2015 Vuelta Stage 11: Andorra la Vella>Cortals d'Encamp 138k

[Stan955]

Majka still has a relly good chance considering from all the top contenders his itt is only behind dumoulin and possibly valverde will be interesting to watch him

 

[KyoGrey]

Re: 2015 Vuelta Stage 11: Andorra la Vella>Cortals d'Encamp

Mikel Landa has just said in TVE that he has ignored the team orders today, and that he has chosen "to take his own liberty".

Also when asked that why of his bad performances past days, he has answered "today is the first day they have let me enjoy riding my byclicle".

Bit of a childish attitude. He's paid to ride for the team not himself.

That is your oppinion, but in his head he thinks he had a Giro in his legs...which is probably true considering that he lost vasts amount of time pacing Aru up the Mortirolo and waiting for him in Sestriere.

He is a passionate guy inside- notice that he wiped tears in his eyes today before entering the finish.

That's fair enough, but it's part of cycling. You don't get to become a team leader just by having one good tour. Certainly not at a team with two other very, very good GC riders. How would he like it next year at Sky if he's a favourite for the Giro and his super-domestique is up the road selfishly going for stage wins by himself?

Aru could have potentially gained another 30 seconds today if Landa would have waited to help pace him and given him extra bonus seconds on the line.

Again, you have to be in Landa's head. In Sestriere, Landa was stripped of stage and mountain's jersey when it was plainly impossible that Aru could win the Giro (the decision was made too late).

¿Who can guarantee Landa that he will be awarded the stage win if he stops to pace Aru up?

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Re:

Froome could hardly walk when he got off the bike. He'll be a DNS tomorrow for sure.

Warming down anyone?

 

[Red Rick]

Aru quite clearly the best climber in the race. I think he'll win this Vuelta, he has 3 more MTF's too destroy Dumoulin and get a little bit more time on Purito, that's all the time he needs before the TT.

 

[shalgo]

Re:

Landa to go in the break and win by ten minutes as the favorites wait for the last climb.

I might have been wrong about the time gap, but this post from yesterday wasn't so far off.

 

[DFA123]

Re: 2015 Vuelta Stage 11: Andorra la Vella>Cortals d'Encamp

Mikel Landa has just said in TVE that he has ignored the team orders today, and that he has chosen "to take his own liberty".

Also when asked that why of his bad performances past days, he has answered "today is the first day they have let me enjoy riding my byclicle".

Bit of a childish attitude. He's paid to ride for the team not himself.

That is your oppinion, but in his head he thinks he had a Giro in his legs...which is probably true considering that he lost vasts amount of time pacing Aru up the Mortirolo and waiting for him in Sestriere.

He is a passionate guy inside- notice that he wiped tears in his eyes today before entering the finish.

That's fair enough, but it's part of cycling. You don't get to become a team leader just by having one good tour. Certainly not at a team with two other very, very good GC riders. How would he like it next year at Sky if he's a favourite for the Giro and his super-domestique is up the road selfishly going for stage wins by himself?

Aru could have potentially gained another 30 seconds today if Landa would have waited to help pace him and given him extra bonus seconds on the line.

Again, you have to be in Landa's head. In Sestriere, Landa was stripped of stage and mountain's jersey when it was plainly impossible that Aru could win the Giro (the decision was made too late).

¿Who can guarantee Landa that he will be awarded the stage win if he stops to pace Aru up?

I'm not sure how any of that explains going against team orders. He wasn't the leader in the Giro and he isn't now. His job is to support his leader; it's what he's paid for.

I think he's just a selfish rider. Disobeying team orders is probably more dishonourable than the time he wheelsucked Zakarin most of the way up Finestre and then sprinted round him in the last few metres to take the Cima Coppi.

 

[shalgo]

I will also point out this post from the stage thread two days ago.

Landa out the back of the peloton again.

I am starting to think this rider is way overrated, he just had a nice Giro and now everyone thinks he is top dog. Sky may have some surprises with him next year

Nah, he's just planning to have a final week of the Vuelta like VDB in 1999.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Imagine Landa at Sky next year dom'ing for Froome
on the steepest peak - is he going to wait for dawg?

 

[drc]

Remember these words: Majka will win this Veulta

 

[Beech Mtn]

Re: Re:

True, it depends how much of Valverde's struggles today were due to his injury, and whether he will be able to fully recover in the next few days. I think Majka is the real dark horse here. No spectacular results but looking very solid and with the potential to gain big time in the TT.

