2015 Vuelta stage 20: San Lorenzo de El Escorial>Cercedilla

[Flamin]

Astana perfectly executed the 'destroy Dumoulin'-mission, as I anticipated in the OP. Send riders up the road on the first climb, Aru attack on Morcuera, then link up with them on the descent/flat. Brilliant. Grande Fabio _O_

Feeling gutted for Dumoulin though

 

[Bumeington]

Re: 2015 Vuelta stage 20: San Lorenzo de El Escorial>Cercedi

Controversial opinion: Aru won it in the wind tunnel.

 

[Flamin]

Re:

Drinks on me b*itches!

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29920&p=1795790#p1795790

Same here

 

[Jagartrott]

Astana showed how it's done.
If you're Giant, and you see Astana getting riders in the break, you always HAVE to have riders with that break too.

It wouldn't have saved Tom's first place, but now this was just painful to watch, him having to do 40 km on his own, seeing everything slip away from him. Unacceptable really.

 

[WheelofGear]

Re: Re:

Majka is a grand wheelsucker. But a damn smart one. He always makes the right moves.

not

If Majka worked with Quintana a lot earlier, he would have a 2nd place at a GT on his palmares

No, he would have been dropped by Quintana, and finished 4th

Yep. Majka needs a nickname. I think he should go under the "The Coachman" on this forum.

While Gerrans is just sitting in the peloton, Majka is using fresh stallions as well as worn-out mules (both from other teams!) to his advantage. He is able to make everyone a domestique against their will.

Majka would even be able to domesticate the great Unaballer.

The Coachman, not the strongest, not the bravest but always in control of you.™

 

[doperhopper]

Re:

Valverde out of the top 10?

now imagine fresh Bala, skipping Le Tour... but that's his strategy, ride everything, classics, GTs, Worlds (?) - remember, he was 3rd in SanSeb, just between Tour and Vuelta

 

[Descender]

Re: Re:

I want Aru to win since I put money on him before the race, but again, I just think he ran out of real climbs to drop Domoulin.

Really? I'm sure you would of designed much better route, am I right?

Yes.

I also know how to spell.

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

Drinks on me b*itches!

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29920&p=1795790#p1795790

Same here

Grats to you both.

 

[Deschain81]

True that Majka is riding quite defensively when he is a team leader for GT (he rode last year's Giro same way), but it is all in his head. After last year's wins in TdF and TdP he said, that he is much more confident and he is not afraid of attacking anymore, becasue he knows that if his legs hurts, guys who are behind/with him suffer as well. But it changed again after stage 9, when he tried to attacked but was overtaken by Froome and JRod, he tried to keep up with them and blew himself up. After that stage he again started to ride very defensively unwilling to take any risk. He already proved that he can keep up pretty much any tempo uphill, he just needs to convince himself now to take more risk and he will be a long term top GT rider.

 

[fungusbear]

Amazing racing- congrats to Aru on winning his first GT and Plaza on a magnificent stage win. If I am right about Nibali'sschedule, then I look forward to seeing Aru riding the Tour against a top shape Contador, Froome and Quintana. Also well done to Domoulin, he may have lost out on a win (and a podium for that matter) but he hasproven that he is a classy rider and has shown he has the potential to ride GC.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re:

Amazing racing- congrats to Aru on winning his first GT and Plaza on a magnificent stage win. If I am right about Nibali'sschedule, then I look forward to seeing Aru riding the Tour against a top shape Contador, Froome and Quintana. Also well done to Domoulin, he may have lost out on a win (and a podium for that matter) but he hasproven that he is a classy rider and has shown he has the potential to ride GC.

Would be a shame to not have Nibs in the Tour, but it'll be very interesting to see how Aru does against the big guns when they're rested.

 

[Pippo_San]

Re: 2015 Vuelta stage 20: San Lorenzo de El Escorial>Cercedi

Controversial opinion: Aru won it in the wind tunnel.

Not so controversial, and to a certain extent it's something we can all agree to.
Yet he won it by being constant. He was always in the mix, always up there with the best in every situation.
And he won, sort of a Sastre kind of win? Like when you're not the absolute best anywhere, but you're still the second or third best everywhere.

