Ruta del Sol - Vuelta ciclista a Andalucia 2014 2.1 (19th - 23rd Feb)

[postmanhat]

The train is the last thing that's needed. Send men on the attack at every opportunity and make Movistar defend.

That's a very long and hard stage for this time of season. Would be amazed if Sky try to light it up too much! Maybe Kennaugh to soften them up a bit before Porte has a go, and Valverde stays on his wheel until the the final 200m

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

dont worry. Richie will take it

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Libertine Seguros it seems you still don't understand the problem at hand, last try.

I'm not interested in a head to head over 10 years between Valverde and some other riders that 4 years ago didn't existed (figurative ofc) anyway. It's meaningless.

I'm interested when Valverde put 2sec / km in the currently no2 and no4 WC ITT guys. How hard can it be? Can you help with this curiosity of mine? I don't need explanations for Valverde's performance from today, i know the causes.

when was the last time the sky was green and the gras was blue?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

No surprise that Izaguirre clearly improved his TT after joining Movistar, they have much better TT bikes than Euskaltel and they do quite a lot of TT-specific training.

Still, that he might win a flat prologue is quite surprising. If I remember correctly he did win a time-trial back in 2012, but that was much longer.

movistar do have better equipment but they dont'train specifically on itt. when uran left for sky he said he never once trained on an itt bike at caisse depargne. maybe it has changed now but I don't think so. they do have itt specialists now a bit more.

 

[karlboss]

I'm going to take a stab and say the Sky guys were a little off pace, the prologue can't have been too quick Geschke was 9th only 3 seconds behind the top Sky rider. He's a solid rider, and has some early season form, but prologue's are not really his thing and he certainly isn't in Valverde's league.
I'd count Valverde's win as a surprise, not unprecedented, and I'd put it down more to Sky under performing than Valverde over performing.

 

[roundabout]

Geschke did a pretty good TT in CI once. 2012 or 2011.

 

[karlboss]

Geschke did a pretty good TT in CI once. 2012 or 2011.

2012, behind Rogers and Evans. However the key to your post is the use of the word "once"

 

[42x16ss]

Ok my bad, i understand now that Valverde beating Wiggins, Porte and Kiryenka by 2 seconds / km on a flat TT is perfectly normal. It must be so if many people repeat it. Not a big surprise at all.

So let me get this clarified.

Sky gets beaten:

and it's automatically clininc material

Sky wins:

and all is good in the world

Lets forget that Valverde has had an impeccable record in technical prologues for years though

 

[42x16ss]

kiryienka has 3 top 10s in prologues in his career, and none in the last 5 years until today.

Valverde has 13.

stop using facts!

 

[skidmark]

Ok my bad, i understand now that Valverde beating Wiggins, Porte and Kiryenka by 2 seconds / km on a flat TT is perfectly normal. It must be so if many people repeat it. Not a big surprise at all.

If people who know alot about cycling repeat it, then yeah, it's a generally good bet that it's not super abnormal. Valverde always has a better base form coming into a season than most riders, which was always the case but in recent years has been easier to spot since he's not winning everything all the time. Also, he's a more than decent TTer (2007 TdF aside), shorter the better. If he had access to some form of charging that allowed him to perform way better than the riders from Sky or anyone else in the peloton, he'd be stupid as hell to waste it in February at the Ruta Del Sol.

 

[42x16ss]

Also, this has been the first off season that Movistar riders have been provided with TT bikes to train on at home (at the insistence of riders such as Dowsett and Castroviejo).

 

[gooner]

Also, this has been the first off season that Movistar riders have been provided with TT bikes to train on at home (at the insistence of riders such as Dowsett and Castroviejo).

Yeah, Dowsett spoke exactly about this when he was in the Eurosport studio for the Tour last summer. He said it was totally different at Movistar in comparison to Sky in this area and mentioned the above about having no bike to train at home when he first went there and that it was going to be addressed by the team.

 

[sittingbison]

Gentle(wo)men,
the clinic is the ONLY place where doping can be discussed....and that goes for sly (and not so sly) innuendo as well.

So give it a rest in this forum please

cheers
bison

PS Ive left up the convo as the answers provided are quite informative for the curious

 

[trevim]

The break:
Txoperena (Euskadi), Venter (MTN), Owsian (CCC), Ezquerra (Active Jet), Poulhies (Cofidis), Van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen), Aramendia (Caja Rural-RGA), Guerin (Etixx), Hofsteda (Rabobank), Lozano (Novo Nordisk) y Sijmens (Wanty)
5 min ahead with 60 km

 

[manafana]

The break:
Txoperena (Euskadi), Venter (MTN), Owsian (CCC), Ezquerra (Active Jet), Poulhies (Cofidis), Van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen), Aramendia (Caja Rural-RGA), Guerin (Etixx), Hofsteda (Rabobank), Lozano (Novo Nordisk) y Sijmens (Wanty)
5 min ahead with 60 km

with a few weaker teams lining up was bound to get decent size break with all the interests, no stand out name for me.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

The break:
Txoperena (Euskadi), Venter (MTN), Owsian (CCC), Ezquerra (Active Jet), Poulhies (Cofidis), Van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaanderen), Aramendia (Caja Rural-RGA), Guerin (Etixx), Hofsteda (Rabobank), Lozano (Novo Nordisk) y Sijmens (Wanty)
5 min ahead with 60 km

the live feed (ymmv )
http://cricfree.tv/euro-sports.php

 

[trevim]

4 minutes with 60 km to go

 

[manafana]

is this the finish?

 

[Netserk]

lol @ the marginal gains commentary on eurosport.

 

[straightjacker]

A nice finish for explosive conclusion.
Speaking of the GC, Sky could already find themselves in trouble.

 

[Netserk]

A nice finish for explosive conclusion.
Speaking of the GC, Sky could already find themselves in trouble.

Weird you're still around.

 

[manafana]

some narrow roads here, I would be pretty nervy coming down this on an open road.

 

[the sceptic]

looking forward to enacheV telling us that movistar having a train is a sure sign of doping

 

[Jakob747]

Come on Arredondo! Keep that momentum.

 

[manafana]

take it andelucia has bit more money than some of the areas I got to see in last years vuelta, with cycling on decline the vuelta could well be up for sale to the highest bidder especially now it looks like the alonso team wont even be out of Spain.

Movistar chase eased up for bit their they took the downhill handy.

30.9km left with just over 3mins to the main break of 2