2015 Vuelta stage 9: Torrevieja > Cumbre del Sol 168.3km

[bigcog]

Re: Re:

This is shaping up to be a really great race. Honestly have no idea who's going to win the overall. I guess stage 11 will probably clear that up though.

I'm thinking it'll be one of:

Tom D
Quintana
Froome

Outside shot for Valverde or Jrod.

If they hold their current form between Tom D and Froome, with the ITT.

 

[Red Rick]

Froome by far rode the smartest race today. By the time he first attacked, almost everyone had attacked/reacted a couple of times already and gone way in the red with that, whilst he just rode a steady pace and launched his final attacks about 100m too soon

Dumoulin really looked the strongest today

 

[Taxus4a]

All the inuendo about clinic stuff really bores me. its the same every race

The people that one day say one thing another say the contrary.

The pity is for that who cant enjoy this era of cycling, maybe will do in the future, as I enjoyed a lot the past era and now I dont want to see anything about that times.

Today the stage was very good, 4 km cant do more. Of course is not a big stage, nothing is epic, of course, but was a day to enjoy, and some people just dont want to enjoy this sport. Period.

About the stage today the wind in the flat seaside did the stage not so good for climbers.

It is a pity Quintana is young and it i his first time to double Tour-Vuelta, becouse we miss that way the duel between this 2 big champions.

 

[jsem94]

OMFG. Just finished watching this on Eurosport Player.

This guy Dumoulin, beating the best in an UPHILL SPRINT? HAhahha.

This finale was extremely exciting. Froome played it well, not letting the explosive riders dictate his pace in the beginning of the climb.

Now, I will consider Tom D one of the favorites for the entire race considering the ITT. And Froome who lost a bit of time earlier I thought was cooked, but turns out he is not in that terrible of a shape after all.

 

[del1962]

Re: Re:

This is shaping up to be a really great race. Honestly have no idea who's going to win the overall. I guess stage 11 will probably clear that up though.

I'm thinking it'll be one of:

Tom D
Quintana
Froome

Outside shot for Valverde or Jrod.

wouldn't rule out Aru, Majka or Pozzovivo either,

 

[jsem94]

I can't stop laughing, I mean wtf? Vuelta: BS parcours but always a great surprise hidden in there.

From Chris Horner sprinting up mountains, Sky f-ing up a 1-2 and letting Cobo take a Vuelta, Velits taking a podium spot, Anton's surreal crash in the leader's jersey. And that's just the past 5 years or so of madness.

 

[Son of Amsterhammer]

Re: Re:

This is shaping up to be a really great race. Honestly have no idea who's going to win the overall. I guess stage 11 will probably clear that up though.

I'm thinking it'll be one of:

Tom D
Quintana
Froome

Outside shot for Valverde or Jrod.

wouldn't rule out Aru, Majka or Pozzovivo either,

Maybe Aru...can't see it for the other two.

 

[bigcog]

Re:

I can't stop laughing, I mean wtf? Vuelta: BS parcours but always a great surprise hidden in there.

From Chris Horner sprinting up mountains, Sky f-ing up a 1-2 and letting Cobo take a Vuelta, Velits taking a podium spot, Anton's surreal crash in the leader's jersey. And that's just the past 5 years or so of madness.

I love it, usually more exciting than the TDF and on a par with Giro.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Looking at the provisional timings, Quintana has been given the same time as Valverde, even though Valverde was clearly about 8 seconds behind Quintana...

Aru also 16 seconds down when it looked like 14 to me

 

[Põhja Konn]

Well, Vuelta never disappoints!

Since his transformation Froome has been consistently good on very steep medium-lenght climbs even when not in top form. His ridiculous-looking style seems to be quite effective on them. Still remains to be seen whether it was just a very good day on a climb that suits him well or is he building up some form. I don't believe its possible to build up a new peak so soon after peaking for the Tour, but wouldn't be the first time I'm wrong.

Quintana seems to be on a plateau, neither visibly improving nor declining. Murito-style ramps have never been his strenght, wednesday will say much more about his chances in this Vuelta.

Those who did the Giro look weaker than expected, but should have more room for improvement compared to those coming from the Tour. Although Vuelta not being backloaded lessens the possible advantage from that considerably.

Dumoulin going stronger than anybody expected, but I'll wait for wednesday before calling him a contender.

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

bye bye froome, ridiculous that he rode this race doing criteriums prior to it....

What? It's still *** that he did that knowing what he's doing right now, what's your point genius?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

This was really entertaining.
Lets see how long will Tom hold on.
I'm sure he fancies his chances now with that time trial.

No he doesn't. Also the Andorra stage with 6 climbs is enough to drop him out of GC contention.

