Vuelta a España 2022 Vuelta a España stage 6(Bilbao > Ascensión al Pico Jano. San Miguel de Aguayo),181,2 km - Mountain

[CyclistAbi]

On stage 6 Remco was just better. That is what it was.

P.S. And in reality Roglič didn't do that bad. Given all the circumstances.

 

[Extinction]

Likely it was about the fear. Fear that Rogla will just dominate this race through and through. As from this perspective you have to entertain the discussion a bit. When going down a rabbit hole. On how team Remco could beat Rogla. One way hence to be to make it difficult for him on descend on such a rainy day. So far so good. But after saying things like as Rogla is a bad descender ...

Well, no.

Anyway. These days a replay is seconds away. Hence i don't see a real problem here. Make of it whatever you want. Like the rest of us.

What the hell are you talking about?

 

[Valv.Piti]

What the hell are you talking about?

Hes talking complete nonsense like pretty much all of his posts. I have learned to just skip 'em

 

[Big Doopie]

Well, Merckx didn't enter the 1967 Vuelta - I'm assuming a mistype as what you state refers to the 1967 Giro, but by that time we already knew he could handle recovery within one day's racing (he'd already won San Remo twice) and the stages he won were stages 12 (finishing at Blockhaus) and 14, so we knew he could handle recovery within a Grand Tour, so bearing in mind he was not yet 22 at that point, I don't think anybody in their right mind would have said there was anything missing from the toolbox for him to win a Grand Tour. If anybody was claiming him the favourite for the 1967 Giro, people would have rightly been saying to pump the brakes until he'd proved he could do it over three weeks.

Remco has not yet demonstrated the recovery that Merckx showed in that 1967 Giro that put the final piece of the puzzle together in terms of the weapons at his disposal to win a GT - in his one attempt at a Grand Tour he faded badly after week 1, but it's also not really a representative performance in my opinion because of the circumstances of that Giro regards his injury, crashes, illnesses and so on. He may well be able to do that now that he's been able to target a Grand Tour without the injuries or disrupted preparation he had before - but we haven't seen it yet. Merckx's stage wins in 1967 were after more days' consecutive racing than he'd ever done before, whereas Remco's is on stage 6 - we know he can do it in one week, it's whether he can replicate this type of form after another week and a half of racing that is the only real remaining question.

Regarding Vine, as a late starter the most significant deficit I think is likely to be in pack skills, the fight for position in the péloton in the stages unsuited to you that comes with trying to do a high GC placement. For the moment it's probably best for him to stagehunt with no pressure on maintaining a GC position. Pack skills are an underrated requirement of top level pro riders, as there are certain riders who will frequently get caught up in crashes in the bunch, or miss splits in the péloton, and similar, and once in a while it's unlucky, once it's a pattern it's a problem. Some riders like David Moncoutié would always sit right on the back of the péloton and accept that he'd miss a split in the bunch if it happened, but he was happier to be there where it was safer as he could see everything going on around him.

It was actually a surprise when he won on blockhaus. In fact at least one newspaper announced: “Sprinter wins on Blockhaus”. Until that day no one knew if he could climb mountains well - even he didn’t know for sure. Remco is a much more proven climber than Merckx was at that stage.

 

[groogster]

Apart from Roglic being a good descender, why on earth would Eurosport commentators wish the man to crash? It simply makes no sense.

It can make sense… if they bet at Remco for the GC

 

[Extinction]

It can make sense… if they bet at Remco for the GC

And they would risk their jobs in doing so....nah, I don't buy it.

 

[jaylew]

Just watched this (work has been kicking my a**) and it was a great stage. Remco was phenomenal, just riding everyone off his wheel but Jay Vine? That guy only lost 7-10 seconds over ~8.5km to Remco. Sure, I know he might have sandbagged a stage or two but the guy was racing on Zwift 2 years ago and put quite a bit of time into a bunch of top climbers...that's the kind of ride that's going to earn him some money considering his relative lack of experience.

 

[Extinction]

It was actually a surprise when he won on blockhaus. In fact at least one newspaper announced: “Sprinter wins on Blockhaus”. Until that day no one knew if he could climb mountains well - even he didn’t know for sure. Remco is a much more proven climber than Merckx was at that stage.

Apart from this, should Remco have an off-day and ship massive time it would be something to take with more serious consideration, because now he's got the adequite prep. After his performance the other day, however, I'm cautiously optimistic that this won't occur. Naturally it's no gaurantee that he won't have a difficult moment and be unable to follow the best to the summit at some point deep in the race. Hell, at 22, and being the first time he might feasibly be in contention for a GT win, it could even be inevitable. Yet if he's got the stuff his otherwise precoscious results have shown thus far, Remco this time around should be able to limit the damage and not totally drop out of GC, as he did so spectacularly in the Giro last year. At the time, however, he simply was insufficiently prepared to handle the greuling rigors of a three-week bike race. But again, given his proper build-up to the Vuelta and the indications we've received so far, it appears that we are dealing with a very different Remco. In other words, not only do we have a fitter and stronger Evenepoel, but I bet a more consistent one with it. Will it be good enough for the win? Obviously we still can't know at this point, but I'd almost be shocked if he completely tanks in this Vuelta the way he did during stage 16 to Cortina d'Ampezzo last year, when he lost 24:05 to Caruso. Of course, anything is possible, but the likekyhood now seems more remote given his show of form thus far. Hopefully I won't have to eat my words later on.

 

[groogster]

And they would risk their jobs in doing so....nah, I don't buy it.

I was being sarcastic with this.

 

[CyclistAbi]

What the hell are you talking about?

As long as you agree Rogla is a good descender i am good.