2022 Vuelta a España stage 3: Breda - Breda 194km

[Samu Cuenca]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1561423892689870849

View: https://twitter.com/BriSmithy/status/1561423892689870849?s=20&t=5Gxerp8jeAqqlbkA0eHSFw

Is that his hand telling his mouth to stop talking at the end?

 

[happytramp]

Didn't expect Bennett to win 2 stages, but the sprinting field is not the best, I think.

Still, must feel pretty good, beating the guy they brought in to replace him at Quickstep.... Especially knowing how closely Lefevere will be watching.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Didn't expect Bennett to win 2 stages, but the sprinting field is not the best, I think.

Van Poppel is a beast this year though, really stepped up as a great lead-out man.

Id have expected the Bennett of a year and a half ago to win four stages against this field. It’s a pleasant surprise that this year’s Bennett seems like he’s getting back towards his previous level even if he’s not there yet.

Agree about Van Poppel. In retrospect it seems obvious that he should be a top lead out specialist - doesn‘t quite have the very top end speed to be an elite sprinter but can hold a very high speed for a very long time, has an excellent sense of timing and a great positional awareness. He’s like a photo negative of those sprinters who have superb top end speed but rarely get to use it because they cant do anything else well in a finale.

 

[Valv.Piti]

True, but it does sound like comments from a rider who knows that his team needs to keep on scoring stage results and GC positions for points and regardless of whether he will be directly impacted seeing as he's retiring, he's been at that team for seventeen years and has a sense of loyalty and duty to help dig them out of that mire - especially as one crash taking out Mas, who hasn't covered himself with glory in that respect thus far this year, and suddenly he has the team's hopes on his shoulders yet again.

As Stephen A Smith has stated multiple times over the years, Kevin Durant can drop 30 points in his goddamn sleep, and thats very similar to Valverde being able to ride top-10 in his sleep, even at this age and this suspect preparation!