57th Vuelta al Pais Vasco 3-8 April 2017

[Cance > TheRest]

Re:

The Roglic hype is a bit strange, but maybe he will grow into it?

Indeed. I predicted already from before the race that this stage would be too much for him, and so it was. I think much of the hype has to do with his background as a junior ski-jumper and the untraditional attitude he has towards racing.

Anyway, too bad about Samu's crash. It would have been awesome if he'd won today. Eventually, it also affected Contador who lost a lot of speed (probably because he was overly careful not to crash one more time this race). But I still think Contador is going to win, unless Valverde pulls off something unusual tomorrow.

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

Omg, we are is pais vasco. Of course contador will destroy everyone tomorrow. He will win more than 20 seconds to everyone

:lol: please never change

I'm pretty sure of that. Tomorrow's climb is just perfect to alberto

There are also 21 km which are not uphill

He will gain more than 30 seconds to everyone bar valverde and after that he just needs to get his own rhytim and he will be able to maintain that advantage

 

[Gigs_98]

Horrible edition of this race. There are basically no time gaps between the favorites in the first five stages so the whole race will decide in a relatively flat ITT. Thats okay for other races, but just really not what I'm expecting when I watch the Vuelta al Pais Vasco.

On a side note, am I the only one who thought that the last climb would be a different one? I knew that they wouldn't use the classical Aerate climb, but I thought they would use the ascent which was used in last years time trial. However I think the side of arrate which was actually used was the ascent which was the third last climb of last years queen stage. (the climb where Purito destroyed the peloton) Or were the third last climb of the queen stage and the climb in the ITT the same climb? Man, I'm getting confused by all the different sides of Arrate.

 

[DFA123]

Great stuff from Valverde again. Did all the work to bring the front two back on the climb, chased down every attack on the flatter bit and then led the sprint out from about 500m and won comfortably. Very impressive. I can think of a few riders who would have gone down as well when Sanchez crashed right in front of him. So we can add nice bike handling to the skills that got him victory today.

So Contador, Valverde and Izagirre looked the three obvious favourites before the race, and now the TT is set up almost perfectly. Valverde with a very slight edge over Contador, and both with a smallish but not insignificant gap to Izagirre. Very, very difficult to pick between those three now. De la Cruz and Spilak look too far back to jump onto the podium.

 

[yaco]

Valverde the winner does it again - S.Yates again showed he finds those short and steep climbs challenging - Izagirre TT's to his best and he will the GC.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

Great stuff from Valverde again. Did all the work to bring the front two back on the climb

 

[carton]

Re: Re:

The descent isn't very technical and right now, I'm actually relieved it isn't

Yep, he's going against three elite descenders. But if you can pedal through it Contador should at least hold his own downhill on sheer fitness and time trial ability.

I think it's actually a good thing for that he gets to go first. Just maybe he won't start fretting about losing time downhill. And save the silly risk taking for the Tour.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Valverde the winner does it again - S.Yates again showed he finds those short and steep climbs challenging - Izagirre TT's to his best and he will the GC.

I think i'd make him slight favourite as well. He'll probably get those 15 seconds back thanks to some 'friendly' local moto drivers 14 years now since a Basque last won here.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Valverde the winner does it again - S.Yates again showed he finds those short and steep climbs challenging - Izagirre TT's to his best and he will the GC.

I think i'd make him slight favourite as well. He'll probably get those 15 seconds back thanks to some 'friendly' local moto drivers 14 years now since a Basque last won here.

Yea, but the orange jersey of the local team meant Samu in 2012 was an honorary one.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Great stuff from Valverde again. Did all the work to bring the front two back on the climb, chased down every attack on the flatter bit and then led the sprint out from about 500m and won comfortably. Very impressive. I can think of a few riders who would have gone down as well when Sanchez crashed right in front of him. So we can add nice bike handling to the skills that got him victory today.

So Contador, Valverde and Izagirre looked the three obvious favourites before the race, and now the TT is set up almost perfectly. Valverde with a very slight edge over Contador, and both with a smallish but not insignificant gap to Izagirre. Very, very difficult to pick between those three now. De la Cruz and Spilak look too far back to jump onto the podium.

Well, to be fair, that is how you win in Arrate. It's a very tricky descending finish with a lot of technical aspects so you need to be in front early if you want to win.

