2015 Vuelta stage 16: Luarca > Ermita de Alba 185km

[Ruby United]

Re:

We could very well have top4 with only 1 minutes from 1st to 4th after the ITT.

Majka to stay within a minute of Tom? I doubt it

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

I mean, what did we see today?

The whole peloton going at 25-30 km/h for hours and gifting the stage to a breakaway
The pace not being picked up, very timidly, until not that far from the finish line
A big group with all the contenders together until almost the very end
One attack, with 800 m to go

How the **** is that supposed to make for a good stage? How ignorant can you be?

A good stage doesn't always mean a good stage for the telly. I enjoy cycling for what it is, riders suffering on their bikes. I don't have some sadistic desire to see them murdering each other everytime a bump appears on the road. It shouldn't have to be a circus.

Spot on. Anyone who's raced a bike could appreciate what we saw today. A reminder that even pros ride to their physical limits - not just to make things look good on TV. Maybe we can blame the organisers for making the course too difficult but they don't control the weather and frankly it doesn't worry me at all - I recognise physical effort when I see it and enjoy watching knowing that.

Exactly. Cycling is very often a race of attrition and today was a grand example of guys basically on their limits. If one can't appreciate those types of efforts cycling has to be a dreadfully boring sport. But it is the nature of the beast. These guys are dead tired yet they give it their all day after day! Bravo lads!

you don't sprint at 700m to go if you're at the limit. If you're at the limit you just try to go forward.

 

[SeriousSam]

And as so often, we have lots of people complaining why the riders didn't sacrifice their objectives to entertain the masses and/or lots of aspiring directeur sportifs who know much better than the riders and teams how to ride the bike.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

I mean, what did we see today?

The whole peloton going at 25-30 km/h for hours and gifting the stage to a breakaway
The pace not being picked up, very timidly, until not that far from the finish line
A big group with all the contenders together until almost the very end
One attack, with 800 m to go

How the **** is that supposed to make for a good stage? How ignorant can you be?

A good stage doesn't always mean a good stage for the telly. I enjoy cycling for what it is, riders suffering on their bikes. I don't have some sadistic desire to see them murdering each other everytime a bump appears on the road. It shouldn't have to be a circus.

Spot on. Anyone who's raced a bike could appreciate what we saw today. A reminder that even pros ride to their physical limits - not just to make things look good on TV. Maybe we can blame the organisers for making the course too difficult but they don't control the weather and frankly it doesn't worry me at all - I recognise physical effort when I see it and enjoy watching knowing that.

Exactly. Cycling is very often a race of attrition and today was a grand example of guys basically on their limits. If one can't appreciate those types of efforts cycling has to be a dreadfully boring sport. But it is the nature of the beast. These guys are dead tired yet they give it their all day after day! Bravo lads!

you don't sprint at 700m to go if you're at the limit. If you're at the limit you just try to go forward.

700m IS Puritos uphill sprinting limit when he is dead tired.......he was making pain faces for the previous 20km!

 

[johnymax]

Re:

And as so often, we have lots of people complaining why the riders didn't sacrifice their objectives to entertain the masses and/or lots of aspiring directeur sportifs who know much better than the riders and teams how to ride the bike.

They are being paid to entertain

 

[hrotha]

Re:

And as so often, we have lots of people complaining why the riders didn't sacrifice their objectives to entertain the masses and/or lots of aspiring directeur sportifs who know much better than the riders and teams how to ride the bike.

As always, you completely misunderstand. Unless you think all those GTs and races that Purito lost were because he's "unlucky", I guess.

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

And as so often, we have lots of people complaining why the riders didn't sacrifice their objectives to entertain the masses and/or lots of aspiring directeur sportifs who know much better than the riders and teams how to ride the bike.

They are being paid to entertain

They're payed to win. Sponsors will be very happy if their team wins without entertaining.

 

[SeriousSam]

Purito attacking earlier makes a lot of sense if he could mountain time trial quicker than Aru drafting Landa.

Attacking the last 800m off of a moderate pace, though, that's something he can do quicker than Aru or indeed everyone, and has been able to do throughout his career.