Unless:
(1) Oleg makes him go home
(2) the race motos continue winning their war against Tinkoff riders

 

[KyoGrey]

Re: 2015 Vuelta Stage 11: Andorra la Vella>Cortals d'Encamp

Bit of a childish attitude. He's paid to ride for the team not himself.

That is your oppinion, but in his head he thinks he had a Giro in his legs...which is probably true considering that he lost vasts amount of time pacing Aru up the Mortirolo and waiting for him in Sestriere.

He is a passionate guy inside- notice that he wiped tears in his eyes today before entering the finish.

That's fair enough, but it's part of cycling. You don't get to become a team leader just by having one good tour. Certainly not at a team with two other very, very good GC riders. How would he like it next year at Sky if he's a favourite for the Giro and his super-domestique is up the road selfishly going for stage wins by himself?

Aru could have potentially gained another 30 seconds today if Landa would have waited to help pace him and given him extra bonus seconds on the line.

Again, you have to be in Landa's head. In Sestriere, Landa was stripped of stage and mountain's jersey when it was plainly impossible that Aru could win the Giro (the decision was made too late).

¿Who can guarantee Landa that he will be awarded the stage win if he stops to pace Aru up?

I'm not sure how any of that explains going against team orders. He wasn't the leader in the Giro and he isn't now. His job is to support his leader; it's what he's paid for.

I think he's just a selfish rider. Disobeying team orders is probably more dishonourable than the time he wheelsucked Zakarin most of the way up Finestre and then sprinted round him in the last few metres to take the Cima Coppi.

Sorry, but that simply didn't happen. Not even remotely.

I think I don't wan't to discuss this thing any more now that I've seen you're biased.

For the record, my opinion is that today he should have waited for Aru. But that his attitude is undestandable given the sabotage he undertook in the Giro.

 

[malakassis]

forza aruuuu! i did not expect him this strong. i mean..WOW. poorly mentioned and respected in eurosport who treat him like persona non grata..lol hypocrites!
landa stronk, but not loyal

 

[damian13ster]

Man, imagine what Majka could do if he arrived fresh. Still, a top 5 would be a huge success

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: 2015 Vuelta Stage 11: Andorra la Vella>Cortals d'Encamp

Mikel Landa has just said in TVE that he has ignored the team orders today, and that he has chosen "to take his own liberty".

Also when asked that why of his bad performances past days, he has answered "today is the first day they have let me enjoy riding my byclicle".

That doesn't sound like a guy who is just waiting to work for Froome in the Tour.

Talking of Froome, he didn't lose enough time to aim for a breakaway win... but maybe enough time to create a gap from the favourites on the final climb of the days ahead.

LOL.

Maybe he is going in the wrong direction.

 

[skidmark]

Interesting day, not decisive but telling. Here's how I see the GC chances:

Aru - 60%

I think pretty firmly that this guy's going to pick up his maiden GT. He was clearly the best today, and he's the only big contender without back-to-back GTs in the legs. He's middling in the TT, but he already has enough time on everyone but Dumoulin to possibly hold the lead even if it was as it is now. Of course, 3 more big MTFs before the TT mean that he'll get a half minute here and there on others before the TT if he continues to be the strongest.

Rodriguez - 15%

I can't believe that I think he has a chance at this, but he seems the most solid of the rest of the lot (except Dumoulin, but I'll get to him). He was pretty spent on the punchy finish the other day, and pretty spent at the end of today, so I have a hard time believing he can do more than just hang in there (although if he handles fatigue better than others, maybe he can claw back some time on the 3 MTFs). Basically he needs to stay solid and hope that either Aru's performance today was a fluke, or that Aru bonks and loses a ton on some stage. But as it stands right now, he might be able to hold Valv and Majka off in the TT with a minute on them. The others within 3 minutes (Nieve, Chaves, Moreno) are some of the few GC guys worse than him in a TT.

Dumoulin - 10%

He hung tough today, and that was impressive. Plus, guys will need at least 3-4 minutes on him in the TT. But I think they'll get it. Doing well on the punchy climbs was expected, if not to the degree of winning vs. Froome/Rodriguez. Doing this well in the high mountains is a surprise, but it's just a stage. A GT is a grind, and he's not used to that kind of recovery. I think it's pretty good odds that he bleeds a lot of time on at least one of the 3 MTFs, and probably all of them.

