Euskal Herriko Itzulia 2018 - April 2-7

[Netserk]

Didn't know they added bonus seconds to the race this year.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

So:

Alaphilippe
Roglič +4"
Más, Gorka, Buchmann, Konrad, Bardet, Quintana, Urán, Mollema, Landa +33"
Ion, Woods, Nibali +1'01"
Costa, Antón, Vuillermoz, Zakarin, de la Cruz, Špilak, Carthy +1'32"
Verona, Pardilla +2'14"
Latour, Betancur +3'06"
Kwiatkowski +4'14"
Porte +7'27"

Many disappointing performances.
Spilak, Zaka, Verona after they appeared to show good form in GP Indurain.
Latour after his excellent Volta a Catalunya.
Kwiatkowski and Porte, although they didn't really try perhaps.

 

[Parker]

Re:

Man Sky are so ****, aside Bernal and Thomas the rest of team nowhere. I wonder how much spirit is left in that team

Kwaitkowski won Tirreno_Adriatico and Tour of Algarve, Rosa won Coppi & Bartali, Poels might have won Paris-Nice without his crash. They've had 15 wins from eight different riders.
That seems pretty decent to me. I'm not sure the team in Spain have ambitions beyond stage wins.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Flat time trial must make the Izagirre brothers the favorite - They could take a minute plus off some GC contenders.

Porte will have something to say about that.

And Roglic. He could take the best part of a minute of Izagirre.

Roglic will be hard to beat - Good TT'er but best suited when it's hillier.

 

[HelloDolly]

Caruso is BMC leader in this race and he was 9 minites down!!!...Richie is expecting a baby any day ...(may already be here ) so the fierce training of last year may have gone out the window...Teuns is by far the best placed for BMC but still given the competetion too far down for a GC result
Strange BMC performance

SKY also riding forde la Cruz and he was no where credible...Kwaito tuning form for the classics
UAE continuing their shocking season so far

La Tour suffering from the curse of KIrby ?
Zakirin not looking great at all so far this season
Betencur on a slow slow burn ?
Landa didnt climb well on that steep climb
Nibali did well considered he just rode the hell of the north

For my money Quintana is looking good and of course Rojlic
Allapillipe si not going for GC just tuning for the Ardennes

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

Man Sky are so ****, aside Bernal and Thomas the rest of team nowhere. I wonder how much spirit is left in that team

Kwaitkowski won Tirreno_Adriatico and Tour of Algarve, Rosa won Coppi & Bartali, Poels might have won Paris-Nice without his crash. They've had 15 wins from eight different riders.
That seems pretty decent to me. I'm not sure the team in Spain have ambitions beyond stage wins.

Dam you and facts

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

So:

Alaphilippe
Roglič +4"
Más, Gorka, Buchmann, Konrad, Bardet, Quintana, Urán, Mollema, Landa +33"
Ion, Woods, Nibali +1'01"
Costa, Antón, Vuillermoz, Zakarin, de la Cruz, Špilak, Carthy +1'32"
Verona, Pardilla +2'14"
Latour, Betancur +3'06"
Kwiatkowski +4'14"
Porte +7'27"

Many disappointing performances.
Spilak, Zaka, Verona after they appeared to show good form in GP Indurain.
Latour after his excellent Volta a Catalunya.
Kwiatkowski and Porte, although they didn't really try perhaps.

Verona went OK, seeing Haig is the GC rider for this race - In saying that, Haig struggles with that type of climb - Losing A.Yates to injury was a blow for MS as he could have made that final based on his showings in 2018 - I faer some of the GC contenders could lose 1+ minutes in the ITT.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Latour is not targeting Pais Vasco but Romandie, albeit he could've been better.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I suppose the thinking is that Sky have been very visible most years in this race in similar profiles. Most years they have been going for GC, usually with Henao but also Porte, and although Henao isn't there this year, there's some expectation that they would be competitive since de la Cruz was 4th here last year and Kwiatkowski was 2nd back in 2014 and has demonstrated better climbing in the last 18 months or so. For the top 2 to be +1'12 and +3'54 on the first stage is unexpected compared to the team's past performance. I would have pegged de la Cruz as likely to be in the Mollema/Woods group and Kwiatkowski to be in the group de la Cruz eventually finished in, to be honest.

I have to say, I was expecting gaps to be more like the Zumarraga stage in 2011, possibly like Ordizia in 2014, but it turned out to be more like a combination of Ordizia and Zierbena 2010, when Valverde surprised everybody breaking the field on an uncategorized ramp and suddenly the likes of Samu were nearly 2 minutes down.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

So:

Alaphilippe
Roglič +4"
Más, Gorka, Buchmann, Konrad, Bardet, Quintana, Urán, Mollema, Landa +33"
Ion, Woods, Nibali +1'01"
Costa, Antón, Vuillermoz, Zakarin, de la Cruz, Špilak, Carthy +1'32"
Verona, Pardilla +2'14"
Latour, Betancur +3'06"
Kwiatkowski +4'14"
Porte +7'27"

Didn't see that coming. I actually expected Kwiatkowski in decent shape and although I heard Porte wouldn't target the gc this is still worse than expected. I thought he would at least be about as good as Nibali.

