Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2022 (March 21-27)

[tobydawq]

Winners today:

Spoiler

Mathieu van der Poel
Wout Van Aert
Ethan Vernon

Decent company to be in.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Strange times when a sprint stage on Catalunya is more interesting than the e3 harlebeke

Really man. E-3 was good, even though the result was obvious after they went on Paterberg.

 

[Faserr]

Vernon wins but might be penalised for what he did with 800mt to go.

Didn't notice that at first but pushing someone with the hand of the handlebars is clearly forbidden.

 

[Alexandre B.]

I thought Vernon's win was cool for like two seconds, then I remembered that Brian Holm is their sports director at the race, so now we'll have to hear about this stage for the next five years and what a genius he (Holm) is.

He should be DQ.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Worst top-10 for a full bunch sprint in the WT since when? The incoming Vernon DSQ won't help.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Great move by Van Wilder, creating chaos in the final km. Clearly a planned maneuver as you can see him looking back to signal Vernon "Ethan, it's time. Get ready, i'm going to crash now''. Masterclass. Next year you'll see Jumbo trying to copy it.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Worst top-10 for a full bunch sprint in the WT since when? The incoming Vernon DSQ won't help.

Since the last Catalunya probably.

 

[huangho]

Hands off:

Wow!! But no DQ yet...

 

[SafeBet]

One of the main problem in today's peloton is riders looking around or behind. Van Wilder got out of the roundabout and immediately looked behind to check where Vernon was. He's not used to ride at the front in these situations but jeez you have to know that's a recipe for disaster.

 

[tobydawq]

Worst top-10 for a full bunch sprint in the WT since when? The incoming Vernon DSQ won't help.

What do you mean, then Guillaume Martin will elevate to the single digits.

 

[Faserr]

It is still "provisional". I think they are checking the replay.

 

[postmanhat]

Pleased for Vernon, even if he gets disqualified. Didn't look like he'd ever sprinted before two weeks ago at Monserre, after QS had ridden for him all day. But is obviously coming into a bit form in this race and could get a some nice results at the smaller Belgian races this year.

 

[Escarabajo]

Tomorrow will be interesting because both sprints are located right after the mountains. So they can have an all out fight in the two 2nd category climbs.

 

[Netserk]

Seems like there won't be any relegations.

 

[greyclouds]

Tomorrow will be interesting because both sprints are located right after the mountains. So they can have an all out fight in the two 2nd category climbs.

Yes, interesting. If there is no break established early on I could definitely see UAE, Arkea or Bora grinding it in the climbs - perhaps even UnoX, Tobias seems greedy and only 20 somethings seconds behind.

 

[zigzag wanderer]

Valverde DNS, along with Conti and Dekker

 

[Carols]

GCN changes their start time from 8AM ET to 10:15ET. We'll miss the Cat 1 .

 

[RunningRouleur]

Kruijswijk went into the breakaway?

 

[RunningRouleur]

What is JV's plan here? Deniis going for a 150km solo raid.

 

[SafeBet]

Looks like chaos.

 

[Faserr]

It is escalating a bit at the moment.
Carapaz, Plapp and Higuita are at the front at the moment. Two big group with favorites behind them. Almeida nowhere to be seen at the moment.

 

[Eclipse]

Going early vs someone like Almeida always seems a good bet. He really has to get into his riding

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Seems like peloton is just about a minute behind leaders and just half a minute or so behind the bigger second group, so I guess there are good chances for Almeida to get back. Not much of domestiques in group 2.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Also interesting that Ayoso and Soler left Almeida behind and went with the big attack group. UAE doesnt seem to be very united when Pogacar is not in the race.

But seems now like Ayoso and Soler is back in peloton, so I guess we can then see UAE work. They should probably have 5 riders there in Almeida, Ayoso, Soler, Bennett and Costa. Quite a bit of manpower.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Quintana got in the right moves but he doesn't have any teammates!