2012 Vuelta a España: Stage 3: Faustino V → Eibar (Arrate) (155,3km)

[The Hitch]

I don't want anything. Contador didn't give Zoncolan by the way, but I don't feel like going into that. I don't mind Contador, I don't like him either. Seriously, it's not mandatory to be a fanboy of him is it?

no i just asked why you dont like him. I mean some people would hold you know what against him, but seeing as you want epo legalized, it cant be that.

ANd its not like your against Spanish riders, nor are you against attacking ones, so i asked why you dont like him, but no worries you dont have to answer.

 

[El Pistolero]

Van den Broeck nowhere to be seen

He did the Tour, most people are tired after that.

Glad he lost time though, same with De Gendt. Now they can go stage hunting instead of an anonymous top 10 in a GC.

 

[infeXio]

Even though it was exciting Alberto did not look good.

Sorry what?

 

[gthx_gthx_]

Even though it was exciting Alberto did not look good.

Considering his ban , i think it's very good what he did , i mean he could have been in difficulty. But instead he was very offensive.

 

[sultanofhyd]

Machado not in the Top 150??

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

More than 6s damage:

Henao 47s (but a froome domestique...)
Kessiakoff 50s
Monfort 50s
Cobo 50s
Cunego 1m28
Menchov 1m52
De Gendt 2m07
Quintana +2m57
Van den Broeck +3m23s
Peterson +6m43

No Machado in after 9m

 

[gustienordic]

Good to see Talansky up there, too bad he lost so much time on stage 1 I didn't see Quintana, Benat was up there though!

 

[Escarabajo]

Disappointed in all the Colombians

2 of the 3 that I had hopes for were working for Froome. So not much they can do there. Only real disappointment was Quintana.

 

[Parrulo]

Yes, but unless his transponder fell off, not making the top 100 is a whole other level of bad

exactly, as overrated as he is he should be at least inside the top 30 of the stage . . . .

anyway it's just like i predicted, he will disappoint again at this vuelta

anyway awesome to see contador back and attacking, clearly still lacking some rhythm which might actually be good to make this vuelta interesting

 

[Alpehue]

Even though it was exciting Alberto did not look good.

Excuse me? dident everyone expect him to be weak, and possibly even loose a bit of time the first week?

Since when has Contadors strength been short climbs?, I felt like his 5-6 attacks today showed that he is more then ready, and will become much stronger after a weeks race....

 

[Eshnar]

What? Those are some desperate examples. Maybe if you searched hard enough you could find some stgae from one of those French or italian races that was entertaining, but the 2 examples you give are nowehere near what we saw today.

La Toussuire stage was way better than this. And it wasn't "awesome".
You can't really compare six attacks (4 of which ended after like 5 seconds) and 15 minutes of entertainment versus Evans attacking (stupidly) at 60 to go, Van Den Broeck attacking on the last climb, Nibbles attacking twice, Froome accelerating and funnily stopping... 2 hours of entertainment. Sorry but there's no match. We're all pleased AC is back, but there's not a good reason to overreacting this way.

 

[roundabout]

More than 6s damage:

Henao 47s (but a froome domestique...)
Kessiakoff 50s
Monfort 50s
Cobo 50s
Cunego 1m28
Menchov 1m52
De Gendt 2m07
Quintana +2m57
Van den Broeck +3m23s
Peterson +6m43

No Machado in after 9m

You forgot Gollum

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

2 of the 3 that I had hopes for were working for Froome. So not much they can do there. Only real disappointment was Quintana.

But didn't Quintana work during the stage? Could explain a lot. I didn't see everything

 

[richwagmn]

Considering his ban , i think it's very good what he did , i mean he could have been in difficulty. But instead he was very offensive.

Yes, he should get stronger. To see him already be able to put riders under difficulty is impressive.

 

[webvan]

what do you have against him? He gave Anton Zoncolan for christ sakes what more do you want.

Well for a start he got banned for cheating, that's behind him now but still...his 2009 TDF was too good to be true, like LA's 1999 TDF, that makes people not like you...then the chaingate, etc...

Honestly I was not very impressed today, he seems to be racing like he did in the 2011 TDF, big attacks he can't sustain. He's going to lose a lot of time to Froome on the ITT.

So now we need some VAM to compare to PDBF.

 

[Classic]

Sorry what?

He finished 4th for all his efforts.

 

[Lexman]

Was it Majka by the way with that mighty pull in the beginning?

Yes it was...

 

[el chava]

Nah. The stage Pinot won was miles better for a start. .

I fail to see the fascination with these attack-stop-attack stages on the final climb. The complete antithesis to "epic" stages, imo. Yeah, Pinot's stage win was way, way more classy than this.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Sorry what?

He couldn't get the smallest gap. And most if not all of his attacks looked like typical Schleck 2 second attacks. And besides that he was pulling faces like I've never seen him do before, well in last year's Tour maybe.

 

[cineteq]

- Valverde, Rodriguez and Contador looking good. Especially because they're the kind of riders that can exploit the bonus seconds.
- Froome won't last long, he'll fade eventually. He has no train and TdF will prove to be too much.
- Rabo duo: Gesink and Mollema with a chance to podium
- Capecchi in great shape
- VDB and De Gednt out of contention
- Too bad for Talansky's TTT

 

[Arnout]

no i just asked why you dont like him. I mean some people would hold you know what against him, but seeing as you want epo legalized, it cant be that.

ANd its not like your against Spanish riders, nor are you against attacking ones, so i asked why you dont like him, but no worries you dont have to answer.

Ok fair enough, I will answer. For me, his personality is too bland. I don't know, can't warm to him. I appreciate his results and his racing style, I do that, but as a rider, I don't really have many feelings about him, either positive or negative. Races are generally more exciting with him in it (that is, something happening, as landslides are not always exciting either), but I'm not liking him as a result of it. Just neutral I guess. Weirdly, this has been the case since he entered the scene for real in 2007, even though many ingredients are there for me to like him. Not to be.

Oh, I don't necessarily want EPO legalized (anymore?), I don't like doping but I don't mind it either in races. Contradictory, I know.

 

[Alpehue]

He finished 4th for all his efforts.

Due to the fact that he allmost crashed in the last bend? not because he was weak, Obviously Valverde will outsprinted him though. dont think anyone expected otherwise..

 

[Eshnar]

I fail to see the fascination with these attack-stop-attack stages on the final climb. The complete antithesis to "epic" stages, imo. Yeah, Pinot's stage win was way, way more classy than this.

I like you.
(10 char)

 

[Kwibus]

SPanish media moto pacing Clenbutador.

How often does this guy has to say Clenbutador before he gets banned? Nick names are fine, but this is Clinic stuff.

 

[Justin Pain]

You forgot Gollum

Who is Gollum?