 1’00’16”
H Zubeldia 59’27” 1’01’21”
N Roche 59’50” 58’58
JVD Broek 59’50” 58’06”
J Rodriguez 1’01’18” 59’21”
D Martin 1’01’59 1’00’19”

Wiggins 1'45" slower today
Brajkovic 1'09" slower today
Kessiakoff 1'56" faster today
Zubeldia 1'54" faster today
Roche 0'48" slower today
JVD Broek 1'44" slower today
Rodriguez 1'57" slower today
D Martin 1'40" slower today

(Unfortunately this has uploaded all wrong )

you do realize that today it was completely flat while the dauphine time trial was very hilly right?

its impossible to compare those 2 itt's it was also raining on the dauphine one. . .

 

[spanky wanderlust]

the worlds time trial just got interesting!

also, awesome ride by phinney today!

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Mollema is a contender but Fuglsang isn't?

Yep

For this simple reason
2 157 MOLLEMA, Bauke RAB m.t. 1º

23 103 FUGLSANG, Jakob LEO + 50''

Fuglsang is way to weak on proper MTF's.
Already 50 seconds on La Covitalla... imagine how much he will lose on the other MTF

 

[Papparrazzi]

Sign-On at the 2008 Amstel, the Presenter said to Chris Froome "You are from Kenya, everyone in Kenya is black, how come you are white?"

 

[Gingerale]

As I so vehemently argued, it was right for Sky to let Wiggo go all out, so that Sky would have two guys high up on GC.
Chapeau to Froome.

chapeau to you and froome!

i was more of the belief that froome would conserve energy to help wiggins. now i won't forget froome. still others i don't know in possible top 10 position. along with some familiar names. TGBM i can't help but know.

after misreading the mountain stage 9 so badly, i'm not sure what to make of the stages with mountains coming up. (except angry lu. that one has been thoroughly covered) i'm discouraged about anton doing too much at this point. but looking good for sky's ambitions and perhaps nibali. i think it could be tough to get the leaders jersey from froome/wiggins.

 

[jens_attacks]

oh man this stage was zaragoza's time trial from 2003 all over again.a young isidro nozal shocking the cycling world beating his own leader gonzalez de galdeano.damn i love surprises like that.
i think bradley cracked big time on the final part,of course i don't know shiit but maybe he didn't manage well his resources(pretty surprising that would be for an experienced rider like him).
i think sky got the race under complete control and we might have an 1-2 on the podium in madrid.
i don't think purito is out of it but manzaneda will tell us if he still got a chance.i'll cheer for zubeldia,kessiakoff and cobo!incredible ride in the itt by juanjo

 

[MatchstickMan]

It's going to be interesting to see how the British media covers this, if at all. Froome is not on the radar of casual British fans.

I see that the Guardian has something small about it on its sports page already, they usually cover cycling quite well. The BBC Sport website has one item about cycling on its front page, and that is a story about Contador's CAS hearing. Sigh.

They've picked it up now:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cycling/14711169.stm

I'm not sure though that Wiggins will be the nailed on team leader.

He's gone into the race primarily to build for Worlds TT, for which pace-setting up hills as a super-domestique would arguably be more beneficial than trying to make/follow attacks in the final stages and having to change pace.
I've always thought of Froome as a more explosive climber (although can't remember a good reason why - maybe just because he's smaller...), in which case he'd do better at tracking/attacking the punchier climbers.

Looking forward to finding out...

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

They've picked it up now:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cycling/14711169.stm

I'm not sure though that Wiggins will be the nailed on team leader.

He's gone into the race primarily to build for Worlds TT, for which pace-setting up hills as a super-domestique would arguably be more beneficial than trying to make/follow attacks in the final stages and having to change pace.
I've always thought of Froome as a more explosive climber (although can't remember a good reason why - maybe just because he's smaller...), in which case he'd do better at tracking/attacking the punchier climbers.

Looking forward to finding out...

There is absolutely no way they demote Wiggins, regardless of whether they should, when he's only 20 seconds off the race lead.

They'll probably let them ride as they did yesterday, and decisively back whoever lasts longest without cracking.

 

[hatcher]

Cioni, Possoni, Lofkvist, Zandio. Get ready to work.

 

[jobiwan]

What in the world is going on in this Vuelta? I miss two stages and the GC goes berserk!!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

He's gone into the race primarily to build for Worlds TT,

don't believe a word. A lot of people come into the Vuelta with these contingency plans - that way if the GC attempt goes south, there's no reason to keep fighting on for 8th place; you can let go, come in with the autobus and say you were preparing for the Worlds. Jürgen van den Broeck said similar. Evans said he was only there for Worlds prep in 2009, Valverde said it in 2008. It's just something that the Vuelta deals with, people who are targeting the GC (especially those for whom it's a consolation prize after doing less than expected in the Tour, whether that be through illness, injury or underperforming) basically having their excuses pre-made in the form of the Worlds.

Wiggins wanted to go for GC here. But he knew he was coming back off injury and didn't know how good he'd be. If he wasn't so good, he could ride for form with the Worlds ITT in mind and back up anybody on the team who was in a good position, maybe hunting stages like Cunego did in 2009, and if he was good, he could ride for the win. It's a win-win.

 

[icefire]

What in the world is going on in this Vuelta? I miss two stages and the GC goes berserk!!

It's not that unusual. They've been riding, not watching each other. Some of them pay for their efforts of the day before. And they've got a long ITT before the mountains have set the GC on stone.

