Vuelta 2017, Stage 8 : Hellín / Xorret de Catí. 199,5km

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Cycling news live feed says:

Although Contador can't be talked about as a GC contender, given the time he lost on the first mountain stage, he's still a factor in this race. He has Hernandez up the road and Stetina and Pantano with him should he try and make a move on the final climb. The ascent certainly suits the Spaniard and it's up to him to attack. "


How is he not a GC contender? He dropped everyone bar Froome the other day and is only 3 minutes down, he is still in the hunt for victory I think.

"Only" 3 minutes? 3 minutes is no small margin by any measure so yes I'd say he's out of the race for the GC victory unless a miracle happens but then again I believe everyone except Froome is out of it.
What boggles my mind is CN suggesting Hernandez is up the road in case Alberto attacks on the final climb

 

[rick james]

Movistar having a shocker

 

[klintE]

Re:

Thing is Majka isn't a real fan of muritos, preferring longer but less steeper climbs (a perfect stage for him would be 4x 15km at 6% plus similar MTF). I wonder how he'll do if the break make it

Yes, he is not king of muritos (10th i LBL) but Polanc, Pauwels and Alaphilippe are not Piti or
or Martin.If he's fully recovered form illness he is the fastest here I think.

 

[spalco]

Re:

Looks roasting....My Scottish skin would last 2 minutes under that sun

Yeah, I always think that in the Vuelta too, although I think the relatively barren (though beautiful imo) scenery adds to that impression.

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

The main threat for Majka is Majka.
His mentality. But yes, without any chances in GC he should win it (if of course break would be successful).

 

[DanielSong39]

Any chance of a long-range attack from ~50-60km?

 

[Robert5091]

Any chance of a long-range attack from ~50-60km?

It's 37C, what do ya think? (also Gilbert's not here! )

 

[Inquitus]

Sky to give up the Jersey and take a breather for a few days? 2 Red Jersey Dangers in the break both in Virtual Red territory at the moment.

 

[DanielSong39]

Looks like a split in the peloton.

 

[rick james]

gaps in the peloton

 

[SafeBet]

What happened to Zakarin? He's 30 seconds behind the peloton.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Interesting talk about the sky battle-bus restrictions

 

[rick james]

Bollards in the middle of the road might cause problems for the peloton

 

[johnymax]

Re:

Must be verry frustrating for the break to have Polanc and Oliviera there...

It might be. But at the same time I (and many others) would like to see the break earn the chance to battle it out for the win. Especially if the break is composed of riders who took it easy in the past few days. At least Oliveira and Polanc tried hard to follow the GC riders in couple of occasions. So frustrating or not, they shouldn't complain.

 

[wirral]

The riders just rode around a bollard!

 

[Breh]

Re:

Photos from Xorret de Catí finish 2009, Valvarde takes the leader's jersey — sirotti:
http://www.steephill.tv/2009/vuelta-a-espana/photos/stage-09/

Only 8years ago but 2017 feels like an entirely new era. Evans, Basso, Purito slaving for Alejandro, Cunego and Moncoutié winning stages, the infamous Johnny Hoogerland, a golden jersey...

 

[Asturiano]

This year Spanish TV broadcast has a big improvement. TVE has a new helicopter to take better views of the beautiful places of the race. They also have mini-cameras inside the bikes of some cyclists.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re:

Sky to give up the Jersey and take a breather for a few days? 2 Red Jersey Dangers in the break both in Virtual Red territory at the moment.

They won't. Oliveira will lose at least 3 minutes on Xorret.

 

[Valv.Piti]

No way Oliveira is losing 3 minutes on Xorret. He is only 3 minutes behind after one week of racing...

 

[roundabout]

Yeah, in his current form he is a top-30 climber in this race if not better.

 

["Jeff"]

Re: Re:

Is it not a valid team tactic to leave your second best man with the leaders when a problem befalls the designated leader? This is what we seem time and again: the third and fourth men are the ones who help out (if they are still there) in most such situations.

I think this is frustration on the part of the team, as WK got within a couple of seconds of saving those 17 seconds (and indeed WB dropped slightly off the back of the group to try to get the gap to be <1 second, but didn't drop quite far enough: that would have been acclaimed as great tactical awareness had it succeeded). If WK had been 30 s or more behind, they would not be removing WB, they would be changing tactics to support him.

Long term decision made from short term annoyance = bad management.

Completely agree. What kind of impulsive idiot came to this decision? Never liked the team as Giant or Giant-Shimano and for surr thats not changing with nonsense like this.

And to portray Barguil as typical arrogant frenchman (like a poster did on page two) is also nonsense. At the TdF he was working for Matthews and Matthews for him. The both were happy, but to be honest whats eveb the point in working for Keldermann (who will not get a Top10 in Gc) as (second?) best man on the team.

Kelderman sucks and anybody who has Virenque as his idol, should be ashamed of himself. That's why he is your typical ''I dont care, I only like my fellow countrymen'' Frenchman.

Virenque is an awful human being.

 

[Billie]

Re:

This year Spanish TV broadcast has a big improvement. TVE has a new helicopter to take better views of the beautiful places of the race. They also have mini-cameras inside the bikes of some cyclists.

extra high quality pics of spanish highways

 

[staubsauger]

Leclercq doesn't know what fipronil is. Migels really caught him out there!

 

[RedheadDane]

Hansen out?

Jesper, that is. Not Adam.

 

[Asturiano]

Re: Re:

This year Spanish TV broadcast has a big improvement. TVE has a new helicopter to take better views of the beautiful places of the race. They also have mini-cameras inside the bikes of some cyclists.

extra high quality pics of spanish highways

The views taken from the new helicopter is not about highways.