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Teams & Riders Team Movistar-thread

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Mas still 5th. Valverde still 8th but lost a lot of time. Soler eliminated. Not really sure what they are trying to do.

Mas is actually attempting to get a podium if not win (just not good enough at the moment to to compete with Roglic). Valverde has been asked to stay as high in GC as possible, plus he likely has the same belief as at the Tour. That is he feels he must remain as close to Mas as possible to provide any support he can.
 
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Enric Mas is apologizing to the team and fans for not winning the stage. He put all he had out there, I don't see why he needs to apologize for trying.

From the team page:
Enric Mas: I want to apologize to the Spanish fans, the Movistar Team fans and the squad for not being able to win. The team was sensational again, but I didn’t have that final punch of energy to go for an extra attack in the end. I’m happy with how we did all over the entire stage, but I’m not satisfied with the result, because we were aiming at the victory, we were so motivated – both myself and the team – and I knew that I was doing well and I could go for the win in such a difficult stage. I haven’t been able to bring them a victory, but it’s still one week left in La Vuelta to make all of them happy. A rest day tomorrow – we hope to get as much sleep as possible, though we have a long transfer back to the hotel in Galicia. We’ll check the TT course on Monday and try to make the most of that recon to do our best and keep fighting for this Vuelta. Both the long flat section and the Ézaro climb could create some significant gaps.”



 
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Try to use Valverde to make the race harder on the Angliru. I think it would have benefitted Mas more than riding behind Gesink/Vingegaard for 2/3 of it.

But ok, I think Mas can get Martin in the TT and if he has a good day even more can be possible.

What exactly did you expect Valverde to do? He was dropped before 3 of the J-V riders. His climbing has been well off this entire season and it hasn't gotten that much better for the Vuelta. Mas literally said he had nothing more at the end of the stage than what he put out there.
 
Mas' time trial was off. Valverde's was off, but at least 20 seconds of his issues were from the bike change that was down right horrible. Still a poor TT, although I don't think he's done much training on TT bikes since his 2017 crash. Soler's was about average for him. Oliveira did a very good TT.
 
The possible arrival of Miguel Lopez would be good for Soler. Less pressure in the GT's for riding a GC, so that he can focus on what he does the best: attacking and hunting for stages. And he will have the freedom in plenty of stageraces of one week to lead the team. A bit like a younger Luis Sanchez in his Caisse days.
 
Sure, a 25 year old finishing 5th in Tour and (probably) 5th in Vuelta within 6 weeks are nothing more than a “Top 10 GT material AT BEST”.

oh, he already got a GT podium aswell...

Maybe I've been a bit too harsh, but I stand with my point.
He's massively overrated and will face tremendous competition by the new GT talents.
Maybe he'll reach other top 5, maybe a lucky podium but nothing more.
 
idk Mas has been fine this year. Obviously Pogacar and Bernal are the 2 young riders who are above everyone else. Maybe Evenepoel will be, too, but hasn't demonstrated it yet.
I've seen nothing to convince me that riders like Geoghegan Hart, Hindley or Carthy can get a Top 5 in the Tour. IMHO one has to take this whole season with a grain of salt.
 
The possible arrival of Miguel Lopez would be good for Soler. Less pressure in the GT's for riding a GC, so that he can focus on what he does the best: attacking and hunting for stages. And he will have the freedom in plenty of stageraces of one week to lead the team. A bit like a younger Luis Sanchez in his Caisse days.

Thing is Movistar has to stop designate every competent climber in their GT squad as GC leader. Maybe all this awkwardness come from Valverde still being there and not completely awful. They chose to vacate the Giro leadership just to build a trident in other GT because they think a joint leadership of one real contender plus Valverde will be more awkward so let's make it three?
If they once put Landa and Quintana to wrestle with each other and Valverde, there is also chance they will put Mas and López in the same GT, plus Valverde, and funny thing will happen again. If they're lucky it can be as funny as Carapaz winning Giro, but to this day I still think it's not how they meant it to happen. Soler, meanwhile, will hopelessly still lead a GT with a leftover squad.

Valverde has been a problem in GT lately. But he's so big and he's done so much, I can understand that he has the right to be a problem.
 
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Valverde has been a problem in GT lately. But he's so big and he's done so much, I can understand that he has the right to be a problem.
Valverde wasn’t the problem, but the solution in the Vuelta last year. He wasn’t a problem in neither the Tour or the Vuelta this year either. And in the Tour last year he clearly started as a dom, pulling/attacking early in Planche des Belles Filles for Quintana/Landa. It was just at the end of the Tour he took more space as Quintana and Landa had both failed.
 

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