2011 Vuelta a Espana Stage 11: Verín - Estación de Montaña Manzaneda 167,0 km (31/8)

[LukeSchmid]

I think there is still 4, possibly 5 who could win this. Wiggins, Nibali, Kessiakoff, Mollema and possibly Rodriguez.
Wiggins is probably going to struggle on Angliru but if he doesn't.
Nibali is the favourite
Kessiakoff has done nothing wrong and if keeps doing nothing wrong he is the right place to take advantage of others struggles. Angliru?
Mollema looking really good, can he last the distance, Angliru?
Rodriguez might be able to win time on Angliru and Pena Cabaraga, enough, I doubt it but slight possibility.

 

[shalgo]

Has there ever been another GT in which the top five riders were within 19 seconds of each other after 11 stages?

 

[hatcher]

I think Kessiakoff is riding sensibly so to say to finish as high as possible in the end and not after a win. I don't really expect him to attack as a top-10 will be a very good result for him.

I think I've only seen him once this entire race, yet he's only 14 seconds off the race lead. Up the Angliru do we really know who out of him, Wiggins, and Mollema is likely to struggle least? If Nibali doesn't win I'd say any of those 3 are as likely as the next.

 

[TeoSheva]

Sky is doing REALLY well with Wiggins and Froome! It has no sense to do like Leopard with the two brothers, they never know who is the leader and they never win! So, maybe Wiggins will not win, but at least they will try!

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

While I agree that Wiggins is more proven than Froome, why not try to preserve Froome as long as possible? Seems like a waste to throw away his high GC position after only one stage.

They needed to keep a fast, steady, pace on the climb to discourage attacks. They had no other domestiques left. So the choices were (a) use up Froom, (b) waste Wiggins energy by sharing the work or (c) have to spend the climb reacting to attacks.

Deploying Froom in the same role Kreuziger was in for Nibali last year made tactical sense.

 

[luckyboy]

hmm, Mollema is better on tempo climbs than very steep ones you know. He could have a hard time and end up with Wiggins on Angliru.

Rodriguez could catch 1 minute + 20 boni there...

I can see Angliru being a Bola del Mundo 2010 situation with Rodriguez as Mosquera and Nibali as Nibali. Nibali won't catch but he won't be too far back.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

hmm, Mollema is better on tempo climbs than very steep ones you know. He could have a hard time and end up with Wiggins on Angliru.

Rodriguez could catch 1 minute + 20 boni there...

personally I'm not ruling out jrod, but it seems farfetched.

I agree angry lu might not be kind to mollema either.
I think the way nibbles handled the zoncolan in the giro suggests it is his to lose.

 

[jsem94]

This Vuelta has been really strange...

I really want gaps though, in the mountains preferably. Looking at the size of the main group going up the mountain on every stage tells me something is weird.

I'm hoping for fireworks this weekend. This Vuelta needs it.

 

[roundabout]

I think I've only seen him once this entire race, yet he's only 14 seconds off the race lead. Up the Angliru do we really know who out of him, Wiggins, and Mollema is likely to struggle least? If Nibali doesn't win I'd say any of those 3 are as likely as the next.

Kessiakoff won in a pretty dominant fashion on an Angliru-like climb in the Tour of Austria in July but that was then and this is now.

 

[icefire]

Has there ever been another GT in which the top five riders were within 19 seconds of each other after 11 stages?

There's a certain GT that doesn't visit any mountain before stage 12. Does that count?

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

personally I'm not ruling out jrod, but it seems farfetched.

He'll have to do more than attack with a km to go, and that seems to take up 90% of the pages in his big book of cycling tactics.

 

[Scansorial]

They threw it away in the sense that now everybody knows Froome isn't riding for himself at all. I'm sure we'll see him playing the role of super domestique from here on out, not potential GC threat.

 

[luckyboy]

personally I'm not ruling out jrod, but it seems farfetched.

I agree angry lu might not be kind to mollema either.
I think the way nibbles handled the zoncolan in the giro suggests it is his to lose.

Yeah it's not going to happen for J-Rod.

 

[hrotha]

Nice rides by Moncoutié, Slagter and Wiggins, meh about virtually everyone else.

