2013 Vuelta a España, Stage 20: Avilés→Alto de L´Angliru (142 Km)

[roundabout]

I suggest you to watch Pau-Luchon 1983 and Pau-Luchon 2012 and you'll see that traditional mountain stages are not what they used to be anymore. The death of traditional mountain stages and time trials is closely linked to the fact that time-trials open gaps in GC that are not closed in traditional mountain stages.

in 1999 it was not bad

 

[Peccio89]

People shouldn't forget that it was the Angliru that changed the face of pro cycling forever.
Prior to the year 99 there had never been done a final climb similar to this one.
Since the first showing of the Angliru the super steep climb have becomethe new holy grail of cycling it seems. People cry for them all the time as if anything else wasn't worth watching anymore. The death of traditional mountain stages as well as time trials is closely linked to this climb.

The path was already initiated by Mortirolo in the early 90s, no need to blame Angliru for that.
By the way Mortirolo remains IMO the best of all the super steep climb (10%+) because it is a pass and you cannot finish on top.

 

[Arredondo]

The path was already initiated by Mortirolo in the early 90s, no need to blame Angliru for that.
By the way Mortirolo remains IMO the best of all the super steep climb (10%+) because it is a pass and you cannot finish on top.

In 1979 they finished on the Peña Cabarga for the first time, and in the Giro di Lombardia they did once the Muro di Sornamo in the 60's (however, it was to steep with the kind of gears they used, almost all riders had to walk), so it's not entirely new. If you're talking about LONG steep climbs, you're quite right with the Mortirolo.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

People shouldn't forget that it was the Angliru that changed the face of pro cycling forever.
Prior to the year 99 there had never been done a final climb similar to this one.
Since the first showing of the Angliru the super steep climb have becomethe new holy grail of cycling it seems. People cry for them all the time as if anything else wasn't worth watching anymore. The death of traditional mountain stages as well as time trials is closely linked to this climb.

Mortirolo? One of the Giro stages there ended in Edolo, making Mortirolo the last climb. It's just that you can't descend Angliru. You hold Angliru responsible for the current fad in cycling, but the 1999 Vuelta was after the 1999 Tour, when the other half of what's responsible happened: the rise of the Postal train. Admittedly in 1999 it wasn't perfected yet, but neither was the Vuelta's current mountain stage fetish. The 1999 stage to Angliru was the best stage design of all stages to Angliru:

In theory, riders could go before the Angliru then. However, the difficulty of the beast meant there was little interest in that. It did mean, however, that when riders arrived at the base of the Asturian monolith they had more sapped from their legs and thus the gaps could become bigger.

The combination of teams racing in a style that is designed to keep the pace too high for anything of substance to happen prior to the final summit, and of race organisers hunting for more and more intimidating final summits, has led us to where we are today. That when you place mountains far from the finish of stages with big mountain finishes we keep seeing the modern péloton soft-pedal the lot or just let the break take it hasn't helped either as it has led to a major reduction in the number of climbs being utilised mid-stage in recent years, making it ever easier for the train template to be followed.

 

[Ferminal]

The real question is, how many motorbikes will implode?

 

[roundabout]

The Postal train was there, but there were only 2 engines.

On the stage to Sestriere the race was blown to pieces on the Galibier with 2 climbs to go.

On the first Pyrenees stage Escartin could attack on the Peyresourde with 2 more climbs to go and win. I think Armstrong himself had no help from the Peyresourde.

On the second I think the first cracks were on the Tourmalet and 12 or so people only made it to Pau in the first group.

1999 was not bad.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

The real question is, how many motorbikes will Horner make implode?

Fixed that!

 

[Asturiano]

Today:

 

[roundabout]

Back to present day, 3 Astanas in the break

 

[Arredondo]

Really large and strong group up the road;

Jose Joao Mendes (157), David Arroyo (61), Andriy Grivko (34), Vasil Kiryienka (194), Rinaldo Nocentini (19), Jacob Fuglsang (33), Juan Jose Oroz (97), Serge Pauwels (165), Jan Barta (152), Bauke Mollema (41), Juan Antonio Flecha (214), Rafael Valls Ferri (218), Nicolas Edet (84), Antonio Piedra (67), Maciej Paterski (76), Carlos Alberto Betancur (13), Dominik Nerz (56), Juan Manuel Garate (45), Jerome Coppel (81), Kenny Elissonde (103), Johannes Frohlinger (23), Ivan Santaromita (58), Dmitry Kozontchuk (125), Angel Vicioso (129), Benat Intxausti (6), Dario Cataldo (193), Paolo Tiralongo (37), Imanol Erviti (3), Andre Cardoso (63), Jorge Azanza (93) y Diego Ulissi (139)

Peloton at 1.35

Come on Carlos!

 

[Asturiano]

 

[icefire]

30 riders in the break and no Txurruka?

 

[webbie146]

Damn that's not looking like it's gonna rain anytime soon

 

[Hugo Koblet]

30 riders in the break and no Txurruka?

Something must be very wrong

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Ratto conceded?

 

[RedheadDane]

30 riders in the break and no Txurruka?

You can hardly blame him for being somewhat tired...

But, hey! Birdsong!

 

[jens_attacks]

keep posting asturiano

Nibali made a good point about how Horner's standing technique might not work if it's wet, due to the backwheel slipping. So rain could once again save the day for Nibali.

non-sense.

it won't matter much. papy will slaughter them anyway

 

[roundabout]

Damn that's not looking like it's gonna rain anytime soon

Papi to dance up in his 53x11.

 

[jens_attacks]

so afte gibo, a breakaway will take the win again on angliru...

just hoping it will be kiry

 

[Christian]

Great pictures, Asturiano! Many thanks!

 

[webbie146]

Papi to dance up in his 53x11.

lol Most likely yes.. I'm still kinda hoping he's gonna have a bad day but I don't see it happening.

 

[alspacka]

Surely Astana shouldn't be allowing such a large break? Let alone putting 3 riders in it. Should be chasing bonus seconds, no?

Or is he putting them up the road to go early??

 

[al_pacino]

Bonus second aren't going to be a factor.

 

[webvan]

So live T.V around 4 PM? Can't wait!

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Nibbles to go on the attack in the downhill