2015 Vuelta stage 4: Estepona > Vejer de la Frontera 209.6km

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Re: Re:

T-Nielsen said:
vedrafjord said:
Maybe I'm imagining it because he's done it before, but did Roche knacker himself out churning a way too big gear?

Roche knackers himself in most races where he goes for the win.

Can't you just cut the guy some slack ...he is riding better than alot of the so called 'brilliant ' riders on here . He gives his all and attacks, which makes for great racing . And he is in great form

But on here there is so much rubbish said about so called contenders . No mention of how well Roche is going
 
Jul 7, 2012
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Re: Re:

HelloDolly said:
T-Nielsen said:
vedrafjord said:
Maybe I'm imagining it because he's done it before, but did Roche knacker himself out churning a way too big gear?

Roche knackers himself in most races where he goes for the win.

Can't you just cut the guy some slack ...he is riding better than alot of the so called 'brilliant ' riders on here . He gives his all and attacks, which makes for great racing . And he is in great form

But on here there is so much rubbish said about so called contenders . No mention of how well Roche is going

I don't think he knows about the small chainring!! One can only assume that sky have done the tests and he goes better in a big gear but it seems v strange. I remember last year in the tour of Britain he churned up the to the summit finish in the big ring and the comms thought it strange then
 
Mar 31, 2010
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fungusbear said:
Valverde now ahead of Quintana and all the GC contenders. Nairo will surely be playing 2nd fiddle now (unless Bala loses form like crazy)
lol what did you think after punchy finishes? quintana anywhere being near 1 minute from valverde after week 1 would be a miracle and he will be kept as protected rider
 
Mar 31, 2010
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Re: 2015 Vuelta stage 4: Estepona > Vejer de la Frontera 209

JRanton said:
Does anyone know Dumoulin's current weight? He could be this year's Vuelta surprise if he's managed to lose a couple of kilos.
he is around 72 kg like always. he said many times in interviews he's not interested in losing weight as he wants to keep his timetrial at the max.
 
Mar 13, 2015
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Re: Re:

Carols said:
willbick said:
I think Valverde is defo the Movistar no.1 rider for the Vuelta, this is his home race after all. Quintana was no.1 at the tour and now Valv gets to be no.1 at Vuelta. Obviously if Valverde doesnt perform for whatever reason and falls behind on GC then they will support Quintana if he's still in a decent position. I think Valverde will win the vuelta actually, all being well.

Boy I'd like to believe that!! But the one and only GT he won was in 2009 and there was not the depth of opponents that are participating in this race.

Still pretty decent field back then, Evans, Basso, Sanchez, much better version of Gesink...
 
Sep 7, 2011
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So Dan Martin had 2 wheel changes in the last 25k and then crashed with 3k to go. Why am I not surprised......
 
Aug 3, 2015
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Re: Re:

Mr.White said:
Carols said:
willbick said:
I think Valverde is defo the Movistar no.1 rider for the Vuelta, this is his home race after all. Quintana was no.1 at the tour and now Valv gets to be no.1 at Vuelta. Obviously if Valverde doesnt perform for whatever reason and falls behind on GC then they will support Quintana if he's still in a decent position. I think Valverde will win the vuelta actually, all being well.

Boy I'd like to believe that!! But the one and only GT he won was in 2009 and there was not the depth of opponents that are participating in this race.

Still pretty decent field back then, Evans, Basso, Sanchez, much better version of Gesink...

Yup, it was decent, but not much more than that. Gesink was really good back then, but not GT-winning material and same can be said about Basso in that comeback season. Both diesels, but not threatening. Sanchez and Evans were damn good around that time, tho.

His generation's and current best bike rider. No doubt for me. Take this home, Valva! Imagine Quintana sitting and pulling Valv in Andorra, slimming the field down to Landa and Froome and one fierce acceleration, and Bala is gone! Still, that's a little wishful, but I would be somewhat surprised if he didnt manage to podium. The guy is just THAT freakin good. (fanboy off)
 
I must say Valverde is looking very strong as per usual in the Vuelta
Biggest threat is still Froome. He is better on the longer climbs than Valverde
However Quintana who takes his time to warm up in GTs is still the only real viable alternative to Froome

Valverde has one big advantage over Quintana & Froome at this point of the year ...he is more robust than both ..he can last longer, stay healthier and use his stamina. I think that maybe the deciding factor yet
 
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Sagan: We will see how I recover for tomorrow, maybe invoice is coming. Are there any sprinters that saved themselves today?
 
