TeeJay in top ten: which Young rider will survive the Vuelta?

[jaylew]

Probably just ran out of gas. You could see it coming as he was having more trouble the longer the race went. Not unexpected. The guy just turned 22 and finished top 10 in stage races in February, April, June, and August.

TJ: "Yep. That oughta do it"

Edit: I think he saw it coming. In an interview last week in response to a question about how his was feeling, he said something like "I wish they had one of these things that was 2 weeks long instead of jumping up to 3 weeks"

 

[Parrulo]

Edit: I think he saw it coming. In an interview last week in response to a question about how his was feeling, he said something like "I wish they had one of these things that was 2 weeks long instead of jumping up to 3 weeks"

there is such thing. is called the volta a portugal and its 4th most difficult stage race of the calender with 14 stages iirc

 

[jaylew]

Yeah, you and I know that but maybe he doesn't. Besides, what are the chances of Columbia sending a team there?

 

[Escarabajo]

Same goes for Uran. He exploded. He lost 36 minutes. The third week is always a clue for who is recuperating well in a GT. That means that some riders are not GT material, but can compete against almost anybody in shorter races. I hope that's not the case. I was paying attention to TJ as much as Uran because they are very young. Maybe they are too young still.

Other explanation for why they are not recuperating well might go in the clinic. But for this Vuelta I doubt that's the problem.

 

[search]

Same goes for Uran. He exploded. He lost 36 minutes. The third week is always a clue for who is recuperating well in a GT. That means that some riders are not GT material, but can compete against almost anybody in shorter races. I hope that's not the case. I was paying attention to TJ as much as Uran because they are very young. Maybe they are too young still.

I think Uran is a different case, he was very active at the beginning of the stage and tried to go into the break. His main target seems to be to get a stage victory and after those efforts and not catching the break it was sure that he wouldn't win it anyway

 

[rhubroma]

Funny how the greats of the past had shone from their first career years. What can we ecpect from TJ?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

there is such thing. is called the volta a portugal and its 4th most difficult stage race of the calender with 14 stages iirc

Used to be 14. Now we're down to 11, sadly. But 11 days in Portugal in the blistering heat of August, up the Alto da Torre against super-motivated national teams and climbers, should be a good guide to how you can cope at GT level. Then again, Tondó won it in 2007, and has blown up halfway through week 3 of both GTs he's raced in 2010. Then again, Cervélo is a very different environment from LA-MSS, and the pressure is different too. Tondó's had a long season and is coming back from a broken collarbone.

There's also the 12-day Vuelta al Tachíra in Venezuela, and the 15-day Vuelta a Colombia. But I don't think being mercilessly pounded by the elite Colombian climbers is necessarily the way to help a youngster develop.

Yeah, you and I know that but maybe he doesn't. Besides, what are the chances of Columbia sending a team there?

Well, depends how easy they think the sprints are going to be. That's why they were in Turkey and Britain, right?

I think Uran is a different case, he was very active at the beginning of the stage and tried to go into the break. His main target seems to be to get a stage victory and after those efforts and not catching the break it was sure that he wouldn't win it anyway

Urán also is coming back from breaking his collarbone in his preparations for the Vuelta back at the start of August, and was involved in the crash on stage 14. It's possible that he simply cannot hang with the GC guys because of the pain or the lack of adequate preparation time - he'd certainly been looking comfortable prior to that.

 

[Boardslide]

Well, depends how easy they think the sprints are going to be. That's why they were in Turkey and Britain, right?

I don't think HTC were under any illusions about the parcours at TOB this time around as last year the feedback from the teams was that it needed to be more technical with more climbs, which it is.

Tejay did well today to get back to the peleton before the last climb after being droped but obviously used up too much energy, a case of one climb too many, hopefully he'll make it to Madrid. Still a good effort for a first GT.