Ruta del Sol - Vuelta Ciclista a Andalucía 2021 (May 18-22)

[BlueRoads]

Koronin, you make it sound like Movistar are the worst chauvinists. I know they prefer Spanish riders, and it annoys me enough, but I don't believe for one second they would ever be so dumb to buy López and put him below Mas in the pecking order just because he's not Spanish.

 

[Koronin]

Koronin, you make it sound like Movistar are the worst chauvinists. I know they prefer Spanish riders, and it annoys me enough, but I don't believe for one second they would ever be so dumb to buy López and put him below Mas in the pecking order just because he's not Spanish.

At the Tour I think they will be equal co-leaders. At La Vuelta if Valverde has form he'll be above the others.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Sky/Ineos have a different philosophy than Movistar. Also Movistar will do almost anything to ensure having at minimum a co-leader of la Vuelta who is a Spaniard.

Reductio ad absurdum. You argued that Quintana crashing out of the 2014 Vuelta was proof that they were right not to have him as leader... but no team bases their plans around the team leader crashing. Even Euskaltel. Chris Froome crashed out of the 2014 Tour, but he was the defending champion and the favourite, so he was the sole leader of Sky and rightfully so. Yet your argument would appear to be that because he crashed out of that race, he wouldn't have deserved to be the leader, and when called out on this you claim it's to do with differences in team philosophy - but a rider crashing out is not part of team philosophy. Nairo Quintana had just won the Giro and was trying to do the Giro-Vuelta double, and was leading the race at the time he crashed out of it - which was proof positive that he did deserve to be the leader.

In 2007, Caisse d'Épargne abandoned ship on Pereiro and threw their weight behind the two Russians when Pereiro lost fifty seconds.

 

[Koronin]

Reductio ad absurdum. You argued that Quintana crashing out of the 2014 Vuelta was proof that they were right not to have him as leader... but no team bases their plans around the team leader crashing. Even Euskaltel. Chris Froome crashed out of the 2014 Tour, but he was the defending champion and the favourite, so he was the sole leader of Sky and rightfully so. Yet your argument would appear to be that because he crashed out of that race, he wouldn't have deserved to be the leader, and when called out on this you claim it's to do with differences in team philosophy - but a rider crashing out is not part of team philosophy. Nairo Quintana had just won the Giro and was trying to do the Giro-Vuelta double, and was leading the race at the time he crashed out of it - which was proof positive that he did deserve to be the leader.

In 2007, Caisse d'Épargne abandoned ship on Pereiro and threw their weight behind the two Russians when Pereiro lost fifty seconds.

There's also a trust issue. Movistar never fully trusted Quintana. Personally I think teams should have a plan B.

 

[Bonimenier]

There's also a trust issue. Movistar never fully trusted Quintana. Personally I think teams should have a plan B.

I agree. I wouldn't trust someone who won a GT a couple months prior either to perform at a GT.

 

[RedheadDane]

There's also a trust issue. Movistar never fully trusted Quintana. Personally I think teams should have a plan B.

But why would that have anything to do with riding for Lopez?

 

[Koronin]

But why would that have anything to do with riding for Lopez?

They don't know if they can trust him or not. He said when he signed he was going to be a co-leader in races and that he is fine with that set up. He has to prove to them they can trust him and unfortunately his getting Covid and not being able to be part of their pre season training camp didn't help and his long recovery time at least didn't set him back much due to when they want him racing for the Tour.

 

[Bonimenier]

They don't know if they can trust him or not. He said when he signed he was going to be a co-leader in races and that he is fine with that set up. He has to prove to them they can trust him and unfortunately his getting Covid and not being able to be part of their pre season training camp didn't help and his long recovery time at least didn't set him back much due to when they want him racing for the Tour.

That's a ridiculous theory. If you sign someone, you assume you can trust that person until proven otherwise.

 

[Koronin]

That's a ridiculous theory. If you sign someone, you assume you can trust that person until proven otherwise.

You hope you can.

 

[Escarabajo]

Which team is stupid enough to pay so much money for absolutely nothing. Lol. But we have seen very bad things from Movistar in the past anyway.

 

[Escarabajo]

There's also a trust issue. Movistar never fully trusted Quintana. Personally I think teams should have a plan B.

Do you talk with Unzue or somebody from Management?
Otherwise, how do you know that?

 

[SafeBet]

Do you talk with Unzue or somebody from Management?
Otherwise, how do you know that?

She's good friends with Quintana.

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Quintana was definitely viewed as co-leader of the team during his time there. And he did a ton of PR appearances for Movistar (the sponsor), I'd say close to the same level as Valverde.
I don't think Mas will be anything like that. He's a good rider but doesn't have the charisma of either Quintana or Valverde.

The race co-leader talk is useless. At the Tour, Movistar won't ever need to control the race.
At the Vuelta, they probably will try to control the race. But, obviously, they're not going to make any of riders work for another when he's higher in GC.

 

[Bonimenier]

Stannard apologising to Impey for Impey's disgusting sprint. What is this?

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[RedheadDane]

Stannard apologising to Impey for Impey's disgusting sprint. What is this?

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Not for the crash, more for his reaction right afterwards (shouting at Impey), which - Impey's fault or not - didn't look too good.
Though, my mother did have a very practical view on things: He (Stannard) should have crossed the line - with his bike - first, and then started the shouting.

 

[Bonimenier]

Not for the crash, more for his reaction right afterwards (shouting at Impey).
Though, my mother did have a very practical view on things: He (Stannard) should have crossed the line - with his bike - first, and then started the shouting.

His reaction was very mild for what just happened tbh. Impey's actions were worse than the ones Bouhanni did and got a ban for. At least there you could argue that it was real racing incident with Bouhanni trying to follow the wheel of Viviani. Did anyone expect Stewart to apologise for his tweets afterwards? I doubt it.

 

[yaco]

I reckon Impey's move was worse than Groenewegen's move - Stannard was instructed to apologise to Impey who was a valued team member for nine years - The team was unhappy with Stannard's reaction and he is uncertain to ride the Dauphine which is on his program - It's a strange world.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

It doesn’t look good when a rider is standing over a prone rider yelling down at him, fair enough, I agree. He should not have responded like that. But in context, I find it very hard to understand that Stannard should be the one who gets in trouble. They did see the sprint, right?

 

[yaco]

Anyway, Stannard is confirmed to ride the Dauphine - I watched an interview with the ISN sprint coach ex Aussie Pro Allan Davis who claimed that Impey was going to win the stage, and was not to blame for the crash - It appears that ISN is trying to avoid an UCI disciplinary investigation.