Stupid wind is killing the mountain stages

Stupid organizers should know what conditions on their mountains tend to be. Apparently, if there's wind in this climb, it's always headwind. And it's a big, dumb open climb, so yeah, this was to be expected.

 

[hatcher]

They'll never expect me to attack from a km out this time.

 

[Gloin22]

you seem certain wiggo wont blow on angry lu ey. He will be up against there forsure.

I am not sure wheter he will blow, though I am sure Froome will blow quicker. I think Rodriguez will be the only one gaining 2/3 minutes on Wiggo, but then the rest I don't see doing much. I believe Wiggo will certainly be able to follow the likes of Kessiakoff or Mollema. Nibali will be biggest danger, but if ''dealt'' correctly Wiggo has a chance of doing a ride that will keep him close to Nibali. Froome will play massive role there, now he has 2 days to recover and all the pressure of having ''red'' on him should relax him a bit more and I hope he will be able to protect Bradley as long as he can.

 

[Jamsque]

They'll never expect me to attack from a km out this time.

When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

 

[LaFleur]

Looks like Taaramäe is coming in with the grupetto today. Seems a bit too risky...

 

[LukeSchmid]

Kessiakoff won in a pretty dominant fashion on an Angliru-like climb in the Tour of Austria in July but that was then and this is now.

While that is true and reasonably impressive he did not beat much, Santambrogio second followed by Konig, Sastre, Rohregger, Butler, Possoni, Ignatenko, Bisolti, Zaugg and Menchov.

 

[Tank Engine]

Nice to see Moncoutie win. I don't think that there was anything wrong with Sky's tactics, what was lacking was an extra pair of legs for the last 6-7km. They had to ride tempo to control Bauke and Dan and so it comes down to sacrificing one of the riders. Unfortunately for Froome, the choice was logical. In terms of strength, it looks like the podium should be Nibali, Wiggins and TGBM. Kessiakoff is still up there, but he doesn't seem to be strong enough to get away or gain bonuses, which he needs.

 

[luckyboy]

I am not sure wheter he will blow, though I am sure Froome will blow quicker. I think Rodriguez will be the only one gaining 2/3 minutes on Wiggo, but then the rest I don't see doing much. I believe Wiggo will certainly be able to follow the likes of Kessiakoff or Mollema. Nibali will be biggest danger, but if ''dealt'' correctly Wiggo has a chance of doing a ride that will keep him close to Nibali. Froome will play massive role there, now he has 2 days to recover and all the pressure of having ''red'' on him should relax him a bit more and I hope he will be able to protect Bradley as long as he can.

Wiggins has an 11 second advantage on Nibali though. If Rodriguez is gaining 2 or 3 minutes on Wiggins, then Nibali is gaining a hell of a lot more than 11 seconds.

In terms of strength, it looks like the podium should be Nibali, Wiggins and TGBM.

Yeah this seems to be more and more the case.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Nice to see Moncoutie win. I don't think that there was anything wrong with Sky's tactics, what was lacking was an extra pair of legs for the last 6-7km. They had to ride tempo to control Bauke and Dan and so it comes down to sacrificing one of the riders. Unfortunately for Froome, the choice was logical. In terms of strength, it looks like the podium should be Nibali, Wiggins and TGBM. Kessiakoff is still up there, but he doesn't seem to be strong enough to get away or gain bonuses, which he needs.

thing is angry lu is steep, very. teams cant control it there. It will be the strongest prevail. That will decide a lot.

 

[hrotha]

They'll never expect me to attack from a km out this time.

He tried attacking before, it didn't work. I suppose he should have stayed quiet in the last km, lest someone in the internet made fun of him.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Wiggins has an 11 second advantage on Nibali though. If Rodriguez is gaining 2 or 3 minutes on Wiggins, then Nibali is gaining a hell of a lot more than 11 seconds.



Yeah this seems to be more and more the case.

he was so very good on the zoncolan. Probably is difficulty comparable.

 

[roundabout]

While that is true and reasonably impressive he did not beat much, Santambrogio second followed by Konig, Sastre, Rohregger, Butler, Possoni, Ignatenko, Bisolti, Zaugg and Menchov.

true, however the most impressive thing was his ascent time which was pretty fast for modern cleaner cycling