Watching cycling must be painful for you hrotha. All those races Purito could have won if only he understood his ability as well as you do.

 

[Bushman]

Re: Re:

And as so often, we have lots of people complaining why the riders didn't sacrifice their objectives to entertain the masses and/or lots of aspiring directeur sportifs who know much better than the riders and teams how to ride the bike.

They are being paid to entertain

No, they are being paid to achieve the best possible result they can get.

 

[Choppy Warburton]

Hoping not to be overly simplistic I'd say some of the negative opinions offered here might give an indication of why doping is prevalent in sport, the fans exerting pressure and wanting more and more. Majka looked like a ghost after that Stage, the riders are clearly suffering and I think it's a fascinating race. Blaming personal dissatisfaction on riders being overly tired is just unreasonable, that is part of the game for me. They should be tired in September no matter what their program and it's making for an unpredictable and pretty thrilling finale, I'll take that to someone five minutes ahead and just Stage wins to look forward to with a few days left still. Watching Frank alone today was a huge thrill, I thought it was captivating.

 

[WheelofGear]

Wow, great win for Schleck! I never thought I would see him on this level again!

And lol, Purito in red. He looked like he was about to get dropped on Cobertoria and yet he still manages to be the best of the GC riders. And Dumoulin only lost a few seconds to the leaders? Damn, he will win now, for sure. What happened to Aru and Majka? It was their big chance to take a minute or two on Tom D before the time trial. No attacks on Alba or what? I didn't watch the finale. Did they just look at each other or what?

 

[Cookster15]

Everyone who follows cycling knows Purito can sprint in the last Km of MTFs. But that doesn't mean he can have the strength to attack mid stage or even at bottom of the final climb - different energy system. Some people are simply unrealistic and overly critical. Plus knowing that not even Quintana could do anything says how hard it was today and at this point in the 3rd week of a brutal Vuelta.

 

[BigMac]

Re:

Hoping not to be overly simplistic I'd say some of the negative opinions offered here might give an indication of why doping is prevalent in sport, the fans exerting pressure and wanting more and more. Majka looked like a ghost after that Stage, the riders are clearly suffering and I think it's a fascinating race. Blaming personal dissatisfaction on riders being overly tired is just unreasonable, that is part of the game for me. They should be tired in September no matter what their program and it's making for an unpredictable and pretty thrilling finale, I'll take that to someone five minutes ahead and just Stage wins to look forward to with a few days left still. Watching Frank alone today was a huge thrill, I thought it was captivating.

Feel free to open a topic in the Clinic about this, it's an interesting point. But please no discussion here. The first part I mean.

 

[Sciatic]

Re:

I mean, what did we see today?

The whole peloton going at 25-30 km/h for hours and gifting the stage to a breakaway
The pace not being picked up, very timidly, until not that far from the finish line
A big group with all the contenders together until almost the very end
One attack, with 800 m to go

How the **** is that supposed to make for a good stage? How ignorant can you be?

You folks don't seem to grasp that someone else can enjoy something when you don''t. And saying I enjoy watching a particular stage doesn't mean I think it is a cracking good stage.
For instance, today's stage was disappointing, Not what I had hoped for. BUT I enjoyed myself because it's a national holiday and was totally pleased that I could get up at 7:00, not have to rush off, have my coffee and watch an hour and a half of, yes, a stagnant but still interesting stage. What's not to like?

And the stage still provided suspense because I can enjoy watching wondering what might happen (will Dumoulin crack? Which of the big players will be off, will Frank crash on the descent), and know that I enjoyed the wondering even if, in the end, not much happened. I don't need everything to work out the way I wanted to be able to enjoy myself.

You're not the only one doing this, just the most vocal about it today.

 

[Choppy Warburton]

No worries BigMac, apologies.

