Re: Vuelta 2018 stage 19: Lleida - Col de la Rabassa 154.4 k
I had to think about the tactics in todays stage again and I'm baffled how Yates managed to decide the gc in his favor out of a horrible situation for him. When Quintana, Pinot and Kruijsiwjk were in front that could have been game over for him because if they collaborate and behind only Yates' teammates chase, a group of Quintana, Pinot and Kruijswijk could gain minutes on Adam Yates and Haig. And if they chase too hard, are done before the finish and Yates has to chase himself, even a pretty bad Valverde might have gained time on him today. Considering that attacking was probably the right move but even then this was tactically incredibly complicated and could have ended differently.
Basically whenever there was someone who set a pace in the Valverde group the gap was stable so Yates only really gained time when behind they were looking at each other. The first time that happened was after Amador got dropped (and I think this was Valverde's biggest tactical error of the day) because right after Amador dropped Quintana dropped from the front group to help out Valverde. The gap was minimal at that point but because everyone was looking at each other they weren't riding much fast than Quintana despite Quintana waiting. So they spent a minute riding 5 to 10 seconds behind a rider only waiting to get caught. If Valverde goes to the front for one minute at that moment I think chances are Quintana drills it for another minute, the Yates group is caught and Yates has already spent a lot of energy. Instead the gap goes up to half a minute and stays like that for a few kilometers until Quintana punctures. Everyone is again looking at each other until Quintana catches the group again and suddenly the gap is up to a minute. Kelderman who attacked after Quintana's puncture was half a minute back at that point and finished just ten seconds behind Mas, MAL and Uran despite being out of shape. Imagine the three had attacked there and worked together. They even might have caught Yates again. But instead everyone waited for Quintana so he could pull for like two kilometers.
Sure, Yates was really strong today and they probably couldn't have dropped him which ever way they had played it but it just feels like if some riders from the chasing group had been a little more smart we would still have a proper fight for red tomorrow. I guess I should be happy that the most attacking rider won but I really hoped for a big showdown tomorrow which I now don't think will happen.