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

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

After all the build up Rohan Dennis DNF

And all of BMC's GC hopes now rest on Tejay's (not so strong) shoulders...

 

[Breh]

I watched DDV. Seems like I didn't miss anything here.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Funvic with one DNF and three riders out of the time limit. Who gave them a wildcard + PC status and why?

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

After all the build up Rohan Dennis DNF

And all of BMC's GC hopes now rest on Tejay's (not so strong) shoulders...

He'll have nightmares of Andalucia 2016

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

Any predictions for the final podium? Tejay looked good today but I still think he'll suffer on Lo Port, if he'll suffer enough to lose 40 seconds is another matter. Thomas, Valverde and Froome are in a good position, and considering the bonus seconds available I'll go with Valverde for the win. Froome 2nd, Thomas 3rd.

Bala
Alberto
TJ or Thomas

 

[Jagartrott]

Chose the right race to watch today it seems.
(i.e. not this one)

 

[dacooley]

it's one week race with all the major contenders being relatively fresh so cracking teejay at the single climb stage will be incredibly hard. I'm going with the podium van garderen, valverde, thomas.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

it's one week race with all the major contenders being relatively fresh so cracking teejay at the single climb stage will be incredibly hard. I'm going with the podium van garderen, valverde, thomas.

That does seem like a very likely podium.

 

[Aguirre]

cracking Tejay is not in a single stage on friday, they can do it of course, but rather, they are gonna scratch (Valverde, Thomas, and Contador, but mainly the first one) seconds everyday from today until last day on sunday.
Valverde can be up in top three in 4 stages, plus seconds in the intermedium sprints, + friday stage. Tomorrow will be fun.

 

[May0maniac]

With all that bonus seconds Valverde doesn't need to crack Tejay. Tejay has to limit his losses to Bala on the hard MTF to less than 20 seconds, otherwise it's gonna be hard to defend his lead against him.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re:

With all that bonus seconds Valverde doesn't need to crack Tejay. Tejay has to limit his losses to Bala on the hard MTF to less than 20 seconds, otherwise it's gonna be hard to defend his lead against him.

Over the past few years whenever Valverde had a chance at a GC lead through bonus seconds, Movistar have rarely if ever chased the break down.

I doubt they'll play it differently this time

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

With all that bonus seconds Valverde doesn't need to crack Tejay. Tejay has to limit his losses to Bala on the hard MTF to less than 20 seconds, otherwise it's gonna be hard to defend his lead against him.

Over the past few years whenever Valverde had a chance at a GC lead through bonus seconds, Movistar have rarely if ever chased the break down.

I doubt they'll play it differently this time

Yes, I still remember the 2015 edition of this race when he finished 4 seconds behind Porte.
I don't know why they refused to chase the various breakaways down.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

Would you say that Thomas is a better climber than Valverde now? I think I would still back even a slightly below-par Valverde to stay with a top-form Thomas the vast majority of the time. Haven't seen anything from Thomas to suggest he's at that kind of level in high mountains.

Froome obviously is a different matter. He's the big unknown. He could win Lo Port by the best part of a minute, or could lose over a minute there.

What's on my mind is how "easily" Valverde got dropped on Peña del Aguila in Andalucia. Of course, I wouldn't rate Thomas the better climber, but he looked strong in Tirreno so I think he could surprise.

That's true about Valverde dropping easily in Andalucia - although I think that could have been an ego thing, in that he got caught up in trying to follow Contador's acceleration rather than riding his own race. And, even then, he did claw back most of the gap in the final kms, so he didn't crack completely.

I'm still utterly unconvinced by Thomas as an elite climber. I think perhaps he can hang with a lead group for the most part, or limit his losses to an extent if someone attacks. But I'm very sceptical that he has the ability to attack a bunch of top GC riders on a especial climb and keep pulling out a gap until the finish. It would represent a massive leap in his level compared with what we've seen before.

He didn't crack, but he would not have clawed much time back if the stage had not ended with a flat last kilometer, where the group of chasers could use the headwind to their advantage. On steeper/longer climbs he will drop.