 

[johnymax]

The situation before the TT is similar to the GC before the TT in Tour de Suisse. 4 riders with a realistic chance to take the win. The worst time trialist is in the lead with the best TT rider being in 4th (in Suisse there was Pozzovivo in 4th place but he really didn't have a chance). Luckily for Tom this time there's no time trialist as strong as Spilak or Thomas, but only three Pinots (with especially Majka being a somewhat improved version of Pinot). On the other hand the race doesn't end with the ITT but there are still three stages after that. So even if he takes the lead it still won't be easy to keep the jersey because of his weak team.

 

[TMP402]

Re:

Maybe Stage 20 will have to decide things then... Break the race apart leaving Tom D isolated and keep attacking him.

possibilities on 18 and 19 too...

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

The situation before the TT is similar to the GC before the TT in Tour de Suisse. 4 riders with a realistic chance to take the win. The worst time trialist is in the lead with the best TT rider being in 4th (in Suisse there was Pozzovivo in 4th place but he really didn't have a chance). Luckily for Tom this time there's no time trialist as strong as Spilak or Thomas, but only three Pinots (with especially Majka being a somewhat improved version of Pinot). On the other hand the race doesn't end with the ITT but there are still three stages after that. So even if he takes the lead it still won't be easy to keep the jersey because of his weak team.

I can't see a repetition of 1985. If one of climbers attacks the others will follow and the climbs are not hard enough to crack Dumoulin.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

The situation before the TT is similar to the GC before the TT in Tour de Suisse. 4 riders with a realistic chance to take the win. The worst time trialist is in the lead with the best TT rider being in 4th (in Suisse there was Pozzovivo in 4th place but he really didn't have a chance). Luckily for Tom this time there's no time trialist as strong as Spilak or Thomas, but only three Pinots (with especially Majka being a somewhat improved version of Pinot). On the other hand the race doesn't end with the ITT but there are still three stages after that. So even if he takes the lead it still won't be easy to keep the jersey because of his weak team.

"Somewhat" agree, except the Majka>Pinot opinion. Having said that, what happened at the TdS may happen again: climbers defend against other climbers by not attacking early (i.e. in Solden, Pinot/Pozzo waiting to attack and not destroying Spilak/Dumoulin/Gerrans), then the ITT specialists limit their losses and stay in the picture. Dumoulin is still very much alive. He shouldn't be.

 

[WheelofGear]

You can't compare this TT to the one in Suisse.

The Suisse TT was very hilly, this one isn't.

 

[BigMac]

Re:

No worries BigMac, apologies.

Cheers, have no worries too.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Which means Dumoulin would normally win more time. The question is how fresh he is after riding for GC 2,5 weeks

 

[johnymax]

Re: Re:

And as so often, we have lots of people complaining why the riders didn't sacrifice their objectives to entertain the masses and/or lots of aspiring directeur sportifs who know much better than the riders and teams how to ride the bike.

They are being paid to entertain

No, they are being paid to achieve the best possible result they can get.

Correct. But sport exists because of fans. If there were no fans there's no point in sponsorships in sport. Therefore athletes compete to entertain fans. They can entertain by winning or by using other ways.

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

Which means Dumoulin would normally win more time. The question is how fresh he is after riding for GC 2,5 weeks

OTOH, Dumoulin said he is best at hilly time trials, not flat ones.

 

[jmdirt]

Re: Re:

Hoping not to be overly simplistic I'd say some of the negative opinions offered here might give an indication of why doping is prevalent in sport, the fans exerting pressure and wanting more and more. Majka looked like a ghost after that Stage, the riders are clearly suffering and I think it's a fascinating race. Blaming personal dissatisfaction on riders being overly tired is just unreasonable, that is part of the game for me. They should be tired in September no matter what their program and it's making for an unpredictable and pretty thrilling finale, I'll take that to someone five minutes ahead and just Stage wins to look forward to with a few days left still. Watching Frank alone today was a huge thrill, I thought it was captivating.

Feel free to open a topic in the Clinic about this, it's an interesting point. But please no discussion here. The first part I mean.

While I know why you "warned" the content of this post, it is the best point made so far about how the race is unfolding. The fans who are complaining want superhuman efforts day in and day out, all year long, but that isn't possible without...let's just say that you can't have it both ways.