2016 Vuelta a España, stage 19: Xàbia > Calp 37km ITT

[purcell]

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[quote="gospina
Can you imagine if this was in the 80s or 90s with more than 100km of TT? Froome would have been 5-6 minutes ahead of everyone.[/quote]

Indeed. If you were to create the perfect grand tour rider it would be something pretty close to Christopher Froome. He's one of the best we've ever seen.[/quote]

Froome is an amazing rider. We are seeing a golden era in cycling right now. Contador/Froome/Quintana all riding near their best time. Alberto is wrapping up his career, Froome is in the middle of it, Quintana still has plenty of time left. I give all these riders respect but feel Froome is one of the best ever. Add other riders in this era Tony Martin, Cancellara, Tom Boonen, Sagan, Nibali, Aru, etc. and you have a golden era. The EPO era was basically Indurain/Armstrong. The 80's was Hinault/Fignon/Lemond/Kelly/Herrera. This is my favorite group since the 80s. Don't remember the 70's, felt the 90s was not that memorable.[/quote]

A clear sign of someone who has been a cycling fan for 4 years.

Just sad.

 

[Tonton]

Re:

Interestingly, Quintana said before the ITT he expected to lose seconds to Froome, not minutes, in the ITT. May be he thought Froome has shot his bolt.

True, but a week or so ago, he said that he needed at least a three minute advantage before the final ITT. That prediction was spot on.

I didn't think that Dawg could make up as much time as he did. Impressive. Good job Bertie, although what's a podium for him, unless you're at the top of it?

Very good Vuelta.

 

[classicomano]

Samu's crash and him crying on a stretcher in this video. Heartbreaking stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOoGXfwx2qM

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Interestingly, Quintana said before the ITT he expected to lose seconds to Froome, not minutes, in the ITT. May be he thought Froome has shot his bolt.

True, but a week or so ago, he said that he needed at least a three minute advantage before the final ITT. That prediction was spot on.

I didn't think that Dawg could make up as much time as he did. Impressive. Good job Bertie, although what's a podium for him, unless you're at the top of it?

Very good Vuelta.

That's why he'll attack on the first climb tomorrow

 

[Cookster15]

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Samu's crash and him crying on a stretcher in this video. Heartbreaking stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOoGXfwx2qM

Thanks for sharing. Great video, but not the outcome. Poor Samu . A reminder this is a tough job to get back on the bike straight after a fall like that.

 

[spiritualride]

Everyone probably expected far worse from Froome because of the way Froome cracked so badly on the mild to nonexistent gradients of Stage 15. On the relative power he showed today over the other GC riders, you'd think he would have not only closed down Quintana but dropped him on stage 15.

 

[Valv.Piti]

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Interestingly, Quintana said before the ITT he expected to lose seconds to Froome, not minutes, in the ITT. May be he thought Froome has shot his bolt.

True, but a week or so ago, he said that he needed at least a three minute advantage before the final ITT. That prediction was spot on.

I didn't think that Dawg could make up as much time as he did. Impressive. Good job Bertie, although what's a podium for him, unless you're at the top of it?

Very good Vuelta.

That's why he'll attack on the first climb tomorrow

That narrative annoys me more day by day. Oh well, he will probably attack at some point before the last climb, but will it be more than just an attack for the sake of attacking? Thats the question. For the whole 'Bertie doesn't care about a podium' to be true, nothing less than an all out effort to break Sky/Movi/whoever before Aitana should be expected.

 

[Ataraxus]

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It's all hyperbole.... how do we know that Quintana couldn't have pushed on more in the TT if he was worried etc, etc... Bottom line is that Quintana is most likely going win the Vuelta tomorrow and if he doesn't put time into Froome tomorrow then we'll never know if it's because he couldn't or he didn't need too.

Exactly. You can't just take out the results from one stage and assume the rest of the race would have panned out the same. Quintana had to do two things today: make sure he didn't absolutely blow up, and make sure he didn't crash. He didn't have to go and do his best ever time trial. Instead, he put in a comfortable ride and still has a huge lead going into the last stage.

Define comfortable. Is it comfortable for the little man to go on par with LL Sanchez and to beat de Gent Cataldo and Valverde (whom he couldn't beat at the Tour even though Piti had one GT in his legs) ?

P.S. Did the cycling Poseidons listen to your no-wind in ITT prayer by the way?

 

[carton]

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Everyone probably expected far worse from Froome because of the way Froome cracked so badly on the mild to nonexistent gradients of Stage 15. On the relative power he showed today over the other GC riders, you'd think he would have not only closed down Quintana but dropped him on stage 15.

Fresh, even over kg, Froome has the edge. Not enough to drop Nairo, it would seem. Stage after stage, hill after hill, that's when Quintana's had an edge over Froome as well as everyone else.

 

[happytramp]

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It's all hyperbole.... how do we know that Quintana couldn't have pushed on more in the TT if he was worried etc, etc... Bottom line is that Quintana is most likely going win the Vuelta tomorrow and if he doesn't put time into Froome tomorrow then we'll never know if it's because he couldn't or he didn't need too.

