Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana 2017 (01.02. - 05.02.)

[GenericBoonenFan]

Re:

Does anyone have stream for this race?

procyclinglive.com
check under livestreams, one should work.

 

[rick james]

Miss the Spanish races Tv coverage being all over the place, no time gaps?

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Really a strong performance by CCC.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Hmmm LottoJumbo not as good as I'd hoped. Still first so far, but not that far ahead of FDJ; I think some other teams will beat their time easily.

 

[johnymax]

Re:

Hmmm LottoJumbo not as good as I'd hoped. Still first so far, but not that far ahead of FDJ; I think some other teams will beat their time easily.

I agree. I expected a better performance from them. This is practically their TTT A-squad.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Re:

Hmmm LottoJumbo not as good as I'd hoped. Still first so far, but not that far ahead of FDJ; I think some other teams will beat their time easily.

FDJ has become a pretty decent TTT team.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Cannondale 6 minutes behind?????!
Edit: TV bug. Barely 45 seconds off

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

And indeed Quickstep easily beating LottoJumbo's time.

 

[rick james]

some big gaps already

 

[rick james]

BMC kill it

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re:

BMC kill it

By 50 seconds. Wow.

 

[Akuryo]

That was an insane ride by BMC. Hats off to that performance!

 

[Max Rockatansky]

1 BMC
2 Sky +21s
3 Quick Step +49s
4 Movistar +1:02
5 Lotto +1:13

 

[johnymax]

Amazing ride by BMC. Good time for Sky as well.

 

[DNP-Old]

That's race over after just one stage basically.

 

[Flamin]

Poor ride by LottoNL considering the guys they brought.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Pinot is sick and did not finish with the first FDJ riders.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

That's race over after just one stage basically.

I dunno. It's early season, so climbing form will be pretty variable. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that Poels or even one of the other Sky riders could put 21 seconds into Roche if Roche's climbing legs aren't there yet. It's not much of a MTF but it's steep enough that if someone blows up they could lose a chunk of time. The race is over for everyone else though.

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

That's race over after just one stage basically.

I dunno. It's early season, so climbing form will be pretty variable. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that Poels or even one of the other Sky riders could put 21 seconds into Roche if Roche's climbing legs aren't there yet. It's not much of a MTF but it's steep enough that if someone blows up they could lose a chunk of time. The race is over for everyone else though.

Correct, but that's what I was referring to. At the absolute best, this GC race is a two team horse race, while this could have been much better. Not even certain we get a BMC/SKY fight, since the former has several options to play with too. A short ITT would have done good me thinks. Several good climbers have nothing to race for anymore, other than a stage win.

 

[yaco]

This length TTT should feature in every GT.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Hmmm Roglic didn't finish with LottoJumbo, that's surprising considering his TT performances last year.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

This length TTT should feature in every GT.

I fully agree with you.

In other news, it's not opposite day today.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

That's race over after just one stage basically.

I dunno. It's early season, so climbing form will be pretty variable. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that Poels or even one of the other Sky riders could put 21 seconds into Roche if Roche's climbing legs aren't there yet. It's not much of a MTF but it's steep enough that if someone blows up they could lose a chunk of time. The race is over for everyone else though.

Roche can win this race if he's in great shape. Wasn't it Mathias Frank who won on this ascent (Mas de la Costa) in the Vuelta? Clearly, weight isn't everything even though it's a steep climb.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

That's race over after just one stage basically.

I dunno. It's early season, so climbing form will be pretty variable. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that Poels or even one of the other Sky riders could put 21 seconds into Roche if Roche's climbing legs aren't there yet. It's not much of a MTF but it's steep enough that if someone blows up they could lose a chunk of time. The race is over for everyone else though.

Roche can win this race if he's in great shape. Wasn't it Mathias Frank who won on this ascent (Mas de la Costa) in the Vuelta? Clearly, weight isn't everything even though it's a steep climb.

He should be the favourite from here. My point was that he's not so strong a favourite as saying that the race is over already implies. This time of year, nobody knows who is climbing well until they actually start doing it. A 21 second deficit can be overcome if one of the Sky guys who can climb has better early season form. A minute for the other teams though? No chance.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

This length TTT should feature in every GT.

I fully agree with you.

In other news, it's not opposite day today.

Agree. If you want to have a TTT, at least make them +35 kilometres. Had been very good in a GT.