Stage 17 Eurosport coverage

[Anonymous]

I had no idea what was happening in this stage until suddenly I did.

Anyone can tell me how the followers suddenly became the leaders and then AC broke away?

I would love a timeline story, perhaps CN can do one for us.

To cap it all, Shaun Kelly's delivery became so confused, i started to think of clinic issues! What's with the interminable 'ehhhhhhhhhh'?

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

Race report

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

... i started to think of clinic issues!

Looking at today's result you might be right here...

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks -now have read it and it was a straightforward ganging-up planned beforehand.

What a fix. Not enamouring me to professional cycling and opening up thoughts on so-called individual wins vs team wins.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Thanks -now have read it and it was a straightforward ganging-up planned beforehand.

What a fix. Not enamouring me to professional cycling and opening up thoughts on so-called individual wins vs team wins.

Or alternatively, Movistar wanted guys up the road because Valverde had to gain time and didn't want to have to work, Saxo Bank had an attacking plan and did a good job of cutting deals with friends of Contador (Tiralongo in particular is a former Contador domestique who won't have forgotten Contador towing him to his first career win in Macugnaga), and Katyusha have been pacing the bunch for two weeks - there's a limit to what people can have in reserve.

 

[Cimber]

Thanks -now have read it and it was a straightforward ganging-up planned beforehand.

What a fix. Not enamouring me to professional cycling and opening up thoughts on so-called individual wins vs team wins.

The best wins are when its a mix of both team work and individual performance. I.e. the team setting it up, ideally through smart tactics, and the strong individual finishing it by himself solo.

Btw Valverde and Movistar rode really smart and strong too

 

[Cimber]

Race report

lol gotta love this part:

14:50:39 CEST

As Alasdair Fotheringham explains
here
, however, the Fuente Dé should be slightly different to the veritable fiesta of Rodriguez/Contador slugging matches we've witnessed to date. Though 17.3km in length, the second category climb has an average gradient of just 3.9%, and so it seems unlikely that any of the top four will be able to make significant gains

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Hey, I've said stuff like that I regret saying too.

I've said things like:
- Wiggins will never do better than his 4th place finish in 2009
- an impassioned defence of Ezequiel Mosquera when people were raising suspicions about him
- Cadel Evans' psychological transformation happened just too late for his physical peak and he missed his best chance to win the Tour in 2008
- Froome should sit up and ride slow in the ITT in the 2011 Vuelta because he needs the energy in reserve to domestique for Wiggins for week 2; after that he'll be spent and Löfkvist will take over as domestique du jour
- País Vasco 2012 would be entirely pointless and Tony Martin would win it in the ITT

We all get it wrong sometimes! And to be fair, I think a lot of us made the same conclusion - it looked like a worthless stage with an entirely unnecessary MTF.

But then, who would have predicted that these would be some of the most crazy stages of the last decade?

(this is the obvious predecessor of today's stage, with the Liberty Seguros ambush of Menchov on the penultimate climb, with of course Liberty doing a combination of the Contador attack and the Valverde hopping between teammates in the attack moves).

 

[JRanton]

Today's stage reminded me how impressive Sky rode for Wiggins at the Tour (and yes, I know Contador wasn't there but even so an attack like today's wouldn't have been successful against Wiggins and Sky).

 

[cineteq]

Today's stage reminded me how impressive Sky rode for Wiggins at the Tour (and yes, I know Contador wasn't there but even so an attack like today's wouldn't have been successful against Wiggins and Sky).

LOL The random comment of the day!

 

[JRanton]

LOL The random comment of the day!

It's not really a random comment considering that Katusha's weakness ultimately ensured that the Contador attack was successful.

 

[Pulpstar]

Today's stage reminded me how impressive Sky rode for Wiggins at the Tour (and yes, I know Contador wasn't there but even so an attack like today's wouldn't have been successful against Wiggins and Sky).

To be honest we will never know, and it may well not have. But Wiggins would probably back on GC due to the super steep stuff.

Also Wiggins was not relentlessly attacked in the TdF like Rodriguez was, since Nibali unfortunately never believed he could win it.

Sky's team looked very strong in the TdF for sure, but they were never really put under that much pressure...

 

[JRanton]

To be honest we will never know, and it may well not have. But Wiggins would probably back on GC due to the super steep stuff.

Also Wiggins was not relentlessly attacked in the TdF like Rodriguez was, since Nibali unfortunately never believed he could win it.

Sky's team looked very strong in the TdF for sure, but they were never really put under that much pressure...

Oh sure, I was merely referring to today's stage. If you could design a Grand Tour route that doesn't suit Wiggins then this Vuelta would be it!

 

[Anonymous]

Just going back to the thread

I had no idea what was happening in this stage until suddenly I did.

Anyone can tell me how the followers suddenly became the leaders and then AC broke away?

I would love a timeline story, perhaps CN can do one for us.

To cap it all, Shaun Kelly's delivery became so confused, i started to think of clinic issues! What's with the interminable 'ehhhhhhhhhh'?

First, I find Shaun Kelly very, very tedious to listen to and he only repeats what the main commentator puts in his mouth.

On the stage, the whole notion of individual performance is now totally exposed as a sham. I am not taking anything away from the winner who clearly had the whole thing arranged, but how about the fans?

But more important, what about the structure of the Tours, it makes no sense to me.

 

[SafeBet]

Also Wiggins was not relentlessly attacked in the TdF like Rodriguez was, since Nibali unfortunately never believed he could win it.

Nibali actually tried something like this on the Grand Colombier descent.
Problem is Wiggo still had 4 or 5 men with him, so JRanton sort of have a point.

Not trying to compare Nibbles and Contador. But clearly Katusha's inability to help JRO was a huge factor today.