Vuelta 2012, Stage 16: Gijón > Cuitu Nigru (183,5 kms)

[hrotha]

No. He is NOT better. They're equal ffs!

Honestly at this point I'm starting to think Purito could easily drop Contador, but doesn't want that kind of attention.

 

[Publicus]

No. He is NOT better. They're equal ffs!

Relax LaFlo. People are entitled to their opinions. It's not the end of the world if someone disagrees with your opinion.

 

[Publicus]

Honestly at this point I'm starting to think Purito could easily drop Contador, but doesn't want that kind of attention.

+1

He never looked under pressure. Hell, I don't recall ever seeing him breathing with his mouth opening. Contador was visibly in the hurt locker. Purito, cool as a fan.

 

[roundabout]

Honestly at this point I'm starting to think Purito could easily drop Contador, but doesn't want that kind of attention.

Nah.

They are relatively equal.

 

[DenisMenchov]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEvX_vKDYEw&feature=share

Who is the guy that hit his head at 0:59 ?

 

[jilbiker]

mark my words, contador wins the vuelta there

I think AC is getting stronger. The contest is not over at all. But if AC feels confident enough to attack from beyond 5k then he is fully back and we know JRod or whoever has to fry themselves to catch up.

 

[No_Balls]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEvX_vKDYEw&feature=share

Who is the guy that hit his head at 0:59 ?

Clarke (10 char)

 

[LaFlorecita]

Relax LaFlo. People are entitled to their opinions. It's not the end of the world if someone disagrees with your opinion.

It's not my opinion. It's just me stating the facts. Has Purito dropped Alberto on a climb before the 500 meter mark? No. Has Alberto done the same thing to Purito? No. So they're equal climbers in this race.

+1

He never looked under pressure. Hell, I don't recall ever seeing him breathing with his mouth opening. Contador was visibly in the hurt locker. Purito, cool as a fan.

You must have missed him grimacing when Alberto attacked.

 

[meat puppet]

so, is hesjedal now officially no 1?

 

[Froome19]

I think AC is getting stronger. The contest is not over at all. But if AC feels confident enough to attack from beyond 5k then he is fully back and we know JRod or whoever has to fry themselves to catch up.

How could he be stronger, if he was stronger he would surely have managed to break away...

 

[Publicus]

It's not my opinion. It's just me stating the facts. Has Purito dropped Alberto on a climb before the 500 meter mark? No. Has Alberto done the same thing to Purito? No. So they're equal climbers in this race.



You must have missed him grimacing when Alberto attacked.

It's still your opinion. I happen to largely agree with you, but it is just an opinion. I guess I must have missed him grimacing. He looked so dam cool after every attack and the way he finished gave me that impression he was never really in danger of being dropped.

 

[Froome19]

so, is hesjedal now officially no 1?

Purito looks to be in better form than his Giro form, but it will be interesting to see how Ryder fares against this lot in the Tour next year.

 

[roundabout]

Capecchi

 

[Publicus]

How could he be stronger, if he was stronger he would surely have managed to break away...

Getting stronger is not the same as saying he's stronger than Purito.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

+1

He never looked under pressure. Hell, I don't recall ever seeing him breathing with his mouth opening. Contador was visibly in the hurt locker. Purito, cool as a fan.

bs. purito tried to counter contador with 400 to go but contador followed him too, without much trouble.

 

[Anonymous]

It's not my opinion. It's just me stating the facts. Has Purito dropped Alberto on a climb before the 500 meter mark? No. Has Alberto done the same thing to Purito? No. So they're equal climbers in this race.

You must have missed him grimacing when Alberto attacked.

This is not good reasoning. AC tried to drop Purito before 500meter mark on many occasions and didn't make it, while Purito didn't even try such stuff because he has different strategy that is enabled by bonus seconds and his better sprinting.

At the moment only thing you can infer is:

Purito >= AC

 

[marioni]

He never looked under pressure. Hell, I don't recall ever seeing him breathing with his mouth opening. Contador was visibly in the hurt locker. Purito, cool as a fan.

Look closer then, Purito too was at the limit today. He was struggling, he had a grimace on his face...

 

[Publicus]

bs. purito tried to counter contador with 400 to go but contador followed him too, without much trouble.

I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you.

 

[iZnoGouD]

+1

He never looked under pressure. Hell, I don't recall ever seeing him breathing with his mouth opening. Contador was visibly in the hurt locker. Purito, cool as a fan.

he was struggling at one moment but AC didn't have enough strenght to hold the attack longer

 

[Publicus]

Look closer then, Purito too was at the limit today. He was struggling, he had a grimace on his face...

I will do just that when the replay is available.

 

[jens_attacks]

finally a proper hard ridden MTF, loved cuitu negru but i hope they will use it rarely otherwise it will become just one of those climbs


Purito
Contador +0:02
Valverde +0:19
Quintana +0:45
Anton +1:28
Talansky +1:36
Ten Dam +1:39
Gesink +1:42
Intxausti+2:00

4 climbers above the rest by far

Not an epic stage, but a good one.

I don't think we are watching the same Contador anymore. This is not Giro '11Contador. In fact, I think that Contador would laugh at him.

i disagree.in fact,in terms of numbers i truly believe he's pretty much at his giro 2011 level again.it's purito who improved a lot which is great to see.

alberto didn't do anything wrong today,c'est la vie...sometimes one is equally strong.
i think we are gonna have fireworks on fuente de and of course bola del mundo will be a festival.alberto is on the rise. if purito hangs on,then chapeau and congrats to him.

trully,a wonderful stage.it's awesome to have alberto back

oh also congrats to cataldo,amazing how he did it.

 

[pablo0642]

There are some two year old Contador fans on here.. Quite simply JRod has dealt with everything thrown at him and has been the stronger rider on the course thus far. Yes the steep gradient finishes and bonus seconds have worked to his advantage as has Contador's 'holiday', but thats racing - you only need to beat whats in front of you. I'm happy for JRod to win his first grand tour after watching him battle away in the Giro and get close against a stronger TTer and considering his long career of sacrificing himself. However Bertie has really shown just how much he's been missed - such a fighter! Hopefully we'll see both (along with AS and a form of his life Cadel) and a more mountainous parcour at next years Tour to really take it to the Sky train.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

How could he be stronger, if he was stronger he would surely have managed to break away...

Yeah, and with the racing that is left it is not looking like AC is going to overtake Purito, unless Purito has misfortune. Not much of a gap separates them but it is looking like it is enough for Purito.

What a top 3 on GC so far though, with JRod, AC, and Valverde. All class.

 

[Froome19]

Put it this way, how would we know if Purito was just a bit stronger than Contador?

 

[burning]

Only 1 DNF, I am really surprised about that