2016 Vuelta a España, stage 10: Lugones > Lagos de Covadonga

[veji11]

Re: Re:

I have really, really enjoyed Contador's career. He has given so much to cycling and been the main player in some epic races.

But I must admit that a small part of me is actually welcoming his demise, as I am sick to the teeth of the hype I read on here about him

To appreciate a champion we need to see his demise too : Coppi, Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, Indurain.. they gave us the demise too, the failing. One of the reason Armstrong was so hated, beyond clinic related ones, was because he robbed the fans of his demise. he won 7 Tours than said "ciao suckers".. this is not how it goes in cycling, just like in boxing, the hero has to be defeated, has to pass the baton to the next guy. I like Contador's demise. I hated pre 2010 Contador, I can't but admire 2011-onwards Contador....

I agree with this.

It is just the demise might be a bit more palatable without having to read endless posts about how he is going to smoke very race he enters, how unlucky he has been, etc.

I have no problem with some of the more balanced posters thinking he was going to win. It was a valid opinion. But the more stridents posts just make the posters look weird.

It was like the Porte thing in the Tour. I could understand people saying he wouldn't ride well for 3 weeks (although I disagreed). It was just the guys who posted along the lines of: "I hate Porte, he has a low IQ, he has no chance of finishing a GT in the top 10".

Some Contador fans seem to post along the lines of "I hate Sky and Froome and Movistar and Alberto is going to school them".

Anyway, Alberto is a great champion. He actually rode like a champion today. He tried to go for the jugular, but failed. I admire that immensely. But he looks to be declining.

Let fanboys and girls do their thing....

 

[hfer07]

Re: Re:

Second colombian to win this stage, the other colombian (Herrera) won La Vuelta...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkM53ziSQ7A

Nairito said he had set his eyes on that stage to pay homage to Luchito

 

[Pantani_lives]

If Froome loses the Vuelta by one second it will be because of Gesink's sprint today.

I feel gutted for Gesink - born unlucky. At the same time I think it was a fantastic win by Quintana. This was the best MTF in a long time!

 

[Homo Helveticus]

Third in the Tour and first in the Vuelta. Not bad for someone, who in the Tour was sick. Quintana said it was God, who kept him in the Tour.

 

[veji11]

Re:

Third in the Tour and first in the Vuelta. Not bad for someone, who in the Tour was sick. Quintana said it was God, who kept him in the Tour.

sick, sick... it's an easy word to use for athletes when they don't perform as well as as expected : Nibali was sick on the Giro, Quintana was sick in the Tour...

 

[Põhja Konn]

Re: Re:

No way Quintana will lose only a minute at that TT. It could be more like 3 minutes. I'd say Froome is still the favorite for vuelta.

No

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Tour_de_France_2016_Stage_13_ITT

Its the same distance although TDF stage was hillier. So Froome could take even more time.

You seem to forget that Quintana was quite clearly below his best at the Tour, while Froome was peaking. Still it was only two minutes between them at the end. Also, there were very strong winds during the Tour ITT, skewing things even more in Froome's favour.

So, unless Quintana has completely lost his legs by the time we reach the TT, your 3 minutes looks more like a wishful thinking rather than a realistic prediction.

 

[huangho]

Re: Re:

Second colombian to win this stage, the other colombian (Herrera) won La Vuelta...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkM53ziSQ7A

Third Colombian. Oliverio Rincón won in 1993.

Yep, you are right... Third colombian!

 

[Scarponi]

Re:

Kreuziger sticking the boot in:

Roman Kreuziger ‏@Roman86_K
What for a inteligent ride from @chrisfroome ,hat off,not everyone knows his limits

It seems like no love lost there. Not surprisingly after the way Contador treated his team at the Tour.

God Krueziger is a low human. He has made a career out of falling out the GC group I guess though. Bitter as

 

[Homo Helveticus]

Re: Re:

Third in the Tour and first in the Vuelta. Not bad for someone, who in the Tour was sick. Quintana said it was God, who kept him in the Tour.

sick, sick... it's an easy word to use for athletes when they don't perform as well as as expected : Nibali was sick on the Giro, Quintana was sick in the Tour...

They ride bikes six hours a day, cut them some stack.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

No way Quintana will lose only a minute at that TT. It could be more like 3 minutes. I'd say Froome is still the favorite for vuelta.

No

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Tour_de_France_2016_Stage_13_ITT

Its the same distance although TDF stage was hillier. So Froome could take even more time.

-The wind favored Froome
-Quintana was in worse shape
-Froome was in better shape
-He didn't even almost lose 3 minutes in that stage so whats the point of the link anyway.

 

[hfer07]

Re:

Kreuziger sticking the boot in:

Roman Kreuziger ‏@Roman86_K
What for a inteligent ride from @chrisfroome ,hat off,not everyone knows his limits

It seems like no love lost there. Not surprisingly after the way Contador treated his team at the Tour.

damn - I knew Kreuziger & Contador weren't best friends, but being teammates implies certain prudence when making public statements- it's like Roman is calling him out

 

[barmaher]

If you were to twist my arm for a number, I would say 62 seconds will be the gap from Froome to Quintana in the ITT.

 

[Alexandre B.]

What annoys me more is that, once again, Movistar - Sky - Tinkoff - Astana are dominating, even with B/C-riders like Scarponi.