Exactly. You can't just take out the results from one stage and assume the rest of the race would have panned out the same. Quintana had to do two things today: make sure he didn't absolutely blow up, and make sure he didn't crash. He didn't have to go and do his best ever time trial. Instead, he put in a comfortable ride and still has a huge lead going into the last stage.

Define comfortable. Is it comfortable for the little man to go on par with LL Sanchez and to beat de Gent Cataldo and Valverde (whom he couldn't beat at the Tour even though Piti had one GT in his legs) ?

Again stop with the what if's.... How do we know how much Valverde etc were pushing it today... there's no way of knowing. Everyone did what they had to do today..... In the same way at the Tour last year Quintana looked great in the mountains but Froome did exactly what he needed to then so we'll never really know how much he was struggling (if at all)

 

[ferryman]

Congrats to Froome today to become the best English speaker ever to get three 2nd finish places in the Vuelta. I doubt Millar is that bothered about losing that title.

 

[Tonton]

Re: Re:

Interestingly, Quintana said before the ITT he expected to lose seconds to Froome, not minutes, in the ITT. May be he thought Froome has shot his bolt.

True, but a week or so ago, he said that he needed at least a three minute advantage before the final ITT. That prediction was spot on.

I didn't think that Dawg could make up as much time as he did. Impressive. Good job Bertie, although what's a podium for him, unless you're at the top of it?

Very good Vuelta.

That's why he'll attack on the first climb tomorrow

That narrative annoys me more day by day. Oh well, he will probably attack at some point before the last climb, but will it be more than just an attack for the sake of attacking? Thats the question. For the whole 'Bertie doesn't care about a podium' to be true, nothing less than an all out effort to break Sky/Movi/whoever before Aitana should be expected.

Why be annoyed? What if both Sky and Movistar look at each other, play a game of chicken? I indeed expect a big attack before Aitana. It makes sense. It fits with the character. Bertie'd better go down fighting rather than defend a third place. And hope that the two think that he's too far and don't take him seriously until it's too late. A risk worth taking IMO.

Yes, call me greedy. I want more fireworks .

 

[AlexNYC]

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Did Quintana hold back a little today for tomorrow? He still did a good TT for him and that course but am wondering if since he knew he had such a big time advantage he should leave something extra for Alto de Aitana where the terrain tips back in his favor? I hope so. Anyhow, Froome's only hope to pull back the remaining gap is an ambush of Formigal proportions. Not going to happen.

I wished this was so, but I really think Nairo did the best he could today, which to be clear, was really good; it's just that Froome was out of this world. One of the things I really want to see tomorrow is how today's effort affects tomorrow's stage. I think some top names are going to really pay for today's efforts and wouldn't be surprised if one of those is Froome himself.

 

[PremierAndrew]

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Some people are still arging about who is better? Nairo is better today because he has 1'20 seconds over Froome, a lot of "what if" are not important, there is no moral winner, or somebody can say today that Vincenzo Nibali was not the true champ of TDF14, because Froome and Contador feel of their respectives bikes? Co'on!!

Nairo has done a statement here, he is good, he is top and he is a guy to keep in mind when there is a break... I remember (It was maybe San Luis this year), where he was in a break and he appointed that he has done it just to test his feelings and remember "good old times", so he tried this kind of stage before, so kudos to him.

If tomorrow he finishes in red, he will be the best of Vuelta without question marks, he did it fair and square, period!

Winning doesn't mean you're the best. Surely you're not going to deny that Purito was the best rider in the 2012 Vuelta, Kruijswijk in this year's Giro etc to use recent examples

Quintana has indeed been the strongest this Vuelta, but not strong enough to drop Froome enough times and not strong enough to not lose time in the TT either. He's been gifted this Vuelta by Contador and a major f*** up by Froome

 

[TeflonDub]

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In contrast to last year's TT, Dumoulin must have been off pace for Froome to gap an in form Quintana by this much. Or did the wind play a much more role today?

Dumoulin was shattered.

Quintana was also stronger. I still can't believe he lost that much time today. Compare this to any other ITT performance from him this year.

Anybody else think the two big air intake ducts on Nairo's helmet looked better suited to an F1 cooling system than an ITT aero package? Doesn't look like a very efficient design to a lay man's eyes.

 

[dacooley]

Congrats to Froome today to become the best English speaker ever to get three 2nd finish places in the Vuelta. I doubt Millar is that bothered about losing that title.

you always sound like froome doing well is a cycling tragedy lol

 

[Finn84]

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40 kms is fine. You put more and you get Wiggins Tour de Frances or Indurain's. So why being a fan of it.

Selective memory much?

2007 was the best race since 2003, which also hade just happened to have a lot of TT-kilometers.

To be honest, 2012 Tour route was awful when it comes to mountaintop finishes, no HC. That made TT domination even worse. 2003 (Alpe d'Huez/Luz Ardiden) and 2007 (Plateau de Beille/Aubisque) had two each.