2013 Vuelta a España, Stage 12: Maella→Tarragona (164 km)

[Afrank]

2013 Vuelta a España, Stage 12: Maella→Tarragona (164 km)

Weather: sunny weather is expected in almost all the stage, with some clouds loose at times the only stroke center. Winds: The wind blow light in almost all the way east direction and in almost all the way, so it will be predominantly right side and against from the outlet in Maella to the finish in Tarragona. Temperatures: range between 29 and 31 ° C in the first half of travel and between 28 and 26 ° C in the second half. Air dry for cyclists to climb the Alto del Collet.


Should be one for the sprinters. Of course with this sprinters field you never know. The technical last few kilometers could benefit the attackers and help moves like Gilbert's on stage 7. I say Gilbert for the win with another break in the final km's like move (hopefully he doesn't screw up somehow if he does end up in such a move). Or Matthews if it comes down to a bunch sprint.

 

[Parrulo]

Thanks for making the thead Franky, i have an exam tomorrow so i didn't have time to do it myself

 

[saneguy]

I guess a relaxed day for the GC guys this one. Very shallow depth of sprinters in the race making it tough to predict the winner.

EBH has been surprisingly having a very lackluster Vuelta. I thought he would have done well in this sort of field for the sprint finishes. Maybe the fatigue from TdF?

Matthews should take this one I think.

 

[Richeypen]

I guess a relaxed day for the GC guys this one. Very shallow depth of sprinters in the race making it tough to predict the winner.

EBH has been surprisingly having a very lackluster Vuelta. I thought he would have done well in this sort of field for the sprint finishes. Maybe the fatigue from TdF?

Matthews should take this one I think.

Or maybe something else which happened during le tour

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Cancellara FTW

 

[murali]

EBH has been surprisingly having a very lackluster Vuelta. I thought he would have done well in this sort of field for the sprint finishes. Maybe the fatigue from TdF?

Matthews should take this one I think.

thank you afrank for starting the thread.

EBH is an intelligent rider. I think he has got fed up coming sixth and seventh on flat stages. i think he took the TT stage easy so that he can attack today. I think he will try for an early break; or he will ride in the back of pack and launch an attack 15 km from the finish.

OGE seems to be the only organized sprinter team, and Matthews should take it.

Somehow i have a very bad feeling that the script for this stage is pre-decided. i am betting on an early break with 5-7 riders taking a peak adv of about 12 min. then OGE pull them back with @ 8km to go. they re-organize with 2 km to go and launch Matthews ftw.
Having said that, i hope there is no script for this stage.


how bad is that final bend?

 

[saneguy]

Or maybe something else which happened during le tour

Quite possible. His non-performance with such a poor sprint field is very surprising.

how bad is that final bend?

Seems like a wide-enough round-about. But its barely 200-300 mts before the finish. Should be interesting.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Matthews ftw or PhilGil vs Stybbles v2.0 this time with PhilGil taking the win.

 

[jflemaire]

Quite possible. His non-performance with such a poor sprint field is very surprising.

Richeypen is referring to Boasson Hagen leaving the Tour with a fractured shoulder.

 

[Netserk]

The last roundabout is wide and shouldn't be any problem for the bunch. It's with 350m to go.

 

[murali]

The last roundabout is wide and shouldn't be any problem for the bunch. It's with 350m to go.

So, can anyone who is not in the top-10 spots at the bend still be able to win?

 

[Netserk]

So, can anyone who is not in the top-10 spots at the bend still be able to win?

That would be hard, but that's due to the distance, not the roundabout.

 

[Lexman]

Meersman ftw

 

[fraserhughes]

I'm going to go with a very late break on this one. EBH, Gilbert or Flecha to attack up the slight hill at 2km to go.

If it is sprint Meersman needs to win or he's getting sacked from my Fantasy team!

 

[SafeBet]

I'm fancying Flecha for the win with a late attack.

 

[Cyivel]

I will win this stage.

 

[CycloAndy]

I guess a relaxed day for the GC guys this one. Very shallow depth of sprinters in the race making it tough to predict the winner.

EBH has been surprisingly having a very lackluster Vuelta. I thought he would have done well in this sort of field for the sprint finishes. Maybe the fatigue from TdF?

Matthews should take this one I think.

EBH just doesn't have the top-end speed any more. I think Sky have trained him for being a domestique (I.e long, steady power output) so much that he's lost the explosivity needed to win a sprint. JTL seemed to be complaining of the same thing.

 

[insideout leadout]

EBH just doesn't have the top-end speed any more. I think Sky have trained him for being a domestique (I.e long, steady power output) so much that he's lost the explosivity needed to win a sprint. JTL seemed to be complaining of the same thing.

So it's not due to awful positioning and coming back from injury?

 

[CycloAndy]

So it's not due to awful positioning and coming back from injury?

I think the lack of sprint training probably also explains why his positioning is so poor (Sky's lack of decent support in the final 5km also doesn't help matters). I don't think the injury can be blamed too much though as he didn't miss much training from it.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I will win this stage.

I will be rooting for you

 

[roundabout]

All those exclamation points on the map and extending the 3km rule to 5km doesn't fill me with confidence that it will be a safe finish.

 

[insideout leadout]

I think the lack of sprint training probably also explains why his positioning is so poor (Sky's lack of decent support in the final 5km also doesn't help matters). I don't think the injury can be blamed too much though as he didn't miss much training from it.

Well the best sprint training is actually racing, which he clearly missed.

 

[fraserhughes]

All those exclamation points on the map and extending the 3km rule to 5km doesn't fill me with confidence that it will be a safe finish.

Agree. Whilst I'm in favour of technical finishes to encourage solo attacks, I think a hairpin at 2km and a roundabout at 300m is probably a recipe for crashes.

 

[Netserk]

I'm quite sure that neither the hairpin (it's relatively wide and on an incline) nor the roundabout in the final will cause any crashes.

This is the 'hairpin':

 

[murali]

I'm quite sure that neither the hairpin (it's relatively wide and on an incline) nor the roundabout in the final will cause any crashes.

This is the 'hairpin':

positioning will be important here, right?

i am more worried about a crash due to fight for positioning before this bend, than a crash due to this.