RWC Florence 2013

[Hyman]

After one and a half years later im still unsure about whose fault was it.

Purito attacks 2 kms to go when his main role was to control the sprint for the Valverde win. Purito attacks continously yet there were two spanish riders of four in the group and Valverde was the fastest guy.

It was a dream situation for Valverde, with a team mate to control his frequent tactical inability. But instead of controling the race Purito is the one to discontrol it by attacking continously and making Valverde nervous.

All the press and the fans criticized Valverde but I think that it was Purito the one who made the race chaotic, 2 kms away from the sprint with the fastest rider on his team.

What do u think?

 

[Squirbos_19]

Don't quite agree with you, there was a possibility that Valverde could lose the sprint. It was better to have one rider up the road (Purito) and one to follow wheels and wait for the sprint (Valverde). But he didn't follow the wheel of Costa, so didn't contest the sprint.
I understand that they could have set up a sprint but what if Costa attacked, do you really think Rodriguez could bridge the gap for Valverde? I don't think so and Nibali was cooked.

Anyway too many what if's about it. What's done is done.

 

[Hyman]

Re:

Don't quite agree with you, there was a possibility that Valverde could lose the sprint. It was better to have one rider up the road (Purito) and one to follow wheels and wait for the sprint (Valverde). But he didn't follow the wheel of Costa, so didn't contest the sprint.
I understand that they could have set up a sprint but what if Costa attacked, do you really think Rodriguez could bridge the gap for Valverde? I don't think so and Nibali was cooked.

Anyway too many what if's about it. What's done is done.

I think the possibility of Valverde losing the sprint to Costa was very remote. Valverde didn't work in all the race.

Yesterday he did work and Costa wasn't even able of contesting the sprint. IMO Purito should have controlled the race for Valverde, specially when he was by far the fastest rider of the group.

 

[Parrulo]

Valverde seems to be racing at a higher level now than he was in 2013. And Costa is absolutely pushing less watts this days than he did on his movistar days (his Tour watts were very high, like top 5 high).

So using yesterday's performance is a bit unfair, particularly because Costa was also on the attack on RAF while Valverde sat back.

Anyway i think the result was more of a tactical master class by Costa than a *** up by Valverde (even tho that also was very important). He did everything perfectly. All by himself (he had 2 teams mates, one crashing out early and the other was struggling to hang on to the group with 2 laps to go) he positioned himself for the climb, followed the right wheels to get over the top close to the leaders (Purito and Nibali were only 5 seconds ahead at the top which isn't much).

He then played his cards perfectly forcing Nibali to work and hang on for dear life on the last climb. Even his attack was at the perfect time in those tight corners. And for all the talk of him not being the strongest, he was still unquestionably amongst the 5 strongest and managed to bridge a pretty big gap to Purito in 1 Km and then beat him in the sprint.

Imo his attack on the corners deserves more credit than it has been given because of Valverde's *** up.

 

[Hyman]

Re:

Valverde seems to be racing at a higher level now than he was in 2013. And Costa is absolutely pushing less watts this days than he did on his movistar days (his Tour watts were very high, like top 5 high).

So using yesterday's performance is a bit unfair, particularly because Costa was also on the attack on RAF while Valverde sat back.

Anyway i think the result was more of a tactical master class by Costa than a **** up by Valverde (even tho that also was very important). He did everything perfectly. All by himself (he had 2 teams mates, one crashing out early and the other was struggling to hang on to the group with 2 laps to go) he positioned himself for the climb, followed the right wheels to get over the top close to the leaders (Purito and Nibali were only 5 seconds ahead at the top which isn't much).

He then played his cards perfectly forcing Nibali to work and hang on for dear life on the last climb. Even his attack was at the perfect time in those tight corners. And for all the talk of him not being the strongest, he was still unquestionably amongst the 5 strongest and managed to bridge a pretty big gap to Purito in 1 Km and then beat him in the sprint.

Imo his attack on the corners deserves more credit than it has been given because of Valverde's **** up.

When has Costa been faster than Valverde ?

Valverde in 2013 outsprinted Gerrans and Kwaitkoski at the Amstel Gold Race. Quite rare him losing a sprint to Costa.

That was the spanish card to play. Purito was riding like if instead of Costa and Nibali, the rivals were Cipollini and Zabel. The huge favourite was on his team. No need to attack for securing a spanish win.

 

[Netserk]

If Purito had led the four of them into those bends I doubt Costa would've gotten away.

 

[The Hitch]

It was Nibali's fault. Not that Nibali didn't have a right to chase, he did.

But if Nibali wasn't there and didn't for some unknown reason decide to just kill himself to let Costa win, Purito would have won.
Its very rare for someone to behave that way tactically, stupid even. There is no way in hell you are going to win by serving as a 1 man sprint train for your opponents, so I don't know why Nibali did it, but its his choice if he wants to. Maybe it was the crash, he hit his head or something like Horner 2011 and didn't know what he was doing.

From Purito's p.o.v you can't account for someone doing that tactically since its so unlikely and almost never happens. Just unfortunate. the 1 day Murito has a chance to win his big race, is the 1 day Nibali temporarily loses all his braincells and behaves in a tactically *** way. C'est la vie.

Some might argue Nibali shouldn't have been there in the first place due to the car streaming that got him back to the peloton to begin with.

 

[Fernandez]

I have rewatched the last 30 kms of the race and i have only one thing to say: Rui Costa was a @#€& rat. He wheelsucked Nibali badly. Probably Nibali deserved that one the most.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Valverde was spent, I've never really understood the hysteria about it

 

[Netserk]

What else should Nibali have done in order to win? Sit up and hope for a miracle?

 

[Carols]

Re:

What else should Nibali have done in order to win? Sit up and hope for a miracle?

Indeed, it was his Only option. Okay so he blew up, at least he gave it a go!

 

[Carols]

Re:

Valverde was spent, I've never really understood the hysteria about it

Me neither at this point; that was 2013 this is 2015. Time for people to stop generating angst over the fact that Valverde came up empty. It happens......

 

[The Hitch]

Re: Re:

What else should Nibali have done in order to win? Sit up and hope for a miracle?

Indeed, it was his Only option. Okay so he blew up, at least he gave it a go!

It wasn't an option. There is no way in cycling you will win by pulling your opponents on the flat.

 

[The fridge in the blue trees]

Re:

Some might argue Nibali shouldn't have been there in the first place due to the car streaming that got him back to the peloton to begin with.

And those guys are wrong.
If anything his second attack to Fiesole might have been a mistake. Keep Scarponi in front.