Vuelta 2012, Stage 12: Vilagarcía de Arousa > Mirador de Ézaro (190,5 kms)

[infeXio]

Contador was just interviewed, and assuming the subtitles were right, he said the following:

"I considered going for the stage win today, but the main goal is further ahead."

 

[Alpehue]

Can someone explain to me why it is they expect Rod to loose to much time in the bigger mountains, he seems really strong, especially after his iTT the other day.

 

[No_Balls]

oh, i think he sees the big picture very well. once he broke free of all but contador, he needed to gain as much as possible on contador. he wouldn't achieve that by dragging contador to the line and losing the bonus.

he maximized his gain on contador. excellent tactics.

If Purito saw the bigger picture he would save himself better for trying to stay with Contador in the mountains. Now he is wasting energy for seconds that could come back and haunt him during later stages in the race. He is going for stage wins rather then the overall (like Virenque used to do).

 

[airstream]

I offer to come to consensus: Contador simply gifted the stage to Purito.

 

[sultanofhyd]

Can someone explain to me why it is they expect Rod to loose to much time in the bigger mountains, he seems really strong, especially after his iTT the other day.

Because he can't sustain himself on long climbs when others attack. He can punch for 4-5 minutes not 45.

 

[WillemS]

Seriously, what is Gesink doing? Pretty good today and so w*nk on the climb yesterday. Don't understand the man

Well, his team is certainly looking for excuses. Van Houwelingen said in an interview that the whole team was doing well this year in flat time trials, but were showing signs of weakeness on hilly ITTs. He says it is maybe the material and that they are looking to improve it. I think that's a crazy excuse, but hey, on the other hand TT bikes are not very suitable for climbing...

 

[icefire]

Because he can't sustain himself on long climbs when others attack. He can punch for 4-5 minutes not 45.

He'll lose as much time in the big mountains as he lost in the Giro. All we need is SBTB set a train in Liquigas style for Berto to do a Basso

 

[Parrulo]

Can someone explain to me why it is they expect Rod to loose to much time in the bigger mountains, he seems really strong, especially after his iTT the other day.

in pretty much every GT he has raced for himself ( so from 2010 onwards) he always had a bad day or more in the big mountains in all of them.

he was able to look better during this years giro simply because his main rival was RH.

 

[jilbiker]

Because he can't sustain himself on long climbs when others attack. He can punch for 4-5 minutes not 45.

Agrred. Physique, weight, body definition. Look at Purito, especially quads and you will see why he is able to explode on short climb. I do not see anyone on the physique sustaining power for a long serious climb.

 

[Alpehue]

Because he can't sustain himself on long climbs when others attack. He can punch for 4-5 minutes not 45.

Im aware of his history, but isent that the same history that showed us he cant TT ? seems like he improved a loot there, its going to be interresting to see if how strong he will be on Saturday.

 

[webvan]

Because he can't sustain himself on long climbs when others attack. He can punch for 4-5 minutes not 45.

...up to now, although he didn't crack in the 2012 Giro, granted that were no real attacks until the last climb.

Clearly (ITT comes to mind) he is in the shape of his life so he might be able to hang on a lot longer even if Bertie blasts it before the last climb, something that's always risky to do.

 

[Alpehue]

in pretty much every GT he has raced for himself ( so from 2010 onwards) he always had a bad day or more in the big mountains in all of them.

he was able to look better during this years giro simply because his main rival was RH.

You and sultanofhyd might be right, his history does go against him, but he was also not supposed to be able to TT, and he did suprisingly well for someone with his physique, seems like he managed to improve his indurance, its going to be really interresting to see him once they hit the big mountains.

 

[sultanofhyd]

Hesjedal isn't really a great standard on the long, steep climbs.

TT improvement has a lot to do with the position, tempo and rhythm, all of which are irrelevant in the long climbs when the attacks start flying, and Purito is not one to ride back up to the leaders by riding tempo.

 

[search]

Ah, come on.. That was an attack from Anton. It really was.

I'm not saying it wasn't - you just can't expect someone to do a proper attack if he already had to spend most of his energy just to get into the position to do so.

 

[Publicus]

...up to now, although he didn't crack in the 2012 Giro, granted that were no real attacks until the last climb.

Clearly (ITT comes to mind) he is in the shape of his life so he might be able to hang on a lot longer even if Bertie blasts it before the last climb, something that's always risky to do.

So let me ask: do you think Contador can drop JRod on a climb and gain more than 12" over the remaining stages?

 

[The Hitch]

I offer to come to consensus: Contador simply gifted the stage to Purito.

Nicely done

 

[airstream]

but we have to appreciate purito. he would've won without that attack in virtue of natural course of the race, but he attempted an early punch. looking forward to saturday.

 

[Carols]

Apparently, Contador doesn't think Purito is a threat yet, or at least as much of a threat as Froome. He only pushed ahead when he saw the Sky rider getting close wasn't Froome, but Henao.

Agreed, he would have just sat there I think until a Sky guy appeared; he wanted time on Froome. I thought it was Froome also!

Gesink wow, nice...maybe he is coming around also.

Anton had me out of my seat for a moment LOL!

Alberto is starting to find his race legs, hope he isn't selling Purito short. Purito is on the form of his life!!!

 

[hrotha]

On second thought, maybe it's not that AC doesn't think Purito is as much of a threat as Froome, there's also the possibility that AC knew trying to tackle Purito on this climb was almost impossible, so he simply wasn't racing against him today.

 

[Carols]

No way, Contador was completely on the edge giving it all. There was literally no softpedalling on this climb by anyone in the peloton I think.

Alberto's tell is the tilted head and wide grimace...I think he was giving everything he had! The effort will improve his stamina though

 

[LaFlorecita]

Alberto's tell is the tilted head and wide grimace...I think he was giving everything he had! The effort will improve his stamina though

Yes! Exactly, he was giving everything, but that's not a bad thing! On this type of climb Purito is simply better

 

[DominicDecoco]

I'm not saying it wasn't - you just can't expect someone to do a proper attack if he already had to spend most of his energy just to get into the position to do so.

Hence why I thought it was reckless + he had a teammate in front.

 

[No_Balls]

Intresting to see yesterdays winner, Kessiakoff, with his briliant TT-performance ended 2 minutes behind today on this very short (yet steep) hill. It is really up and down for the swede.

 

[Carols]

I offer to come to consensus: Contador simply gifted the stage to Purito.

ROTFLMAO...Good One Airstream

 

[sultanofhyd]

Intresting to see yesterdays winner, Kessiakoff, with his briliant TT-performance ended 2 minutes behind today on this very short (yet steep) hill. It is really up and down for the swede.

Why? Its an acceptable result for someone like him, he was never a great climber anyway. Everyone who finished above him in the stage have some kind of climbing pedigree. It is no big deal to lose 2 minutes on a 13% climb when you have no big incentive.