2013 Vuelta a España, Stage 7: Almendralejo → Mairena del Aljarafe (205.9Km)

[Parrulo]

Another flat stage before what we hope to be a exciting weekend

Profile:

Last 5km's:

Weather:

Weather: There will be sunnier weather on the first and the last kms of the stage and with partially cloudy sky on the central part of the journey where a light and temporary rain shower is possible.

Winds: Wind will be light on the almost journey. It will blow Northeasterly and Easterly wind on the all course being from left side and favourable for the cyclists from the departure to the arrival.

Temperatures: Mild temperatures in the first half of the journey between 26 and 23ºC increasing to hot sensation in the second one up to 30ºC as the highest value for the last kms.

 

[manafana]

bit too like thursday stage, but good they got loop in at end for people to watch.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Mørkøv will demolish this sprint field!

 

[Dazed and Confused]

A bit longer training ride for Martin?

Maybe Pinotti this time.

 

[boringboy]

Cancellara for win after long break away

 

[rantanplan]

Carefull with this:

wind on the all course being from left side and favourable for the cyclists from the departure to the arrival.

 

[greenedge]

Matthews

 

[barmaher]

Matthews will win this, with Farrar second and Richeze third.

Roll on tomorrow.

 

[WillemS]

Farrar's sprinting has been awful, his timing was off, his placement was off (partially a team effort), but yesterday he had one of the highest sprint speeds coming over the line. He was just too far back and went too late.

If, by chance or improvement, he gets it right, then he might be able to win. Yesterday, Martin and Argos-Shimano changed the nature of the sprint, the former by being insanely strong, the latter by taking the lead but being too weak to counter the strong efforts of Martin. It changed the nature of the sprint and Farrar was just not ready for that. In short, I'll not write him off completely, as he certainly has a chance.

Matthews, on the other hand, had one of the best, albeit incidental, lead-outs one could hope for. Cancellara increased the velocity steadily, instead of explosively, maintaining his speed from far out to the finish line. Matthews won because he was where he should have been, in the wheel of the unwilling lead-out man. If his placement is worse today, then he could well lose the sprint. It is unlikely that Cancellara will again play lead-out for a different team.

So if you look closely, then you'll see that there's no team out there to organize a sprint and win it. The results will be difficult to predict and a decent outsider might well take it due to an incidental, but excellent placement.

 

[trevim]

This year's Vuelta is having some very nice weather. I know it's Galicia and not Andalucia but the riders can't complain so far. For today, will Greenedge ride for Mathews or Howard? It doesn't matter, Morkov and Flecha will crush them all.

 

[murali]

I am going to say richeze for the win. This guy has come second two days on a row. deserves a win.

can't rule out Cancellara, Meersman, an improving Farrar, and the in form Matthews.



What the heck in Knees doing on the break? Has Sky started stage hunting already? or do they have no faith in EBH who had landed top-10 positions in bunch sprints?

 

[maltiv]

What the heck in Knees doing on the break? Has Sky started stage hunting already? or do they have no faith in EBH who had landed top-10 positions in bunch sprints?

I think they figured out after the failure yesterday, when EBH started the sprint in 86th position, that EBH is better of alone than trusting a "leadout train" consisting of only Knees. Obviously Rowe was supposed to do that job but so far he has managed to get dropped by the peloton on every single stage...

 

[murali]

Will Knees try to do something like yesterday's TM performance?

 

[Roderick]

I think they figured out after the failure yesterday, when EBH started the sprint in 86th position, that EBH is better of alone than trusting a "leadout train" consisting of only Knees. Obviously Rowe was supposed to do that job but so far he has managed to get dropped by the peloton on every single stage...

Yeah, this is getting really ridiculous

 

[murali]

today's stage atleast doesn't have large adv for the break.

 

[Descender]

Stage is uneventful so I'll leave you guys with some breaking news: Fernando Escartin has been chosen to replace Abraham Olano as "Technical Director" of the Vuelta.

 

[darwin553]

Eh..matthews will win again. Not much point watching it.

 

[Race Radio]

Stage is uneventful so I'll leave you guys with some breaking news: Fernando Escartin has been chosen to replace Abraham Olano as "Technical Director" of the Vuelta.

Please tell me you are joking

 

[Descender]

Please tell me you are joking

You won't find any official confirmation, but when have I lied to you guys? Trust me.

 

[Parrulo]

Stage is uneventful so I'll leave you guys with some breaking news: Fernando Escartin has been chosen to replace Abraham Olano as "Technical Director" of the Vuelta.

Oh my this is hilarious!!!! When will they retest the 1999 samples? Maybe after that they can chose Beloki until the 2001 samples are retested?

 

[skidmark]

Stage is uneventful so I'll leave you guys with some breaking news: Fernando Escartin has been chosen to replace Abraham Olano as "Technical Director" of the Vuelta.

ahahahaha, glad they got rid of that bad seed who cheated in the 90s, that would have been embarrassing for them to have someone like that on their payroll.

 

[Descender]

Is it me or is the Spanish TV much better this year when it comes to image quality and production values? They also seem to be showing more of Spain's wonders and telling us about them.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Is it me or is the Spanish TV much better this year when it comes to image quality and production values? They also seem to be showing more of Spain's wonders and telling us about them.

I was thinking this yesterday. I remember the Vuelta coverage last year was very poor compared to the other major races. I think someone has been told to pull there finger out.

 

[shalgo]

I was also thinking what an attractive country Spain appears to be from this year's race so far. In previous years, the race seemed more like the Vuelta de la Luna from all of the lunar landscapes they passed through.

 

[roundabout]

True, can't fault the image quality from what I have seen