I think we have to be slightly cautious about hyping today’s performance as both Superman and Roglic had some bad luck, let’s hope he can maintain consistency for the rest of the race
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Perhaps we're reading too much into the gossip, the media and the speculations around Quintana & Valverde & Movistar, but so far Nairo has proved to be the better rider to lead this Vuelta - but let me stress out: "So Far"
BTW - Nairo better win it , because of the sacrifice Soler had to made, which quite frankly was worthless. Too much tension within the team supporting a departing leader - that's what all boils down to as far as the Movistar innuendo goes
I think that could be a bit misleading. Firstly, because he wasn't riding for GC in most of them, and secondly because the first week or first half of those races was nowhere near as hard as the first week of this Vuelta has been. He may well still crush it, but he has shown that fatigue affects his performances, way more than it does with the likes of Froome or Thomas, so it's not an absolute given that he takes 2+ minutes.He has won 3 of the 5 ITTs he has contested in the first half of a Grand Tour, finished second by the tiniest of margins in one other and crashed in the last.
He has won both ITTs he has contested situated in the middle part of the race.
Any chance he can still pull a surprise in this Vuelta? 3 minutes is a lot!
If If If If If.... If my grandma had balls she would be my granddadThink about if Valverde had his racing smarts - stage 2, now this stage. Valverde would have won the whole damn thing considering he has much better legs than Quintana. Oh well.
Off topic, but how can you only have 180ish post and 50ish likes?! Great ratio!If If If If If.... If my grandma had balls she would be my granddad
After the TT I posted how unprofessional it is of him to do so poorly in TTs. If you don't put time in on the TT bike, you will never be fast on the TT bike. I wonder how much different his times would be if he just used his road bike with TT wheels instead of the full aeor set up? Or maybe better yet, a much more conservative TT position. I wonder if he does any TT testing?When I watch Quintana "the rouleur"on stages like this, I think about how he would fare much better in TTs if they had to do them on road bikes (obviously not going to happen). What I mean is he seems to get the least advantage from the TT bike of any top-tier guy. Now obviously that must have to do with him not dedicating enough time to that. But on the flats without the TT bike, he is small, looks very compact, but still produces lots of power (for his size). His success on days like today and Formigal (and Stage 2 of this Vuelta) are definitely due to his race-sense about being at the front at key junctures, but must also have something to do with be able to put out the watts on the flat so as to stay with these groups once he has made the split. Not that I know any of this for sure, just my observation from these past several years.