Majka - 5%

Not quite good enough to go with the best today, but held his own well and came back to within a handful of seconds to Purito. Could be a sneaky good pick going forwards, is okay at TT, is an attacking rider. I favour him for a podium, if not the win.

rest of the field - 10%

Who knows, we could be in for a surprise. But of all the guys that are close, Valv looks to be fading after a loooong season, I have the same doubts about Chaves' recovery as I do Dumoulin, and Nieve/Moreno are simply second-tier. If I had to pick a dark horse for a surprise, I'd pick Moreno, because he looked better than his leader today and doesn't have the Tour in his legs. But the hierarchy is clear at Katusha, so I think he's leashed (and seems to be happy working for Purito). Interestingly, Froome didn't pack it in today and is still in the top 15. Not that I think he could win, but he could pull a Nibali-in-the-Tour game of correcting himself and coming back up bit by bit.

 

[Mongolian Torque]

Re: Re:

Froome could hardly walk when he got off the bike. He'll be a DNS tomorrow for sure.

Warming down anyone?

Froomella's warm down will be from September 3rd 2015 to January 9th 2016.

I saw this happening when he was still riding on the Champs in July.

It aint easy riding two consecutive GT's like TDf + Vuelta...

If Contador skips the Giro I believe he smokes Froomella in the TDF.

Froome is a one trick pony. Your cajones are bronzed only if you can podium the TDF + Vuelta back to back.

Froomebot has a bit more work to do...

 

[Miburo]

Said it multiple times already, froome is an idiot for racing this vuelta.

He was cooked in the tour and rode many criteriums, i'm shocked he actually performed in that stage dumoulin won. Credit to him for that but this was overdoing it....

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: 2015 Vuelta Stage 11: Andorra la Vella>Cortals d'Encamp

Mikel Landa has just said in TVE that he has ignored the team orders today, and that he has chosen "to take his own liberty".

Also when asked that why of his bad performances past days, he has answered "today is the first day they have let me enjoy riding my byclicle".

This is a guy who absolutely should not go to Sky then, if that's how he feels.

That was a seriously bad choice.

I think Sky learned from their lesson after the Froome/Wiggins saga tbh. Nieve and Boswell were allowed to do their thing today ... I don't think there would be a problem with Landa.

Presumably he's doing the Giro anyways ?

Which reminds me, Roche was perhaps the unluckiest today: sent back to pace Froome, and lost his 3rd place in GC. I think he cracked independently, but he must be thinking "what if" for a couple of days.

I think Roche Cracked. He could have gone alone after few teammates were with Froome.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Imagine Landa at Sky next year dom'ing for Froome
on the steepest peak - is he going to wait for dawg?

I can only imagine Sky Landa crushing everybody in Giro ITT.

 

[Miburo]

Re:

oleg has always posted absolute crap, but if he really has had 2 riders now taken out by a moto, he has more of a point than usual.

I think he said many times reasonable things but it was just covered on the brutal manner he said it.

He was even right calling out contador 2 years ago.

 

[Beech Mtn]

Re: 2015 Vuelta Stage 11: Andorra la Vella>Cortals d'Encamp

Mikel Landa has just said in TVE that he has ignored the team orders today, and that he has chosen "to take his own liberty".

Also when asked that why of his bad performances past days, he has answered "today is the first day they have let me enjoy riding my byclicle".

This is a guy who absolutely should not go to Sky then, if that's how he feels.

That was a seriously bad choice.

Not if he is given the leadership for the Giro/Vuelta it isn't. As he proved today and in May he's a top climber

How long before Landa decides he can win the Tour? What then? Brailsford is going to have fun marshaling all the egos on the team at some point. At least Landa is not on twitter to fight with Cound.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Dumoulin winning the whole thing would perhaps be the biggest upset in cycling history. Come on Tom!

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: 2015 Vuelta Stage 11: Andorra la Vella>Cortals d'Encamp

I think Duoulin's chances are clearly higher than Purito's. Purito normally is worse in TT's than aru so he needs to gain time on him, which seems unlikely after today. Dumoulin however just has to hang on and hope that the gap doesnt get too big so he can close it in the TT. Once again I have to write that the last week is the big question. Its possible that aru takes another 1 or 2 minutes on dumoulin there but i just don't know if the climbs are really difficult enough.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Re:

Dumoulin winning the whole thing would perhaps be the biggest upset in cycling history. Come on Tom!

Horner,
remember

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

Dumoulin winning the whole thing would perhaps be the biggest upset in cycling history. Come on Tom!

Horner,
remember

And Cobo