But what the heck. Does it matter? He just won an epic stage and has a few days leader jersey for sure now. It's epic. When is the last time a Dutch rider won a mountain finish in a GT, by being the absolute best (so not an escape like weening, lindeman or boogerd)?? It's crazy. And then from Dumoulin of all of the dutch riders.


I'm absolutely flabbergasted that he can win against Froome, Rodriguez, Quintana, Aru, Majka etc on such a finish. There seems to be nothing he cannot do. Only long climbs maybe not.

 

[classicomano]

Valverde put in the same time as Quintana, HAHAHAH! Never a dull moment.

 

[postmanhat]

Re:

I can't stop laughing, I mean wtf? Vuelta: BS parcours but always a great surprise hidden in there.

From Chris Horner sprinting up mountains, Sky f-ing up a 1-2 and letting Cobo take a Vuelta, Velits taking a podium spot, Anton's surreal crash in the leader's jersey. And that's just the past 5 years or so of madness.

It's a joke of a race, albeit a very entertaining one

Just so glad Rodriguez didn't win today. Didn't put his nose in the wind till 250 to go

 

[BigMac]

Tom!

Froome pulled his elactic thingy.

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

So Giant-Alpecin, this sprinter's team, wins already a second GT MTF this year.

Ssshhhtt! This isn't possible according to LS. Can't be!

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Valverde put in the same time as Quintana, HAHAHAH! Never a dull moment.

I can't believe it. Might as well bring back Nibali.

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

Thank You Tom!!!! Great ride

Poor Chaves

Froome makes me want to puke......

Well I've kind of learned to love the guy. I guess I will never be his fan, but crazy and great performance by him.
It's just plain impossible to tell if he's good or bad.

 

[Põhja Konn]

Re:

Wow people happy Froome lost after that perfomance.

Getting greedy, do we! Leaving everything else aside, the way he completely ignored the flow of the race early on the climb only to come back later and sprint past everybody on the steep ramps in the last km, is the textbook example of powermeter-based racing, which has even more haters here than Froome and Sky themselves.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Re:

That was hands down the most awesome 4 km of the year.

And some guys, inclusive me, turned in at the right time, 4 kms from the finish...
Condolences to those who suffered trou the rest of the stage.

Well this was the 3rd stage I missed of the Vuelta. The first I missed Dumoulin took red, the 2nd stage I missed Lindeman won and today... well f*ck me I guess.
The last 2 stages I would've been standing shouting at the tele with a heartbeat of 200 if I had seen it live. Now I knew the results before watching and I still got an raised heartbeat.
I'm so happy Dumoulin won this crazy 4km final which was just absurd so good. I'm so bummed that I didn't see it live though......

 

[Arredondo]

Re: Re:

I can't stop laughing, I mean wtf? Vuelta: BS parcours but always a great surprise hidden in there.

From Chris Horner sprinting up mountains, Sky f-ing up a 1-2 and letting Cobo take a Vuelta, Velits taking a podium spot, Anton's surreal crash in the leader's jersey. And that's just the past 5 years or so of madness.

It's a joke of a race, albeit a very entertaining one

Just so glad Rodriguez didn't win today. Didn't put his nose in the wind till 250 to go

That's called specialism. Imagine Cav would start to sprint with 600 meters to go.

 

[sir fly]

Re: Re:

This was really entertaining.
Lets see how long will Tom hold on.
I'm sure he fancies his chances now with that time trial.

No he doesn't. Also the Andorra stage with 6 climbs is enough to drop him out of GC contention.

But what the heck. Does it matter? He just won an epic stage and has a few days leader jersey for sure now. It's epic. When is the last time a Dutch rider won a mountain finish in a GT, by being the absolute best (so not an escape like weening, lindeman or boogerd)?? It's crazy. And then from Dumoulin of all of the dutch riders.


I'm absolutely flabbergasted that he can win against Froome, Rodriguez, Quintana, Aru, Majka etc on such a finish. There seems to be nothing he cannot do. Only long climbs maybe not.

Overall victory probably is a tall order, you're right, but he'll put minutes in climbers in the itt, so why not dream big?
I really can see him fighting for the top 10 from where he's now.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Re:

Wow people happy Froome lost after that perfomance.

Getting greedy, do we! Leaving everything else aside, the way he completely ignored the flow of the race early on the climb only to come back later and sprint past everybody on the steep ramps in the last km, is the textbook example of powermeter-based racing, which has even more haters here than Froome and Sky themselves.

Nothing can possibly have more haters than Froome and Sky on this forum

 

[yespatterns]

Re:

Valverde put in the same time as Quintana, HAHAHAH! Never a dull moment.

::facepalm::

 

[Bushman]

Quintana and Purito will beat Dumoulin in the tt to complete the cycle