59th Itzulia Basque Country (2.UWT) 8 - 13 April

[Red Rick]

Yeah I don't think Schachman is gonna be close. Basque climbs suit him even worse than a consistent effort too.

 

[sir fly]

The UAE stage(s) might be deceiving from several aspects, but Schachmann's ability is unquestionable.
He wasn't climbing so well by chance, and now he's peaking for the Ardennes, on top of that.
It's just a matter of prefered slope, rivals' eagerness to beat him and his resilience.

 

[KZD]

I think Schachmann will hold on and win the overall, he has two strong climbers to help him and already performed well in long mountaintop finishes.

 

[tobydawq]

If you look at the other climbing stage in Abu Dhabi, Schachmann matched Buchmann. That was a bit easier, though.

 

[Lequack]

Well either case, Izagirre, Martinez or Martin will have to really blast Schachmann to gain 1 minute needed. That would mean not waiting for the final climb only but going early.

29 Big Photos from Stage 4 — flockton/bettini
http://www.steephill.tv/2019/vuelta-al-pais-vasco/photos/stage-04/

 

[Lequack]

Still looking sunny for tomorrow's Arrate finish @ about 17h:

 

[Robert5091]

Chapeau to Schachmann and all the others who came home without crashing! Sure looked tricky conditions. Pogacar proving again he's a talented rider.

Tomorrow a trip to "The Virgin of Arrate" - not sure if she'll be one of the podium girls but here's the profile again -

Arrigorriaga - Arrate (149,8 km)

Short, lumpy (very lumpy bit at 24% on the Izua) - Yates, the 2 Dans (Martin & Martinez) & Landa's not far down on GC. Bora to try hard for Schachmann but I think it won't be his day.

 

[Red Rick]

Izua is just so hard it's probably worth the effort to drop Schachman there cause everyone will suffer tremendously there if there are attacks and there's barely any flat for an organised chase left.

 

[Broccolidwarf]

Re:

Chapeau to Schachmann and all the others who came home without crashing! Sure looked tricky conditions. Pogacar proving again he's a talented rider.

Tomorrow a trip to "The Virgin of Arrate" - not sure if she'll be one of the podium girls but here's the profile again -

Arrigorriaga - Arrate (149,8 km)

Short, lumpy (very lumpy bit at 24% on the Izua) - Yates, the 2 Dans (Martin & Martinez) & Landa's not far down on GC. Bora to try hard for Schachmann but I think it won't be his day.

Being so up and down the last 50 k, I don't see why everyone would wait for the last climb, where time differences are relatively small.

I think teams with several options, like Astana, Mitchelton and UAE, could send possibly Fuglsang, Nieve and Henao out early, to put maximum pressure on Bora.

 

[Escarabajo]

Am I missing something? why is Schachmann so high in everybody's bets for GC. He is on great form, but now we are leaving the terrain that fits him the most. I don't see how he can hold to the climbers in the next 2 stages.

 

[Lequack]

Re:

Am I missing something? why is Schachmann so high in everybody's bets for GC. He is on great form, but now we are leaving the terrain that fits him the most. I don't see how he can hold to the climbers in the next 2 stages.

This is the 2019 Schachmann. All bets are off.

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Am I missing something? why is Schachmann so high in everybody's bets for GC. He is on great form, but now we are leaving the terrain that fits him the most. I don't see how he can hold to the climbers in the next 2 stages.

He has quite a gigantic buffer. And it's not like Mont Ventoux is on the menu.

 

[Robert5091]

The climbs are crazy steep in places but not long so it'll take some teamwork and attacking from far out to claw back minutes on GC.

Izua 3 km

Usartza 5km

 

[Salvarani]

Mitchelton and Astana gonna make it hard on Izua. They have to.

 

[Serpentin]

Movistar have to step it up on Izua today. Shed the Astana train and make it a small Group for Landa to finish it off on Arrate. Vamos!

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Am I missing something? why is Schachmann so high in everybody's bets for GC. He is on great form, but now we are leaving the terrain that fits him the most. I don't see how he can hold to the climbers in the next 2 stages.

He has quite a gigantic buffer. And it's not like Mont Ventoux is on the menu.

Its a gap that melts like snow in a nuclear reactor when he drops on the wrong climb

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

The climbs are crazy steep in places but not long so it'll take some teamwork and attacking from far out to claw back minutes on GC.

It depends on how they race on these climbs. You can lose more time on a steep 5k climb than on a 7% 15k climb. If you park your bike on a 19% section, even if it's only 300 meters, those 300 meters can take minutes.

 

[Red Rick]

The climbs are crazy steep in places but not long so it'll take some teamwork and attacking from far out to claw back minutes on GC.

It depends on how they race on these climbs. You can lose more time on a steep 5k climb than on a 7% 15k climb. If you park your bike on a 19% section, even if it's only 300 meters, those 300 meters can take minutes.

300m at 19% should take minutes even if you're flying

 

[Velolover2]

The climbs are crazy steep in places but not long so it'll take some teamwork and attacking from far out to claw back minutes on GC.

It depends on how they race on these climbs. You can lose more time on a steep 5k climb than on a 7% 15k climb. If you park your bike on a 19% section, even if it's only 300 meters, those 300 meters can take minutes.

Yates could get a 30 seconds gap over 300 metres at 19% on some of his rivals if he wanted to attack there.

 

[sir fly]

The climbs are crazy steep in places but not long so it'll take some teamwork and attacking from far out to claw back minutes on GC.

It depends on how they race on these climbs. You can lose more time on a steep 5k climb than on a 7% 15k climb. If you park your bike on a 19% section, even if it's only 300 meters, those 300 meters can take minutes.

300m at 19% should take minutes even if you're flying

I can fry 300@19% in far less than half a minute.
... And that's only because I can't let the breaks.

 

[Lequack]

They're off:

 

[Red Rick]

The climbs are crazy steep in places but not long so it'll take some teamwork and attacking from far out to claw back minutes on GC.

It depends on how they race on these climbs. You can lose more time on a steep 5k climb than on a 7% 15k climb. If you park your bike on a 19% section, even if it's only 300 meters, those 300 meters can take minutes.

300m at 19% should take minutes even if you're flying

I can fry 300@19% in far less than half a minute.
... And that's only because I can't let the breaks.

Should I change your username to 'Sir Fry'?

 

[sir fly]

The climbs are crazy steep in places but not long so it'll take some teamwork and attacking from far out to claw back minutes on GC.

It depends on how they race on these climbs. You can lose more time on a steep 5k climb than on a 7% 15k climb. If you park your bike on a 19% section, even if it's only 300 meters, those 300 meters can take minutes.

300m at 19% should take minutes even if you're flying

I can fry 300@19% in far less than half a minute.
... And that's only because I can't let the breaks.

Should I change your username to 'Sir Fry'?

Just try...

 

[topcat]

The bird will fly

 

[Robert5091]

https://www.itzulia.eus/Live

Crush ... I mean

Km 24 | 14:16:54 Crash in the bunch