Apr 16, 2009
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Re: Re:

Billie said:
PunchingRouleur said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq1-BHRVXmw&feature=youtu.be&a

Not even surprised anymore, how amateurish cycling teams are in their preparation before stage. They put whole team on the front to work and does not have slightest idea what a finish looks like.

More like the official roadbook being complete rubbish

These are the last ten entries in the route description in the roadbook:

Code:
alti  to go  details
  10  4,3    Cruce dcha. A-314
  10  4,2    Cruce dcha. dirección Vejer de la Frontera
 160  2,9    Vejer de la Frontera. Estrechamiento y giro de 180º
 160  2,4    Giro izda. en descenso, Av. de Andalucía, 
 188  1,4    Giro dcha. Av. San Miguel
 168  0,8    Giro izda.
 143  0,6    Giro dcha.
 143  0,4    Giro izda. C/ Don Quijote
 178  0,0    Vejer de la Frontera . Meta

It's not hard to see that the hill at 4.2k to go is 1.3k with an average gradient of 11.5%, and that the finish is 400 meters at ~9%.

It's far too common that riders seem to have no idea what the finishes looks like.
 
Jul 27, 2009
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Re:

HelloDolly said:
Valverde said he googled the finish this morning using Google maps...and he is going for GC !
Maybe he meant Google streets which actually would make some sense.
 
Mar 13, 2015
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HelloDolly said:
Valverde said he googled the finish this morning using Google maps...and he is going for GC !
In fairness he probably knows the key GC stages much better than this one
 
Jun 10, 2013
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classicomano

BANNED
May 5, 2011
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Re: Re:

HelloDolly said:
classicomano said:
As evident by yesterdays stage the main GC guys (minus Dumoulin) cant be arsed in these early stages and clearly want to ease into this Vuelta. Major Tom will take full advantage of this.

So how did that turn out then ??
I was doing my best Ryo impression.
 
Aug 29, 2009
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Re: Re:

BigMac said:
Billie said:
PunchingRouleur said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq1-BHRVXmw&feature=youtu.be&a

Not even surprised anymore, how amateurish cycling teams are in their preparation before stage. They put whole team on the front to work and does not have slightest idea what a finish looks like.

More like the official roadbook being complete rubbish

Very much. No detailed profiles of the finish afaic.

well, there is this at least - both on the website and in the roadbook:

PROFILKMS.png


so there is a fairly obvious rise from under 50m altitude to >150m within one km, and everyone looking at the numbers should be able to see within 5 seconds that there's no way this is going to be a 300m climb only and then flat again.
 
Jun 10, 2013
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Fair enough.

In other news, Ben King was robbed by that spectator afterall. Took his Garmin. :eek:
 
May 23, 2009
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Re: Re:

Ryo Hazuki said:
fungusbear said:
Valverde now ahead of Quintana and all the GC contenders. Nairo will surely be playing 2nd fiddle now (unless Bala loses form like crazy)
lol what did you think after punchy finishes? quintana anywhere being near 1 minute from valverde after week 1 would be a miracle and he will be kept as protected rider
With Nibali gone, Froome and Quintana will be more worried about losing time relative to each other rather than the puncheurs going for red/stages. Quintana has the added bonus of not having to worry about time lost to Valverde as well.

They need to reserve as much as possible for the real mountains.
 
Sep 5, 2011
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Re: Re:

Billie said:
PunchingRouleur said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq1-BHRVXmw&feature=youtu.be&a

Not even surprised anymore, how amateurish cycling teams are in their preparation before stage. They put whole team on the front to work and does not have slightest idea what a finish looks like.

More like the official roadbook being complete rubbish

If diehard fans are using the internet to find more detailed information about the stage then you'd think the people being paid to do this for a living would be able to use Google. Don't the riders use technology to get precise detail of their training rides? Even casual cyclists do that.