Volta a Catalunya 2012: Stage 3, La Vall d'en Bas - Port-Ainé (211 km)

[wirral]

If they can shed Albasini, and even if they can't, there should be a big fight for places as places and not time may well decide positions from 2 all the way to 28 on the GC. Here's how it stands:-
Hesjedal + 40
Cherel + 41
Morabito + 43
Jeannesson + 45
and so on - all very tight

I have not included stage 3 in those results as they appear not to have been counted by the organisers.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

That's why today was a double shafting for Cherel and AG2r

Spend the riding hard in abysmal weather to build up an unassailable lead only to find it's all for nothing - he doesn't even get to count his placing to move up to 2nd on GC

Wonder whether there will be some sort of protest tomorrow

 

[Escarabajo]

Yeah, i mean Andy Schleck and Ivan Basso leaving the race has killed the entertainment for me. They were animating it so much.

+1. LOL.

And the sad part is that whoever wins will not be a worthy winner in this forum because of the great GC contenders that retired that were going to rip the race apart.

 

[Escarabajo]

On the other hand, four Spaniards DNSed - Valverde, Moreno, Horrach and Navarro.

Key figures in:
Brajkovic
Albasini
CA Sørensen
Leipheimer
van den Broeck
Arroyo
Danielson
Fuglsang
Cunego
Gesink
Hesjedal
Zaugg
Kelderman
Samuel Sánchez
Dan Martin
Menchov
Karpets
Bruseghin
Nieve
LL Sánchez
Moncoutié
Kashechkin (!)

Key names out:
de Gendt
Siutsou
Wiggins
Porte
Schleck
Machado
Basso
Txurruka
Tiralongo
van Garderen
Valverde

Still a pretty decent field, probably as good as 2009-10.

I am disappointed in you. I thought you knew the cycling riders very well.

 

[Orvieto]

+1
The official results took forever to arrive. All are shown as DNF, which means they DNS tomorrow.

Tv and big names not being there is absolutely irrelevant.

Crossing the finishing line, wherever it ends up, is what counts.

I hope you're right. I can understand nullifying the time gaps, but allowing those who abandoned back in the race would make no sense. They haven't finished the stage, shortened though it was. They were sitting warm and comfy in the team trailer while the rest slogged on through the cold. To let them start tomorrow would be a travesty. You could end up with a "winner" who has completed fewer kilometres than his competitors.

 

[Sciatic]

That's why today was a double shafting for Cherel and AG2r

Spend the riding hard in abysmal weather to build up an unassailable lead only to find it's all for nothing - he doesn't even get to count his placing to move up to 2nd on GC

Wonder whether there will be some sort of protest tomorrow

clearly, the biggest problem was they didn't have Cancellara there to nullify the stage!

 

[RedheadDane]

All this stuff about riders not really knowing where the finish line was kinda reminded me of a joke Chris Anker made back in 2009.

According to him there should be a stage of unknown length, between on cm and 300 km, and at one point there'd be a man with a flag, perhaps a dwarf, and that would be it.

 

[greenedge]

Nice ride by Brajkovic ( showing good signs of life, finally )- they probably let him go because he was a bit further back in the GC.

 

[Lexman]

As someone else wrote on this thread, nearly every rider is riding this race as prep for something bigger. Is it really worth risking their season to complete this stage.

Yeah but Andy better should start to complete some races to have some racing kilometers in the legs...

Paris Nice : abandoned,
Volta Catalunya : abandoned

others are doing their required kilometers

VDB also needs the kilometers and his goal is also the TDF, he continues the Volta as does Gesink and others...