Kwiat really struggled yesterday, so I'm not suprised he was bad/gave up. If he takes tomorrow easy then he can still get placings on stages 3 and 4.

Landa is fine, it's not like he finished with Porte, or even Nibali. He was just badly positioned. De la cruz disappointing seeing how sky seemed to think he could perform.

 

[El Pistolero]

Re:

I suppose the thinking is that Sky have been very visible most years in this race in similar profiles. Most years they have been going for GC, usually with Henao but also Porte, and although Henao isn't there this year, there's some expectation that they would be competitive since de la Cruz was 4th here last year and Kwiatkowski was 2nd back in 2014 and has demonstrated better climbing in the last 18 months or so. For the top 2 to be +1'12 and +3'54 on the first stage is unexpected compared to the team's past performance. I would have pegged de la Cruz as likely to be in the Mollema/Woods group and Kwiatkowski to be in the group de la Cruz eventually finished in, to be honest.

I have to say, I was expecting gaps to be more like the Zumarraga stage in 2011, possibly like Ordizia in 2014, but it turned out to be more like a combination of Ordizia and Zierbena 2010, when Valverde surprised everybody breaking the field on an uncategorized ramp and suddenly the likes of Samu were nearly 2 minutes down.

Kwiatkowski rode Vlaanders Mooiste, who ever expected him to challenge for GC here doesn't know much about cycling.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Caruso is BMC leader in this race and he was 9 minites down!!!...Richie is expecting a baby any day ...(may already be here ) so the fierce training of last year may have gone out the window...Teuns is by far the best placed for BMC but still given the competetion too far down for a GC result
Strange BMC performance

SKY also riding forde la Cruz and he was no where credible...Kwaito tuning form for the classics
UAE continuing their shocking season so far

La Tour suffering from the curse of KIrby ?
Zakirin not looking great at all so far this season
Betencur on a slow slow burn ?
Landa didnt climb well on that steep climb
Nibali did well considered he just rode the hell of the north

For my money Quintana is looking good and of course Rojlic
Allapillipe si not going for GC just tuning for the Ardennes

Well my guess is that now he's going for the GC. It's too big race for him to just give up now, although it might affect his Ardennes campaign. Anyway, I would really like Rogla for the win.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re: Re:

So:

Alaphilippe
Roglič +4"
Más, Gorka, Buchmann, Konrad, Bardet, Quintana, Urán, Mollema, Landa +33"
Ion, Woods, Nibali +1'01"
Costa, Antón, Vuillermoz, Zakarin, de la Cruz, Špilak, Carthy +1'32"
Verona, Pardilla +2'14"
Latour, Betancur +3'06"
Kwiatkowski +4'14"
Porte +7'27"

Many disappointing performances.
Spilak, Zaka, Verona after they appeared to show good form in GP Indurain.
Latour after his excellent Volta a Catalunya.
Kwiatkowski and Porte, although they didn't really try perhaps.

Latour is a pure helper for Bardet in this race, so that's kinda unfair

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

So:

Alaphilippe
Roglič +4"
Más, Gorka, Buchmann, Konrad, Bardet, Quintana, Urán, Mollema, Landa +33"
Ion, Woods, Nibali +1'01"
Costa, Antón, Vuillermoz, Zakarin, de la Cruz, Špilak, Carthy +1'32"
Verona, Pardilla +2'14"
Latour, Betancur +3'06"
Kwiatkowski +4'14"
Porte +7'27"

Didn't see that coming. I actually expected Kwiatkowski in decent shape and although I heard Porte wouldn't target the gc this is still worse than expected. I thought he would at least be about as good as Nibali.

I completely forgot that Kwiatkowski was riding the ronde, so just forget what I wrote about him.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

So:

Alaphilippe
Roglič +4"
Más, Gorka, Buchmann, Konrad, Bardet, Quintana, Urán, Mollema, Landa +33"
Ion, Woods, Nibali +1'01"
Costa, Antón, Vuillermoz, Zakarin, de la Cruz, Špilak, Carthy +1'32"
Verona, Pardilla +2'14"
Latour, Betancur +3'06"
Kwiatkowski +4'14"
Porte +7'27"

Many disappointing performances.
Spilak, Zaka, Verona after they appeared to show good form in GP Indurain.
Latour after his excellent Volta a Catalunya.
Kwiatkowski and Porte, although they didn't really try perhaps.

