Did Farrapona stage live up your expectations?

[Asturiano]

Tell us your opinion.

 

[ILovecycling]

Before Vuelta expectation - No
Before stage expectations - nahh, yes

Good designed stage tho, no far attackers in the field, or not in ideal form.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Didn't expect anything to happen until last mountain, so yea. Fine stage

 

[hfer07]

Cycling aside- I did love the landscapes - just breathtaking

As far as the battle itself? I wish Nairito was there

 

[BigMac]

I had no expectations. In other words, it lived up to the expectations.

 

[cineteq]

Yet another example that the riders make the race, not the parcours.

 

[JRTK73]

I would have liked more riders to be dropped on the earlier climbs. We got to see Contador vs Froome but that turned out to be a tame battle.

 

[RedFury]

Yes fato, nin? As a 58 y.o. Asturian overseas, I am certainly biased. But the few times La Vuelta decides to skip the Asturian offering of Los Picos de Europa or even La Cordillera Cantabrica, La Vuelta, IMHO is all the poorer for it.

As the gentleman a few posts above, hfer07 mentioned, Asturias is always ready to take your breath away. Be it the spectacular views or going up the Angliru...the Swiss have nothing on the birthplace of my parents mountain-wise.

Today's stage? Wasn't up to the best, Bertie, to make it exciting -- he came in leading the race after all. But he was right there any & all times he needed to be. That he went on to a calculated/easy victory was simply fitting in terms of many of us consider him one of the most aesthetically pleasing riders ever.

All in all, it sucked. };o>)

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Nothing wrong with the design of the stage.

But the racing was minimal. Too many unambitious GC riders with defensive plans.

Its before the rest day and nobody tries anything before the last 5km? Crazy development.

 

[SafeBet]

Where's the You must be kidding me option?

 

[BeagRigh]

Lived up to my expectations but not my hopes!

 

[SeriousSam]

What people are hoping for on a stage like this just isn't the optimal strategy for the riders. Most of the racing in a MTF stage occurs in the last few kilometers regardless of how many climbs there are in it or how hard it is.

 

[Cimber]

Well, I didnt expect much more than we saw since Alberto was wearing the red jersey. Had it been him who was behind I would have expected a lot more.

 

[Asturiano]

i really believe UNUPUBLIC should include "Trobaniello", it was a good climb between Cobertoria and San Lorenzo.

 

[GP Blanco]

The stage decided the GC so yes but I hoped for a little more racing.

 

[hrotha]

This Vuelta is being absolutely dreadful. Yesterday we got some 5 km of racing among the contenders (starting from the moment Nieve got serious), so that's above average, but still a disgrace.

Yet another example that the riders make the race, not the parcours.

Yeah, I'm sure no inertia from the way of racing all the other stages was involved. You can't isolate a single stage from the rest of the route like that.

What people are hoping for on a stage like this just isn't the optimal strategy for the riders. Most of the racing in a MTF stage occurs in the last few kilometers regardless of how many climbs there are in it or how hard it is.

For what riders? For Contador, attacking from far off isn't the optimal strategy, but there are MANY riders who won't do ******-ALL if they don't ****ing move.

edit: not to mention, these days people don't even make their frickin' domestiques ride hard. It's all about saving them for later, only to end up not using them effectively. You catch one of your riders from the break? Make him give his all for like 1 km, right? Nope. Make him pull for the next 20 km, then be surprised when 100 guys hit the bottom of the last climb and the breakaway keeps gaining time.

 

[icefire]

i really believe UNUPUBLIC should include "Trobaniello", it was a good climb between Cobertoria and San Lorenzo.

I really believe those who pay to host the stages in Asturias should insist in going somewhere else in the region instead of endlessly shifting MTFs between Covadonga, Angliru and now Farrapona.

Oh... and they should also throw some tarmac on Vegarada and Cienfuegos

Regarding the stage, the moment I saw that the bunch after Cobertoria was larger than two days before after San Glorio I knew it would be a dissapointment.

 

[Escarabajo]

Where is the "Betancur was awesome" option. Really, I never thought he was going to finish within the time limits.

 

[TheGreenMonkey]

I did not have high expectations and it was aboout what I expected as far as action.

The break was disappointing, if was weak and all it managed to do was fight among themselves. If the break had made themselves harder to catch perhaps the stage would have been ridden a bit harder and the action might have been a might more on the final climb.

Still it was an excellently designed stage, it is just a pity there is not a few more in the Vuelta instead of the horrible single climb sprints that has been offered. It gives more of a chance for one of them to be a very hard raced stage if there is three or four of them.

 

[Asturiano]

Part of Trobaniello (video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNmdoh5JnY0

It's not a descent like in the video it's just the opposite but you can have an idea.