I'm not sure he will, at least not most of the time. It's not as though he routinely drops in stage races and GTs except on the very toughest multiple mountain stages. He's won stages with much harder climbs than Peña del Aguila before - I think he just went too far in the red trying to follow Contador (incidentally Contador went too far into the red as well, which is why he cracked in the final kms). Seems to me more of a tactical error than poor legs. I suppose his illness and lack of racing in the last few weeks could cause problems though.

 

[Moviefan1203]

Re:

After all the build up Rohan Dennis DNF

Sick?

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

After all the build up Rohan Dennis DNF

Sick?

He was certainly spewing a lot of bile last night.

 

[portugal11]

OMG, when i came here, I was reading posts like "what a performance by valverde" and when i saw the highlights of the stage and saw a boring race with a uphill sprint, I was questioning myself what did valverde so special to someone say "what a performance"?
Valverde won like he wins (almost) all te races he make

 

[dacooley]

Re:

OMG, when i came here, I was reading posts like "what a performance by valverde" and when i saw the highlights of the stage and saw a boring race with a uphill sprint, I was questioning myself what did valverde so special to someone say "what a performance"?
Valverde won like he wins (almost) all te races he make

Huh, probably its high time to accept that people are entitled to admire valverde spurting to the finish line as much as you admire your riders?

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

OMG, when i came here, I was reading posts like "what a performance by valverde" and when i saw the highlights of the stage and saw a boring race with a uphill sprint, I was questioning myself what did valverde so special to someone say "what a performance"?
Valverde won like he wins (almost) all te races he make

You're right actually, it was his "trade mark" win. Nothing special..., but only for Valverde. What would you say if anyone except Valverde won today, in the same manner like he did? What would you say, for instance, if Contador won dropping Valverde and Martin in last 200-300m? Would that be something special, I bet you would be among the first and one of the loudest in praising what he did. Am I wrong?

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

OMG, when i came here, I was reading posts like "what a performance by valverde" and when i saw the highlights of the stage and saw a boring race with a uphill sprint, I was questioning myself what did valverde so special to someone say "what a performance"?
Valverde won like he wins (almost) all te races he make

Huh, probably its high time to accept that people are entitled to admire valverde spurting to the finish line as much as you admire your riders?

First of all, I prefer way more a exciting race than see my favourite riders win. And of course my favourite riders are guys like contador, sagan, etc who give us a lot of entertainment

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

OMG, when i came here, I was reading posts like "what a performance by valverde" and when i saw the highlights of the stage and saw a boring race with a uphill sprint, I was questioning myself what did valverde so special to someone say "what a performance"?
Valverde won like he wins (almost) all te races he make

You're right actually, it was his "trade mark" win. Nothing special..., but only for Valverde. What would you say if anyone except Valverde won today, in the same manner like he did? What would you say, for instance, if Contador won dropping Valverde and Martin in last 200-300m? Would that be something special, I bet you would be among the first and one of the loudest in praising what he did. Am I wrong?

You're wrong mate. Beleive me, I love contador (and is almost impossible to see contador winning a uphill sprint) but I would never get excited to see a race like that even if the winner was contador

 

[mariposa]

Re: Re:

OMG, when i came here, I was reading posts like "what a performance by valverde" and when i saw the highlights of the stage and saw a boring race with a uphill sprint, I was questioning myself what did valverde so special to someone say "what a performance"?
Valverde won like he wins (almost) all te races he make

Huh, probably its high time to accept that people are entitled to admire valverde spurting to the finish line as much as you admire your riders?

First of all, I prefer way more a exciting race than see my favourite riders win. And of course my favourite riders are guys like contador, sagan, etc who give us a lot of entertainment

I think you have missed the point here. What you find exciting others may not and vice versa. I like watching Sagan ride but I also enjoy seeing Valverde win and find both exciting to watch in different ways.

 

[Poursuivant]

Teejay has a really big lead to hold onto, and only Friday to really worry about

 

[Valv.Piti]

Embrace greatness is all I can say to tha haterz

 

[Netserk]

Re:

Embrace greatness is all I can say to tha haterz

I'm sure you will be the first to kiss TJ's ring after this race is over

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Embrace greatness is all I can say to tha haterz

I'm sure you will be the first to kiss TJ's ring after this race is over

Im pretty sure the disaster that is Tejay Van Garderen won't win this bike race. If he does, needless to say, the win doesn't count. So he basically can't win no matter what.