2017 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, March 20-26, WT

[GraftPunk]

Re:

The uci's rules say that all movistar riders should be penalized in 1 minute for each push. Were 3 push in total, so 3 minutes to the 8 movistar riders. What a joke is uci!!!

It's flatly stated in the rules, and the entire team benefited from Rojas' ....err... sacrifice. The application of punishment seems sketchy.

 

[slosada]

Re:

Postobon better than Cofidis and Caja Rural, that's a bit of a surprise.

And without Molano and Piedra... Both crashed before the TTT, Molano didn't start and Piedra didn't finish

 

[DFA123]

Re:

From a Trek rider: "When we passed the finish line I had a good feeling. We had worked well together. We lost two guys in the first 10-kilometers, I think, but after we stayed together with six until the finish. We saw the parcours five times, so there was nothing we did wrong."
So 30 km with 6 guys, is not a very bad time

How did they manage to lose two guys in the first 10km? Mechanicals or punctures? Otherwise, unless they've got two passengers who should be nowhere near a WT team, then that's awful strategy.

 

[Jungle Cycle]

After the 91 of Formigal this is nothing....

 

[Lexman]

Re: Re:

I think the moaning is only justified if the next 5 stages are crap. You guys react way too quickly.

I will admit that it is not a great route, but to write off the rest of the race before it has even happened is not really a good plan.

Lots of people wrote off the final stage in Paris Nice for instance. And the stage in which Tom Dumoulin cracked in the Vuelta. And I guess some people (including me) wouldn't have anticipated Fuente De.

Yea, it could proove for an interesting race now. It's Movistar-Bmc vs. Sky-Trek Segafredo, with the latter having to really turn an aggressive race. With Landa, Froome, Thomas and Mollema, Contador, Pantana the possibility to put riders in breaks and, conversely, Movistar-Bmc needing to control the race, the potential for unforseen outcomes is real.

Add Quick Step for Martin as well

+ Zakarin ho will ride agressively (for a stage win) but he will attack at least

 

[Lexman]

Re: Re:

From a Trek rider: "When we passed the finish line I had a good feeling. We had worked well together. We lost two guys in the first 10-kilometers, I think, but after we stayed together with six until the finish. We saw the parcours five times, so there was nothing we did wrong."
So 30 km with 6 guys, is not a very bad time

How did they manage to lose two guys in the first 10km? Mechanicals or punctures? Otherwise, unless they've got two passengers who should be nowhere near a WT team, then that's awful strategy.

Stetina & Irizar

 

[Billie]

so apparently the french rulebook said that the penalty was 1' to the rider for every infraction. And that there was difference in rules between the french rulebook and english translation and in such case they have to use the french rulebook.


but the rulebook in french on uci site clearly says the same as in english

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Rojas, regardless of the three minute penalty, has no ambitions in GC. Why did the team slow repeatedly to allow him to keep him in touch when he made no contribution to the team's final time? Any tiny difference he might have made in the final 200m was more than paid for, not least by Erviti and others using energy to drag him back to 8th wheel. They had 7 guys finishing together, so they could have afforded to drop him.

And if the rules were properly applied,he would have cost them a lot more.

 

[rhubroma]

Re: Re:

I think the moaning is only justified if the next 5 stages are crap. You guys react way too quickly.

I will admit that it is not a great route, but to write off the rest of the race before it has even happened is not really a good plan.

Lots of people wrote off the final stage in Paris Nice for instance. And the stage in which Tom Dumoulin cracked in the Vuelta. And I guess some people (including me) wouldn't have anticipated Fuente De.

Yea, it could proove for an interesting race now. It's Movistar-Bmc vs. Sky-Trek Segafredo, with the latter having to really turn an aggressive race. With Landa, Froome, Thomas and Mollema, Contador, Pantana the possibility to put riders in breaks and, conversely, Movistar-Bmc needing to control the race, the potential for unforseen outcomes is real.

Add Quick Step for Martin as well

+ Zakarin ho will ride agressively (for a stage win) but he will attack at least

Too far back.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Talking about Quick Step, they aimed for a top-3 in this TTT. That didn't go as planned, then.

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

I think the moaning is only justified if the next 5 stages are crap. You guys react way too quickly.

I will admit that it is not a great route, but to write off the rest of the race before it has even happened is not really a good plan.

Lots of people wrote off the final stage in Paris Nice for instance. And the stage in which Tom Dumoulin cracked in the Vuelta. And I guess some people (including me) wouldn't have anticipated Fuente De.

I still hope for a couple of stages to be raced entertainingly for the stage victory. It's not impossible that something exciting could happen in GC, but we are getting towards "and then a giant spider trapped Valverde in her web and everyone on Movistar lost two minutes desperately sawing him free" levels of likelihood.

Good post. I agree we could still see some battles for stage victories but there's simply no terrain to make up close to or more than a minute on Valverde, especially considering the bonus seconds he can still grab.

A minute? BMC is just at 2 seconds, they have 4 guys who could attack Valverde, Sky has 3, maybe even 4 with Nieve. They need to strike tomorrow already, and from far out. Movistar is strong, but it's not TDF Sky team, everything is still open. Even Trek could play Mollema or Pantano card. As far as Contador concerns, well he could try on Lo Port right from the bottom, like Quintana did in Valenciana. He should be the best climber in this race, it's worth a try. Valverde is in pole position, but it's far from over

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

I think the moaning is only justified if the next 5 stages are crap. You guys react way too quickly.

I will admit that it is not a great route, but to write off the rest of the race before it has even happened is not really a good plan.

