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

[Dekker_Tifosi]

They went up more controlled and boring than 2 years ago, when it was attacks from the big guys from the base.

I wonder what the climbing time was like. The group at 500m to go was way bigger than 2 years ago

 

[DFA123]

Re: 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.

Depends on how you view this stage. If you see it as replacing a mountain stage then it's rubbish. But it's not replacing a mountain stage, it's replacing a flat sprint stage, and it was way better than a flat sprint stage.

Personally I don't care whether or not its on a sunday - makes no difference to me whether the best mountain stages are on sunday, monday or whenever.

 

[Red Rick]

They went up more controlled and boring than 2 years ago, when it was attacks from the big guys from the base.

I wonder what the climbing time was like. The group at 500m to go was way bigger than 2 years ago

Faster than 2015, according to ammattipyoraily. With a headwind. Makes sense, in 2015 they rode it like with the tactical accumen of a herd of decapitated platypuses

 

[Irondan]

Re: 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.

I get that but if Froome wasn't in Tour condition we would have noticed it already, his form as of late equals lots of Sky riding the front, neutralizing any GC action until Froome either wins the race or comes back to earth and shows he's human.

 

[Inquitus]

They went up more controlled and boring than 2 years ago, when it was attacks from the big guys from the base.

I wonder what the climbing time was like. The group at 500m to go was way bigger than 2 years ago

It was a strong headwind most of the way up unfortunately, not possible to attack really until Froome did when they turned away from the Headwind in the final bend.

 

[DFA123]

Re: 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.

I get that but if Froome wasn't in Tour condition we would have noticed it already, his form as of late equals lots of Sky riding the front, neutralizing any GC action until Froome either wins the race or comes back to earth and shows he's human.

True. I think there's a chance though that he could drop off more than usual inthe third week. At the same time that the guys coming from the Giro could be getting stronger (at least relatively).

 

[rick james]

it did look like a tough head wind on section of todays climb

 

[arvc40]

Re: 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.

Froome cant win with some. Hes not going to apologise for winning a race. All the others have to do is pass the line before him.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

They went up more controlled and boring than 2 years ago, when it was attacks from the big guys from the base.

I wonder what the climbing time was like. The group at 500m to go was way bigger than 2 years ago

Faster than last year, according to ammattipyoraily

Wow really? It looked slow and boring. But I guess that's what Sky does for you. High pace, but looks boring.

 

[Irondan]

Re: 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.

I get that but if Froome wasn't in Tour condition we would have noticed it already, his form as of late equals lots of Sky riding the front, neutralizing any GC action until Froome either wins the race or comes back to earth and shows he's human.

True. I think there's a chance though that he could drop off more than usual inthe third week. At the same time that the guys coming from the Giro could be getting stronger (at least relatively).

By that time Froome will have a three minute or more lead and the race pretty much sewn up, unless Nibali has a Giro 2016 left in his legs.

 

[TMP402]

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...

Well, if he really did peak for Tour-Vuelta this year, he probably won't be this dominant again in future years - so long as his wins this one - so you can look forward to that.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Well that was anticlimactic. At least some of the young guys I root for did well today, especially Soler and Carapaz. Richie made a real strong attack that was very impressive. Mas also showed his face, but he is back to earth after being the best on stage 6 in the break.

 

[roundabout]

Re: 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.

Depends on how you view this stage. If you see it as replacing a mountain stage then it's rubbish. But it's not replacing a mountain stage, it's replacing a flat sprint stage, and it was way better than a flat sprint stage.

Personally I don't care whether or not its on a sunday - makes no difference to me whether the best mountain stages are on sunday, monday or whenever.

The best stages should have the biggest potential audiences.

And it seems "way better" to you equals a slightly longer sprint.

 

[lenric]

What a load of crap this day has been. As much expected as yesterday's McGregor defeat.

 

[DFA123]

Re: 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.

Froome cant win with some. Hes not going to apologise for winning a race. All the others have to do is pass the fore him.

He certainly shouldnt be apologising - especially not here where he is very strong. At least here he is attacking at some point and looks comfortably the strongest climber at the moment, regardless of his team. At the Tour it seemed more like the Sky train was riding defensively to compensate for Froome's vulnerability.

It is a slight shame for the spectacle though when the strongest rider also has the strongest team. Makes the GC battle a bit unbalanced, it would be nice to see the strongest rider coming up against the strongest team - like Contador v Astana in the Giro. But it is still early days in this race with a lot of tough mountain stages to come.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

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

This.
LOL.

What people expect from La Vuelta. This is the Murito fest. It is its signature!

There is only one proper mountain stage and comes on Stage 20.

 

[roundabout]

Re: Re:

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

This.
LOL.

What people expect from La Vuelta. This is the Murito fest. It is its signature!

There is only one proper mountain stage and comes on Stage 20.

And 11 and 15.

 

[DFA123]

Re: 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.

Depends on how you view this stage. If you see it as replacing a mountain stage then it's rubbish. But it's not replacing a mountain stage, it's replacing a flat sprint stage, and it was way better than a flat sprint stage.

Personally I don't care whether or not its on a sunday - makes no difference to me whether the best mountain stages are on sunday, monday or whenever.

The best stages should have the biggest potential audiences.

And it seems "way better" to you equals a slightly longer sprint.

It doesn't work like that these days though. The stages with the biggest potential audience will go to the areas which can pay the most - and the Costa Blanca area can pay a lot more than rural Almeria. Similarly to why the Tour or Giro have tedious flat stages in Germany or Holland on the opening weekend.

This finish was way better than a bunch sprint because it was multi dimensional. It involved both the stage and the GC battle, and the action also lasted significantly longer.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Re: Re:

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

This.
LOL.

What people expect from La Vuelta. This is the Murito fest. It is its signature!

There is only one proper mountain stage and comes on Stage 20.

The first few days of the Vuelta are usually really exciting, especially as it comes right after a boring Tour. The problem is you start to get sick of muritos fairly quickly.

 

[Red Rick]

Biggest problem with Froome riding like this is that there's like 0 anticipation for the GC fight.

 

[miguelindurain111]

Re: Re:

A pretty similar finishing climb to yesterday's. The difference today is that I think the break will be caught. Contador and Froome will go head to head and both will double the number of their wins this season.

:lol: But yeah, I hope you are right.

And you were. Nice win.

 

[Zoophonic]

It was far from a boring finish. Does Chavez and Woods a disservice to say that given their great efforts to reel in Froome. I suspect if you found that dull you possibly didn't favour the eventual outcome - I.e that Chris Froome won the stage.

 

[dacooley]

well, at least it's better than having similar stages without murito in the finale. watching 5 tier sprinters playing out the victory would be even more boring.

 

[Vasilis]

Froome to win all jerseys, he already has 3

 

[Lexman]

a it surprised it was almost a bunch (well a GC riders bunch) sprint, Chaves stronger than expected, Zakarin as well, Contador weaker then expected the rest was beaten on its merits...