 

[StannisBaratheon]

Re: Re:

Amazing racing- congrats to Aru on winning his first GT and Plaza on a magnificent stage win. If I am right about Nibali'sschedule, then I look forward to seeing Aru riding the Tour against a top shape Contador, Froome and Quintana. Also well done to Domoulin, he may have lost out on a win (and a podium for that matter) but he hasproven that he is a classy rider and has shown he has the potential to ride GC.

Would be a shame to not have Nibs in the Tour, but it'll be very interesting to see how Aru does against the big guns when they're rested.

He has no chance, he barely won against Dumoulin. Froome, Contador, Nibali and Quintana in top shape are from another league. In 3 or 4 years he might have a chance in le Tour.

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

I want Aru to win since I put money on him before the race, but again, I just think he ran out of real climbs to drop Domoulin.

Really? I'm sure you would of designed much better route, am I right?

Yes.

I also know how to spell.

I never doubted

 

[Vesica]

Re: 2015 Vuelta stage 20: San Lorenzo de El Escorial>Cercedi

Astana - Dumoulin 1-0
Aru - Dumoulin 0-1

 

[DFA123]

Re: 2015 Vuelta stage 20: San Lorenzo de El Escorial>Cercedi

Astana - Dumoulin 1-0
Aru - Dumoulin 0-1

I don't really understand what you're trying to say. Aru put time into Dumoulin on every single proper mountain stage with multiple climbs. Dumoulin put in significant time on Aru in the time trial and took some time in earlier stages when he was seen as just a stage hunter.

Basically what you would have expected. Aru's just won the Vuelta though - he certainly hasn't lost to anyone.

 

[Vesica]

Aru will win this Vuelta because of his Astana team, with any other team he wouldn't win I believe.

 

[Poursuivant]

Re: Re:

Valverde out of the top 10?

now imagine fresh Bala, skipping Le Tour... but that's his strategy, ride everything, classics, GTs, Worlds (?) - remember, he was 3rd in SanSeb, just between Tour and Vuelta

Next year he should do Giro - Vuelta

 

[saganist]

Re: 2015 Vuelta stage 20: San Lorenzo de El Escorial>Cercedi

Any footage of Aru's attack? (the one we have not seen on ES)

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Aru will win this Vuelta because of his Astana team, with any other team he wouldn't win I believe.

I don't think you can seperate the leader from the team like that. I don't think Dumoulin would have won anyway if he was riding with Astana; he just couldn't stay with the best climbers on the multiple mountain stages.

 

[huge]

Re:

Aru will win this Vuelta because of his Astana team, with any other team he wouldn't win I believe.

That's exactly why you need a good team to win a GT.
But you also need very good legs, or whatever team you've got, it won't matter.

Good team, good legs, good race strategy, good mental strength. Without any of these four ingredients, it's very very difficult to win a 3 weeks race.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Aru will win this Vuelta because of his Astana team, with any other team he wouldn't win I believe.

"Estas respirando por la herida"
That is one silly comment. You need a good leader and a good team as well. We all know that.

 

[huge]

Re: Re:

He has no chance, he barely won against Dumoulin. Froome, Contador, Nibali and Quintana in top shape are from another league. In 3 or 4 years he might have a chance in le Tour.

I woudn't be so sure.
Look at the impressive improvement he's had since last year.
I think in one year time from now he might well be a seriuos contender for Le Tour. Certainly not the outright favourite, but definitely in the mix... and in 2 years time...

 

[Dazed and Confused]

The Astana team strength ruined what appeared to be a marvelous day of bike racing.

 

[Vesica]

Re: Re:

Aru will win this Vuelta because of his Astana team, with any other team he wouldn't win I believe.

"Estas respirando por la herida"
That is one silly comment. You need a good leader and a good team as well. We all know that.

Yes true, I also know. I never said Aru isn't a good leader. He is and also a very good rider. I didn't say he is not.

Still I believe that when Aru had have the Tinkoff or Katyusha team for example, he would not have won. So hats of for the Astana squad and their tactics.