2015 Vuelta stage 18: Roa > Riaza 204km

[ice&fire]

Re:

Grr, stop Astana, just stop! Ruining the break for nothing.

You can't deny you are being excited

 

[No_Balls]

Astana seems to be pretty sure that Aru can win.

Well, they have to try.

 

[The Principal Sheep]

Re:

Thats also interesting to see what Giant does to support Dumoulin in the future, they surely must try to acquire some decent folks?

Might be planning a Sky like transformation for some of their other riders for support

 

[vedrafjord]

Re: Re:

Honest question.

Why do you watch the British ES commentary? Ive heard the portugese one can be terrible but I can't believe it could be worse than Kirby.

I find that for cycling, it's worth it to watch in a language you understand to get updates on stuff that's happening off camera or that happened earlier in the stage and you may have missed. It's harder than some other sports to follow everything on mute.

I'm watching the Vuelta (and the Tour before that) in Irish on TG4 because I'm in work and it's the only legit link that's not geoblocked (all the dodgy streaming sites are blocked). Their commentary on the Tour was pretty good, it was both knowledgeable and pretty irreverant (they touched on Clinic issues a bunch of times for example which I don't think they'd get away with if they were speaking English and had a big audience). For the Vuelta, they replaced one of the two commentators with a new woman who's a bit dry and serious, but she's been getting better as the race goes on.

I have no problem though watching say, soccer, in languages I don't understand.

 

[Iker_Baqueiro]

Any chance TD attacks from descent to finish line? It's not that long

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

Any chance TD attacks from descent to finish line? It's not that long

He probably should.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Thats also interesting to see what Giant does to support Dumoulin in the future, they surely must try to acquire some decent folks?

Might be planning a Sky like transformation for some of their other riders for support

Degenkolb doing the Thomas role in the TdF next year?

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Any chance TD attacks from descent to finish line? It's not that long

Can't see it if there are still 3 or 4 Astana riders there. As good as a time trialist he is, he surely couldn't hold off four guys working together to reel him in. It would even leave him vulnerable to a counter attack.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Any chance TD attacks from descent to finish line? It's not that long

I think its possible. 3 seconds are nothing (Astana could surprise Tom on an intermediate sprint and the advantage would already be gone) so I think it would be clever to try to gain a few more seconds.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re: Re:

Any chance TD attacks from descent to finish line? It's not that long

I think its possible. 3 seconds are nothing (Astana could surprise Tom on an intermediate sprint and the advantage would already be gone) so I think it would be clever to try to gain a few more seconds.

I think Aru and TD will take anything they can get on the other one from here till Madrid.

 

[Gigs_98]

One question. All the commentators say that dumoulins biggest strength (besides his TT skills) are flat mountains. But isn't he normally at his best on steep finishes like on stage 9? It wouldnt be anything new that commentators talk nonsense, but I just wondered.

 

[BigMac]

One question. All the commentators say that dumoulins biggest strength (besides his TT skills) are flat mountains. But isn't he normally at his best on steep finishes like on stage 9? It wouldnt be anything new that commentators talk nonsense, but I just wondered.

Well, until this year his best performance on the high mountains had been on Saas-Fee, which is a long-soft climb - a flat mountain if you will. That mountain on stage 9 was very low altitude and more of a hill. He's been there too, but maybe the commentators were focusing on the bigger stuff.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Haimar has attacked!!!

 

[sir fly]

Really nice cycling ground.
A little bit deserted, but rich in cycling offer, nevertheless.

 

[TomLPC]

O wow Fabio attacks

 

[No_Balls]

Re:

Aru!

 

[Gigs_98]

Wow Dumoulin looks good

 

[Rollthedice]

Ha, ha. Dumoulin no problem.

 

[sir fly]

This is really early.
Aru will blow up again.

 

[No_Balls]

Lol Tommy D covers it like a boss.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Dumoulin will drop everyone today.

 

[TomLPC]

They can't follow Tom

 

[snccdcno]

Attack him back Tommy.

 

[SeriousSam]

You can't drop Big Tom.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

This is really early.
Aru will blow up again.

Dumoulin has changed tactic though; he's trying to match the accelerations rather than going at his own pace. That could cost him later.