 

[Guybrush]

Re:

Join us wednesday for an Asturian stage from the Chris Horner Memorial Exhibit to the summit of Peña Cabarga, place of Froome's birth

disagree, watch again La Cobatilla stage, his first big performance

 

[veji11]

Re:

What annoys me more is that, once again, Movistar - Sky - Tinkoff - Astana are dominating, even with B/C-riders like Scarponi.

Because at the Vuelta you only have B/C leaders that come after having had issues earlier in the season or having done the Giro instead of the Tour (ie this already means you are a B rider not an A)... And whether everybody brings their A leader or B/C, Movistar, Sky, Tinkoff, Astana still have more money than others, and money talks.

 

[klintE]

Re:

No way Quintana will lose only a minute at that TT. It could be more like 3 minutes. I'd say Froome is still the favorite for vuelta.

2 serious uphills for now, and Froome 2 times was beaten by Nairo. Hand in hand.
And in a moment even more difficult stages will come .
So if there is no improvement in Froomey's shape, even this doubtful 3 minutes in ITT may be not enough.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Movistar is doing a Sky and Froome is doing a Movistar. Watch out for Froome in 3rd week when Quintana will be weak

 

[carton]

Looking at this from a different angle, today was in way vindication for those who thought that Contador could've made a real impact at the Tour. Not in 2016, since a less-than-stellar Quintana meant that Froome had it in the bag barring catastrophe. But in a hypothetical "Tour", maybe even next year. With everyone going for it, had he not stubbornly sat on Quintana's wheel and burnt himself into toast, Nairo would have just TTed those last 5km and Froome would've quite likely lost at least a bit more time. So Contador did affect proceedings to some extent, possibly quite a bit.

 

[Bolder]

Re: Re:

Its not yo yo at all. He is riding to a set power limit to time he run into the line.

I'm pretty sure you're right. And if he's doing that on a single stage, he may also be doing it for the whole GT. I.e., trying to pace himself so that he remains strong in the third week. He's not really racing the others, he's trying to minimize his total time.

But at some point, Quintana's lead may reach the point where Froome feels he has to try to follow him on a stage, even at the risk of not conserving as much energy for following stages as planned. How much more time can he give him and make it up in the ITT? One minute?

I think Froome is below his TdF level, and knows it; whereas Quintana may or may not be -- it's just that Froome is weaker. If CF had the legs he would have ridden away on any one of the MTFs, especially ahead of a rest day. I suspect he feeling pretty good to be just a minute behind Nairo with the ITT ahead. I'm guessing he's going to test him on Wednesday, and then there's the Aubisque...

 

[PremierAndrew]

Very refreshing to see the GC contenders going mano a mano instead of sitting behind their teammates until the last km

 

[jsem94]

Great stage today. Nairo is the man to beat clearly, but Froome's yoyo pacing technique was insane... I thought he was a goner, but man was he strong.

 

[JRanton]

Re:

I wonder how much truth there is in the rumours that Froome is basically using this race as the first training block of next season, and a win or podium is a bonus. He's never shown any evidence so far in his career that he can sustain a peak across multiple consecutive GTs. He faded badly in the Vuelta back in 2012, after a Tour that wasn't nearly as hard as this year's one.

From what I understand Froome did quite a lot of training between the Tour and the Vuelta (as well as the Olympics obviously) in 2012 so that probably didn't help. Maybe he did quite a bit less training after and perhaps even before the Olympics prior to this Vuelta. David Lopez said after today's stage that Froome has been feeling better every day in this Vuelta so perhaps there's still some chance he can do something in the remainder of the race.

I know Froome was quite confident he would have won last year's Vuelta if he hadn't crashed out. On the day he crashed out he said he felt great and that's why he had his team on the front despite the crash.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Kreuziger sticking the boot in:

Roman Kreuziger ‏@Roman86_K
What for a inteligent ride from @chrisfroome ,hat off,not everyone knows his limits

It seems like no love lost there. Not surprisingly after the way Contador treated his team at the Tour.

Sorry? Don't you mean the way Contador's team treated him?

Kreuziger showing what a pathetic piece of garbage he is. May he never win a race again.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Kreuziger sticking the boot in:

Roman Kreuziger ‏@Roman86_K
What for a inteligent ride from @chrisfroome ,hat off,not everyone knows his limits

It seems like no love lost there. Not surprisingly after the way Contador treated his team at the Tour.

damn - I knew Kreuziger & Contador weren't best friends, but being teammates implies certain prudence when making public statements- it's like Roman is calling him out

Of course he is. He is quite clearly having a dig at Alberto. Really sad.

 

[Tank Engine]

Re:

... had he (Contador) not stubbornly sat on Quintana's wheel and burnt himself into toast, Nairo would have just TTed those last 5km and Froome would've quite likely lost at least a bit more time. So Contador did affect proceedings to some extent, possibly quite a bit.

Exactly what I was thinking. If Bertie hadn't matched that initial attack by Quintana, it would have been time trial mode and Nairo would have almost definitely gained more time. Instead, Nairo raced against Bertie and in doing so allowed the Preying Mantis to creep back up. Having said that, it was a very well measured ride from Froome. However, Nairo is looking very strong now. In the following stages, he can allow Bertie along for a ride, the important thing is to put time into the Alien. I would say he needs another minute before the time trial to feel comfortable.

It was a great final climb. Gesink was so close. Felline is another guy who knows how to pace himself. He's good at pretty much everything, so it will be interesting to see how he continues to evolve.