In fact, Purito wondered on Twitter earlier today, if there had ever been another fool to lose the stage after having been in front through the last curve like he did five years ago in the Vuelta.

 

[El Pistolero]

The basques should put cobbles on all the climbs, maybe then this will turn into an interesting race lol.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

So does anyone know how Sanchez went down and how he is now? Bit out of the blue how he went down and looked like a lot of blood being spilt crossing the line.

 

[WheelofGear]

Re:

Valverde the winner does it again - S.Yates again showed he finds those short and steep climbs challenging - Izagirre TT's to his best and he will the GC.

Is Adam better on those climbs? He seems to be a bit punchier.

 

[del1962]

Re: Re:

Valverde the winner does it again - S.Yates again showed he finds those short and steep climbs challenging - Izagirre TT's to his best and he will the GC.

Is Adam better on those climbs? He seems to be a bit punchier.

Not sure it was the steepness of the climb but mix of going too hard too early and the pressure of his team working all day

 

[May0maniac]

I feel bad for Samu, he's my favoutite active Spanish ride (I hope no one if offended if I call him Spanish).
Good showing by Patrick Konrad and Buchmann also did well, he's more of a diesel and better in the high mountains, for him that was actually a really strong performance.
I expected more from Henao and Roglic also lost a bit too much time.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Great stuff from Valverde again. Did all the work to bring the front two back on the climb

Why does he have a gun?
Or whatever kind of shooty-weapon that is...





(Team camp, I suppose...)

 

[WheelofGear]

Re: Re:

Valverde the winner does it again - S.Yates again showed he finds those short and steep climbs challenging - Izagirre TT's to his best and he will the GC.

Is Adam better on those climbs? He seems to be a bit punchier.

Adam and Simon are the new Schleck brothers. Pure climbers made for every kind of climbs. Good on both shorter and longer climbs.

I wouldn't be surprised to do well in Fleche Wallone and Liege like Andy and Frank.

 

[Mr.White]

And what a shitty climbing performance by Kwiatkowski! If this is his climbing form for Ardennes then he's cooked

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Re:

The basques should put cobbles on all the climbs, maybe then this will turn into an interesting race lol.

At least with the ITT the strongest rider will emerge......

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Why does he have a gun?
Or whatever kind of shooty-weapon that is...





(Team camp, I suppose...)

The Fourcade brothers (pro biathletes, the younger one, Martin, is six time World Cup overall winner) are big fans of bike racing, and Bardet met with Simon Fourcade, the older of the two, after his TdF stage win in France. Bardet is a big biathlon fan and admitted he'd always wanted to give it a go, so the French Nordic team arranged for him (along with a couple of teammates) to go to a biathlon team camp at La Féclaz.

 

[WheelofGear]

Re:

And what a ****** climbing performance by Kwiatkowski! If this is his climbing form for Ardennes then he's cooked

Not in Amstel, but in Fleche and Liege for sure.

 

[shalgo]

Re:

And what a ****** climbing performance by Kwiatkowski! If this is his climbing form for Ardennes then he's cooked

Conversely, I am curious to see what Woods can do in the Ardennes.

 

[johnymax]

That was a brutal climb but I agree with the majority that the GC action in this year's edition was pretty meh. A combination of poor route design and conservative racing from the GC men. Pantano was missing badly.

I count three major contenders remaining for the overall win. Contador, Valverde and Izagirre. I don't know who would I prefer the most to win. Contador to finally win a race this year so it could boost his confidence going into a period of rest before the TdF, Valverde to finally win this race that on paper suits him down to the ground or Ion who would achieve the biggest win of his career. It's almost a wash for me but I'm leaning towards Ion Izagirre. I think this victory would have a major impact in his palmares while for the other two it'd be just another stage race amongst many. I wouldn't mind seeing a surprise winner but I give everybody else minimal chance.

Oh and fantastic ride by Woods today. While I expected everybody else in the top10 to be in the mix, his performance came as a surprise for me even though he has shown before that he likes short and steep climbs.

For the stage win tomorrow I'd like to pick Roglic but I'm not sure. He looked tired today and I think his form trajectory is on a way down. He will battle it out with the trio of Spaniards I've mentioned above.

 

[Escarabajo]

What a horrible route. So now the ITT will decide the race.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

And what a ****** climbing performance by Kwiatkowski! If this is his climbing form for Ardennes then he's cooked

I am not sure why you were expecting more.