Latour is a pure helper for Bardet in this race, so that's kinda unfair

I knew this wasn't a real goal for him but expected a little more. I didn't know he is just here as a helper - I think Latour in his Volta form would have been a better bet for GC than Bardet.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Who says Latour isn't in Volta form? Maybe he helped Bardet position himself and then dropped back and saved his powers (other goals). You tell me?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Who says Latour isn't in Volta form? Maybe he helped Bardet position himself and then dropped back and saved his powers (other goals). You tell me?

I'm not saying he isn't Volta form - I think he is and that's why I expected better. But if you say he is 100% here as a helper, that explains it. But in that case, I don't think it's smart - with the flat TT and his great form he would have been a way better bet for GC than Bardet.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Kwiatkowski rode Vlaanders Mooiste, who ever expected him to challenge for GC here doesn't know much about cycling.

Yes, dear.

To be honest I wouldn't have expected him to challenge for GC here regardless, but a) he has done before, and b) Sky have historically had a knack of deciding who will become a strong climber, saying avada khedavra, and them becoming one, much like Vaughters' vaunted ability to eke out a GC top 10 in major stage races out of people who would otherwise have no business being up there.

I didn't watch the men's Ronde, and besides he was three minutes worse than Nibali who also rode it.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Kwiatkowski rode Vlaanders Mooiste, who ever expected him to challenge for GC here doesn't know much about cycling.

Yes, dear.

To be honest I wouldn't have expected him to challenge for GC here regardless, but a) he has done before, and b) Sky have historically had a knack of deciding who will become a strong climber, saying avada khedavra, and them becoming one, much like Vaughters' vaunted ability to eke out a GC top 10 in major stage races out of people who would otherwise have no business being up there.

I didn't watch the men's Ronde, and besides he was three minutes worse than Nibali who also rode it.

Judging by De Ronde, Kwiatkowski's form isn't there in the first place.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Caruso is BMC leader in this race and he was 9 minites down!!!...Richie is expecting a baby any day ...(may already be here ) so the fierce training of last year may have gone out the window...Teuns is by far the best placed for BMC but still given the competetion too far down for a GC result
Strange BMC performance

SKY also riding forde la Cruz and he was no where credible...Kwaito tuning form for the classics
UAE continuing their shocking season so far

La Tour suffering from the curse of KIrby ?
Zakirin not looking great at all so far this season
Betencur on a slow slow burn ?
Landa didnt climb well on that steep climb
Nibali did well considered he just rode the hell of the north

For my money Quintana is looking good and of course Rojlic
Allapillipe si not going for GC just tuning for the Ardennes

Well my guess is that now he's going for the GC. It's too big race for him to just give up now, although it might affect his Ardennes campaign. Anyway, I would really like Rogla for the win.

Don't know if he will or not, or may just be stage hunting. It definitely could have an effect on his Ardennes campaign if he decides to try to go after GC here. Valverde doesn't like racing here before the Ardennes because he's said that it does effect his Ardennes training. Although last year you'd never have known since he won here then won another Ardennes double.

 

[Serpentin]

I think Landa was on Quintanas wheel when Rojas pulled to the side. He was well placed coming in to the climb. Didn`t have the legs but I think he will find his legs as race goes on. He has had a bit of a break.

Beautiful Stage. I have ridden on most of these roads, they look flat on TV though :lol:

 

[jonan92]

Tomorrow's stage is similar to this one, but it will be a constat up and down, mucho more than today. If a team decides to ride strong some rider will suffer quite a bit

 

[HelloDolly]

I was quoting Allaphillipe when he said in his ineview after the stage that he was NOT going for GC

He surely knows he cannot match some of these guys on the long climbs so why kill himself trying and then not be top for Ardennes. I believe him as he has no reason to lie

But you relay what he said here and no one believes him !!!

BTW Landa was directly behind Quintana at start of climb so it wasnt no one was working for him or he was too far back !!!!!

 

[johnymax]

Fantastic stuff from Roglič and Alaphilippe. They opened surprisingly quite a big gap to other GC contenders, considering there was still a very large peloton at the bottom of the final climb. I of course hope for Roglic to win the GC but I'd like to see Alaphillippe in contention till the end and hope he gets on the podium. Has he ever been on the podium of a WT stage race? If I'm not mistaken he hasn't.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

I was quoting Allaphillipe when he said in his ineview after the stage that he was NOT going for GC

He surely knows he cannot match some of these guys on the long climbs so why kill himself trying and then not be top for Ardennes. I believe him as he has no reason to lie

But you relay what he said here and no one believes him !!!

BTW Landa was directly behind Quintana at start of climb so it wasnt no one was working for him or he was too far back !!!!!

The way you wrote that looks like it was your opinion not what he said.