Vuelta 2017 stage 9: Orihuela - Cumbres del Sol, 174 km

[Irondan]

Froome is suffocating the Vuelta like he does the Tour...

Everyone has loved the Vuelta in recent years because this has not been the case, now it's turned into the Tour jr...

 

[markene2]

What a boring stage, Zaka looking good tho

 

[arvc40]

Froome showing his extra gifts there. Pure class.

 

[DanielSong39]

Ridiculous performance from Nieve. MVP!

 

[Alexandre B.]

Re:

Awful stage design; awful stage. Nobody wants to see a 400m sprint on a weekend stage.

The Jura week-end was so much better.

 

[cycladianpirate]

What's with the Eurosport UK Tejay love???

 

[portugal11]

At least sky doesn't look good.

 

[sir fly]

Expected bigger gaps.
... And hoped Chaves could pass Froome.
We'll see what happens on longer climbs.

 

[DanielSong39]

Re:

Froome is suffocating the Vuelta like he does the Tour...

Everyone has loved the Vuelta in recent years because this has not been the case, now it's turned into the Tour jr...

Tour Sr., more like. At least the Vuelta is a more entertaining race. As for Froome, it looks like he'll win by more than 5 minutes (as if we didn't know that already).

 

[Red Rick]

Exactly as expected. Any other expectation than a last km uphill sprint would've been incredibly unrealistic

 

[benzwire]

I want the last 20 minutes of my life back. Meh...

 

[Tonton]

Hats off Dawg...

 

[DanielSong39]

Re:

At least sky doesn't look good.

Um, Nieve just crushed everyone out there. You only need one or two to put on a superhuman performance on any given day (Moscon one day, Nieve, another. Poels some time next week?).

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

Another great stage. Sticking a murito at the end of a flat stage just transforms it from being a tedious sprint to a great spectacle.

Very impressive from Froome; I guess the question is will he pay for all these efforts later in the race.

You cannot be serious. It's a Sunday. A Sunday is for actual mountain stages not shite 400m sprints lasting less than a minute.

 

[Pirazziattacks]

It really bothers me that we'll probably have to endure another couple of seasons of this.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Froome is suffocating the Vuelta like he does the Tour...

Everyone has loved the Vuelta in recent years because this has not been the case, now it's turned into the Tour jr...

Bit early to say that, we haven't had any proper high mountain stages yet. These are just the equivalent of the flat stages in the Tour. With the heat in Andalucia, it will be difficult for the train to be so consistent I think - riders are going to blow up a lot more quickly.

 

[Climbing]

Well, we got rid of those muritos, let's have a proper race now.
I hope at least.

 

[Forever The Best]

Another 'Guillen Special' stage. Another glorified uphill sprint. At least stage 11 is well designed. (Though they could have added a climb to stage 11 providing the distance doesn't become more than 250 km)

 

[TMP402]

Re:

Prediction time

Contador to beat Froome in sprint, then Woods a few seconds back, then Zakarin leading Nibali, Chaves, Aru and one or two others, maybe Adam Yates.

Well, it wasn't an awful prediction.

 

[Irondan]

Nice to see Cannondale on the finishers podium after the news yesterday, a win by Rusty Woods would have been very helpful though...

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Re:

What's with the Eurosport UK Tejay love???

Especially as the rider in shot was Roche on about half the occasions: Eurosport UK commentary broadcast to Ireland, Roche more highly placed, more Irish/Irish descent people in UK than American...

 

[hfer07]

Glad I tuned in within the last 4K

Nieve should have escorted Froome before the last 50 metres had he not pulled that hard

 

[arvc40]

Re:

Another great stage. Sticking a murito at the end of a flat stage just transforms it from being a tedious sprint to a great spectacle.

Very impressive from Froome; I guess the question is will he pay for all these efforts later in the race.

Nah, hes just warming up for the other big Mountain stages.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Awful stage design; awful stage. Nobody wants to see a 400m sprint on a weekend stage.

The Jura week-end was so much better.

Worst second weekend of a grand tour this season so far. The best first 6 stages by far, but today especially was very tedious. Yesterday wasn't too bad, but today was.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

I thought contactor was gonna win this bike race. Suppose we gonna have to wait until the proper mountains arrive, like in the tour.