 

[Tank Engine]

chapeau to you and froome!

i was more of the belief that froome would conserve energy to help wiggins. now i won't forget froome. still others i don't know in possible top 10 position. along with some familiar names. TGBM i can't help but know.

after misreading the mountain stage 9 so badly, i'm not sure what to make of the stages with mountains coming up. (except angry lu. that one has been thoroughly covered) i'm discouraged about anton doing too much at this point. but looking good for sky's ambitions and perhaps nibali. i think it could be tough to get the leaders jersey from froome/wiggins.

To be frank, I was gobsmacked by Froome's performance today. Yesterday, I thought he looked strong, he's pretty high on GC, so let him have a go.

The day after the rest day looks pretty good for Sky (it's a power climb), but then I thought that yesterday Sky's pace would keep Wiggo close to the front rather than have everyone scrambling for their wheels. Beware the Angry Lou though. I still think the Shark will win.

Regarding Anton. I feel in love with the sport when I saw Bob Millar in the polka dot jersey, riding up the snow covered Alps unfortunately stuggling that day, and so I'm generally positively inclined to pure climbers. I hope that Igor can do something, but watch out for Nieve on a multi-mountain day (although they are few and far between in this Vuelta.

 

[Fergoose]

Winners - Nibali, Froome, Fuglsang, Mollema, Kessiakoff, Cobo
Okay - Wiggins (seems to be trying to push for performances when he had more weight & power), Van den Broeck, Monfort
Losers - Menchov (nowhere near good enough, he's out of it now), Nieve, Scarponi, Rodriguez

I predicted Martin to win, Wiggins to do worse than expected due to reduced weight and Kessiakoff and Froome to do well. The only bit I got wrong was Menchov, but I challenge anyone to predict what sort of performance he is going to turn in on any given day. Took me over a week to call anything remotely right. Normal service will be resumed.

I'm not certain on the rules, but I had Rodriguez as being in Mollema's slipstream for 90 seconds before he got told to move. Has he been penalised?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Menchov is only 2 minutes down, and we know he can dose his efforts and limit his losses on big mountain stages; hell he can even win them. With time bonuses available for the first 3 across the line, it's foolish to write him off now.

 

[Fergoose]

*happily writes him off all the same*

2 and a half minutes down, needs 12 riders above him to fail in some respect. It is not going to happen.

EDIT: And he has a Spanish teammate ahead of him.

 

[Papparrazzi]

you do realize that today it was completely flat while the dauphine time trial was very hilly right?

its impossible to compare those 2 itt's it was also raining on the dauphine one. . .

The Dauphine TT was not hilly, it had 1 hill and therefore a descent too. My point is that some have lost form and some gained it on a comparable distance (today's TT only 4.5km longer). I'll be looking for those that went faster today to do well over next 2 weeks - Kassiakof and Zubeldia.
You heard it here first .
The flaw in my argument is that some Vuelta GC contenders didn't do Dauphine TT ie; Froome, Mollema and Nibali
Edit - I ignored the TdF Grenoble TT (same as Dauphine) because I'm assuming none of the above except Roche did TdF TT ?

 

[JRanton]

Cioni, Possoni, Lofkvist, Zandio. Get ready to work.

Yup. Stannard and Sutton on the flat too. Arvesen with his experience would have been a great help. Shame for him and Sky especially as it's his last grand tour.

 

[cineteq]

Menchov is only 2 minutes down, and we know he can dose his efforts and limit his losses on big mountain stages; hell he can even win them. With time bonuses available for the first 3 across the line, it's foolish to write him off now.

So far he hasn't shown he can win anything. So how can he get bonus seconds and limit his losses at the same time? I can easily write him off. The only rider with 2 min. or more down on GC who can do anything is Purito.

 

[WillemS]

There is absolutely no way they demote Wiggins, regardless of whether they should, when he's only 20 seconds off the race lead.

Well, actually, I thought he was strong towards the end of La Covatilla, maybe even stronger than Froome. (Although Froome put in some heavy work on that climb too). Thus I don't think it's even warranted to demote Wiggins.

I guess they will make an advantage of Froome's jersey, arguing that he nor Wiggins are now helpers, not putting them forward as pace makers on climbs. And, because I think rides farther down the GC will attack first, they can argue that riders like Mollema and Nibali should counter first. And I think that VDB2 does not have an attack right now, but he will try to loose some guys by pacing hard (like he did yesterday, although losing some time at the end). Thus, there's no need for Froome or Wiggins to pace and the race will decide who's the leader.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

*happily writes him off all the same*

2 and a half minutes down, needs 12 riders above him to fail in some respect. It is not going to happen.

EDIT: And he has a Spanish teammate ahead of him.

Actually that is untrue. If Menchov reaches his old performance level in the mountains most of those riders won't need to fail to have him pass them. They'll just don't have to make miracle performances. Of course we don't know if this form isever coming back for Menchov, but in case it does you'll see him take minutes out of most guys infront of him on the Angrilu.
Adding to that he's always been a very strong rider to win out of small groups in MTF, or get a Top 3 placing.
So if indeed he has good form, this is far from being over for him and his podium chances.
The only thing I really doubt is that he indeed has this form.

 

[roundabout]

Problem is for Sky that at some point when there are 15 or so riders left one of them will have to work for the other to pull back attacks especially as Froome is in the lead.

A bit like stage 9. Do they share the work load evenly then or hope someone else/some other team works?