2012 Vuelta a España: Stage 4:Barakaldo-Estación de Valdezcaray 160.6 Km

[Publicus]

I step away from the computer for 30 minutes and all hell breaks loose. I think this will all come together and then blow apart on the climb. No way Valverde has anything left after all of this chasing.

 

[SafeBet]

Really no clue about what BMC is doing here.
This will prove to be tough for Leaky and Movi.

 

[sultanofhyd]

This is not about sportsmanship. This is about double standards after Rolland.

 

[Cimber]

Noval and Sørensen looked like the two Saxo riders in the crash. Sørensen looked hurt.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

BMC just wants some tv time for the sponsor.

Oh and I hate time gaps due to crashes. Not making it any more heroic.

This. Perfectly put.

It's clear without the crash everyone would have come back anyway. Looking at the current size of the peloton already

 

[JibberJim]

Don't knock BMC, this finish is great for Gilbert from this group - it's just a small up hill finish, he'll have no trouble against the others there - they just want to make sure Liquigas don't come back with Moser and Sagan...

I may be looking at a different year, a different course and a different start list - but nothing else makes sense.

 

[LaFleur]

You aren't really though. You are whining about people singling Sky out for something Sky were in fact the main movers in.

They seemed like the main movers because they started this even before the fall, as soon as the Katusha DS told the riders about the fall, Katusha started riding with half of their team aswell.

 

[SafeBet]

This is not about sportsmanship. This is about double standards after Rolland.

Don't get Sky fanboys started on this.

 

[Fidolix]

So will AC attack on the climb or neutralize?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Don't knock BMC, this finish is great for Gilbert from this group - it's just a small up hill finish, he'll have no trouble against the others there - they just want to make sure Liquigas don't come back with Moser and Sagan...

I may be looking at a different year, a different course and a different start list - but nothing else makes sense.

That would only make sense if Gilbert wasn't working himself.. But he did

 

[Arnout]

Stop the hate already. This is road cycling, not track cycling in which the race restarts in case a cuddly athlete utterly fails.

 

[No_Balls]

The question now if Froome dares to attack for the red when he just have Jrod in front (and, perhaps, a worned out Valverde)?

 

[hrotha]

BMC are just idiots, they have proven that all season so no suprise.

Poor Valverde

Dude, BMC are just working for their leader.

Eijssen!

 

[Publicus]

Don't knock BMC, this finish is great for Gilbert from this group - it's just a small up hill finish, he'll have no trouble against the others there - they just want to make sure Liquigas don't come back with Moser and Sagan...

I may be looking at a different year, a different course and a different start list - but nothing else makes sense.

That would be pretty impressive since Sagan isn't racing.

 

[icefire]

1993. Tony Rominger won the stage and took over the leader's position from his countryman Alex Zülle. Rominger held the yellow jersey until Madrid.

Which means my memory abandoned me yesterday and Kelly's win in 1988 was not the only time a road stage ended at Valdezcaray.

1993 finish was at Alto de la Cruz de la Demanda. Tha's a different road on the west side of the Ezcaray valley, and the climb is harder. The only road stage finish at Valdezcaray was in 1988. An they used to climb up to Collado de las Tres Cruces then, above 1900 metres.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Isn´t it possible there is some payback in the direction of Valv-Piti? Just a thought...

I don´t like him at all. But what about the riders? Maybe he is the big a§§hole

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

They seemed like the main movers because they started this even before the fall, as soon as the Katusha DS told the riders about the fall, Katusha started riding with half of their team aswell.

Sky were on the front much more than Katusha. They were the ones who made the decision to press on. They were the ones who contributed the bulk of the man power. Therefore, if you object to teams working while the Red Jersey is on the deck, it is completely correct to single out Sky.

You are posing as someone who objects to "soft" attitudes about sportsmanship, but its pretty clear that your primary agenda in this discussion is to defend Sky because you keep on and on about how they are being unfairly singled out. They are in fact being fairly singled out. I can respect a point of view which says, who cares, its racing. I can't respect special pleading for one team.

 

[cineteq]

Besides Sky's classy move, Movistar has no one to blame on themselves, it all started when they decided to give up on the break. An important stage with all those seconds on the line and now they paying for it for being lazy.

 

[Miburo]

50 seconds!!!

 

[Fidolix]

That would be pretty impressive since Sagan isn't racing.

He´s a huge talent, but not that huge

 

[Cyivel]

back up to 50s

 

[Roude Leiw]

This is not about sportsmanship. This is about double standards after Rolland.

I kind of like Pierrot, but he was out of line if he attacked knowingly after what happened, there the race was attacked by a bunch of madmen, no racing was possible under proper conditions for most everybody, was more a game of luck who hit a nail or not.... Here, someone started to race for echelons, crash happens, tough luck, keep racing. If they stop racing at each crash at Paris Roubaix, they might as well take a taxi to roubaix and make a sprint in the velodrome

 

[sultanofhyd]

Isn´t it possible there is some payback in the direction of Valv-Piti? Just a thought...

I don´t like him at all. But what about the riders? Maybe he is the big a§§hole

Why? Did he abduct the children of all the ProTour riders?

 

[Azabael]

Oh who are we kidding, Morabito is going to top5 this Vuelta.

 

[No_Balls]

Gap is getting bigger. BMC made the difference.