Lots of people wrote off the final stage in Paris Nice for instance. And the stage in which Tom Dumoulin cracked in the Vuelta. And I guess some people (including me) wouldn't have anticipated Fuente De.

I still hope for a couple of stages to be raced entertainingly for the stage victory. It's not impossible that something exciting could happen in GC, but we are getting towards "and then a giant spider trapped Valverde in her web and everyone on Movistar lost two minutes desperately sawing him free" levels of likelihood.

Good post. I agree we could still see some battles for stage victories but there's simply no terrain to make up close to or more than a minute on Valverde, especially considering the bonus seconds he can still grab.

A minute? BMC is just at 2 seconds, they have 4 guys who could attack Valverde, Sky has 3, maybe even 4 with Nieve. They need to strike tomorrow already, and from far out. Movistar is strong, but it's not TDF Sky team, everything is still open. Even Trek could play Mollema or Pantano card. As far as Contador concerns, well he could try on Lo Port right from the bottom, like Quintana did in Valenciana. He should be the best climber in this race, it's worth a try. Valverde is in pole position, but it's far from over

And Valverde has only recently recovered from by all accounts a pretty nasty illness. When some other GC contenders have a runny nose or whataver, we never hear the end of it and how it's inevitably going to impact their performance - so reasonable to assume Valverde could be a bit below-par as well.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Yes, the BMC quartet are only 2 seconds down on Valverde but they don't have the quality that Valverde has. And Valverde has the bonus second advantage. I'm 99.9% sure they won't win the race.
Sky are almost a minute down hence my post " make up almost or more than a minute"

 

[Vesica]

Re:

I think the moaning is only justified if the next 5 stages are crap. You guys react way too quickly.

I will admit that it is not a great route, but to write off the rest of the race before it has even happened is not really a good plan.

Lots of people wrote off the final stage in Paris Nice for instance. And the stage in which Tom Dumoulin cracked in the Vuelta. And I guess some people (including me) wouldn't have anticipated Fuente De.

Exactly this!! haha some people on this forum react ridiculous. Already whining before something else has happened. There are are least 3 stages were the GC contenders got some chances to fight back. You think the other teams will soft pedaling to Barcelona? Come on, the riders make the race, as we have seen in a lot of examples. There are WT points at stake, so this is far from done.

 

[Breh]

Re:

Talking about Quick Step, they aimed for a top-3 in this TTT. That didn't go as planned, then.

Could you link me please?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

I think the moaning is only justified if the next 5 stages are crap. You guys react way too quickly.

I will admit that it is not a great route, but to write off the rest of the race before it has even happened is not really a good plan.

Lots of people wrote off the final stage in Paris Nice for instance. And the stage in which Tom Dumoulin cracked in the Vuelta. And I guess some people (including me) wouldn't have anticipated Fuente De.

Exactly this!! haha some people on this forum react ridiculous. Already whining before something else has happened. There are are least 3 stages were the GC contenders got some chances to fight back. You think the other teams will soft pedaling to Barcelona? Come on, the riders make the race, as we have seen in a lot of examples. There are WT points at stake, so this is far from done.

This reminds me of something Dan Martin pointed out. 50th on GC earns as many WT points as 3rd on a stage with the new system. Way to promote aggressive racing.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

Talking about Quick Step, they aimed for a top-3 in this TTT. That didn't go as planned, then.

Could you link me please?

I read it here http://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/243087/daniel-martin-kopman-quick-step-floors-in-catalonie.html

 

[Felice Gimondi]

New Jury meeting

 

[deValtos]

Re: Re:

This reminds me of something Dan Martin pointed out. 50th on GC earns as many WT points as 3rd on a stage with the new system. Way to promote aggressive racing.

While I don't disagree with the content of what Dan Martin is saying ... the fact that he admits he's only just finding about this now kind of implies he (and other riders) never gave much of a care anyways. You'd have to know about it for it to have an effect on you. :lol:

Perhaps it does affect the DS's decisions though.

 

[Ricco']

Re:

New Jury meeting

And once again the TV broadcast fails to show the decisive moves in this race.

There's no hope for Catalunya.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

New Jury meeting

And once again the TV broadcast fails to show the decisive moves in this race.

There's no hope for Catalunya.

:lol:

 

[GraftPunk]

Re:

New Jury meeting

I honestly can't tell if you are joking or not, my caffeine has worn off.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

New Jury meeting

I honestly can't tell if you are joking or not, my caffeine has worn off.

He wasn't joking, there was a meeting between the jury and Movistar and BMC, but it seems they maintained the sanction - 3' for Rojas, 2' for Amador and 1' for Oliveira.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re: Re:

New Jury meeting

I honestly can't tell if you are joking or not, my caffeine has worn off.

He wasn't joking, there was a meeting between the jury and Movistar and BMC, but it seems they maintained the sanction - 3' for Rojas, 2' for Amador and 1' for Oliveira.

This is plain stupid.

 

[Richeypen]

Re: Re:

New Jury meeting

I honestly can't tell if you are joking or not, my caffeine has worn off.

He wasn't joking, there was a meeting between the jury and Movistar and BMC, but it seems they maintained the sanction - 3' for Rojas, 2' for Amador and 1' for Oliveira.

This is plain stupid.

Stupid is Catalunya all over. I remember 2012 when they cancelled a stage midway because of the weather yet didnt actually tell the riders untill they were past the new finish line.

This is a case of them clearly not following the rule book though which makes a mockery of the sport.