The Big Battle That Is Going Under The Radar This Vuelta

[gregrowlerson]

But going under it no longer...

Perhaps due to all the excitement surrounding the battle for the overall victory involving the likes of Nibali, Rodriguez and Scarponi - one very important head to head seems to have been forgotten about.

It's the battle of 2 wonderful climbers from Germany...

It's Tony Martin vs. Andreas Kloden.

It's a battle for a coveted spot in the top 150 of the general classification...

Discuss

 

[unsheath]

Its under the radar cause its completely irrelevant.

 

[SiAp1984]

Martin is there to prepare for the worlds only.

Klöden obviously is out of form, just as he said before the race (and I guess he is not giving all he could for a 50th place or something).

So it seems quite normal that both are well off the pace... Oh, and Martin is going to win the ITT

 

[Stingray34]

Why is Kloeden there at all if he's so out of form? He's not likely to ride himself back into any during such a hard race. A bit of a mistake starting. He should've gone to Colorado to get some altitude training...like Andy

 

[Fatclimber]

Tony Martin is still too young to perform consistently over 3 weeks to land a spot in the top 150. 170 maybe, but not 150. You will see, he will crack. Kloden has planned to peak toward the latter stages of the race when the real climbing begins, I'm thinking it will vault him way up into the low 140's, if not better. There are many haters that will not appreciate me saying that, but watch and see.

 

[LukeSchmid]

The real battle is between TGBM and TBSK.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Tony Martin is still too young to perform consistently over 3 weeks to land a spot in the top 150. 170 maybe, but not 150. You will see, he will crack. Kloden has planned to peak toward the latter stages of the race when the real climbing begins, I'm thinking it will vault him way up into the low 140's, if not better. There are many haters that will not appreciate me saying that, but watch and see.

Yeah, I think that Klodi is racing really smart, making sure that he doesn't crack too much in the early stages - just keeping a little extra in the gas tank to make sure that he can propell himself "way up into the low 140's" later on.

But any higher than that would be far too ambitious I reckon.

All of this serious discussion is just pure speculation though. I'm fearful that the German mountain goats might be eliminated by the organiser following stage 9 - I'd be surprised if either bothered to get out of the saddle even once on the day before the ITT.

 

[theyoungest]

Wait until Tony M. comes to the Tour of Colorado next year. Perfect race for him: two time trials, and no selective climbs. He'll crush it.

 

[Fergoose]

Cruel, cruel people.

 

[gregrowlerson]

Cruel, cruel people.

Klodi stormed up to 146th position overnight. The 130's now actually appear to be a distinct possibility.

Couldn't even see Martin in the results. I hope that he's abandonned, thus giving Andreas a chance at winning the ITT.

On a little more serious note, this Vuelta should now be a good chance for Kloden to finally get a GT stage win, as he will be given all the freedom in the world from the peleton. He just needs to ride himself into some half decent form and he can win somthing during the second half of the race.

 

[greenedge]

I hope they can go well in the ITT but Klodi is under form and Martin is just fine-tuning before the Worlds.

 

[maltiv]

Wait until Tony M. comes to the Tour of Colorado next year. Perfect race for him: two time trials, and no selective climbs. He'll crush it.

Indeed, 2-3% "climbs" are perfect for him.

I hope he soon realizes that he isn't a GT rider. He's still had a great season though.