Vuelta 2018 Stage 4:Vélez-Málaga - La Alfaguara 161.4km

[Valv.Piti]

I sure hope Quintana actually shows something on Covatilla.

 

[WheelofGear]

De La Cruz was apparently in the GC group. Still possible for him to get a good GC result.

 

[The Chicken]

lol none of them are worried about Simon Yates, the best 2-week racer in the world

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

If Buchmann made up the gap so quickly then you have to figure the GC group wasn't exactly flying to try and catch Yates

Then again, Lopez probably attacked more or less at the same time as Buchmann and he finished 17 seconds behind him.

 

[Red Rick]

Quintana looked pretty dead at the finish. He can't wait for the cooler stages up north

 

[spalco]

Re:

S.P. Yates using every opportunity he gets... smart tactics.

Unless it makes him so exhausted he drops half an hour on some other stage again.

 

[Scarponi]

Re: Re:

Gallopin ready for helping role in Innsbruck, it seems.

Yates and Buchmann very impressive.
Valverde working for Quintana who didn't try anything. As expected.

lol Valverde rode for himself bar accidentally ending up on the front after nobody wanted to let him just sit back in having attacked the group. Quintana was never going to do much on a day like this. Not his sort of climb and not his sort of heat.

Yates & Buchmann did look good though

Exactly it’s laughable if anyone thought Valverde would work. Why would Quintana attack on stage 4 when there are other climbs suited to him

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Sky-B/C train unfortunately .. :sad:

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Don't understand why the Movis are quite that tranquilo.

They were very relaxed. Valverde at one point was at the tail end of the group. Quintana was not concerned about Yates. I guess they are saving their energy for later. I hope.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Sky-B/C train unfortunately .. :sad:

Yeah, I can't bear all this entertainment any longer.

 

[MuskyOurSaviour]

De la Cruz did almost zero work.

Imagine this turns into Vuelta 2011 all over again :lol:

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

Gallopin ready for helping role in Innsbruck, it seems.

Yates and Buchmann very impressive.
Valverde working for Quintana who didn't try anything. As expected.

lol Valverde rode for himself bar accidentally ending up on the front after nobody wanted to let him just sit back in having attacked the group. Quintana was never going to do much on a day like this. Not his sort of climb and not his sort of heat.

Yates & Buchmann did look good though

Exactly it’s laughable if anyone thought Valverde would work. Why would Quintana attack on stage 4 when there are other climbs suited to him

In fact, I am surprised that no other Movistar could keep up. Like Carapaz or Anacona. That is more concerning.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

You better hope that Kwiatkowski is quickly out of the red jersey or this will be a boring race - Sky continue their fraud of riding at a funeral pace during the early part of a mountain stage - Breakaway riders must love Sky in GT's.

There is no one stopping any other team riding
In fairness to SKY they are not the only team in the race

No one wants to chase as they fear Valverde or/and Kwaito and are thinking of the long game

The general feeling is that Kwiatkovski is a big risk of blowing up at some stage - You are a GC team and you target stage 4 and 9 for hard rides and try to eliminate him in one of those two stages - Will add that after a Sunday stroll, Kwiatkovski looked vulnerable on the last climb - An opportunity missed today.

 

[WheelofGear]

Re:

Sky-B/C train unfortunately .. :sad:

I'm actually surprised that De La Cruz was hiding somewhere in the front group. Two Sky riders among top 15 GC riders is better than none.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Smile of the Day

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re: Re:

Sky-B/C train unfortunately .. :sad:

I'm actually surprised that De La Cruz was hiding somewhere in the front group. Two Sky riders among top 15 GC riders is better than none.

And what I'm more surprised Henao was dropped at ca. 5-6 km before finish line. WTF was it?

 

[MuskyOurSaviour]

Re: Re:

Sky-B/C train unfortunately .. :sad:

I'm actually surprised that De La Cruz was hiding somewhere in the front group. Two Sky riders among top 15 GC riders is better than none.

And what I'm more surprised Henao was dropped at ca. 5-6 km before finish line. WTF was it?

He's been crap all year. Even at Pologne he was barely useful. Siviakov did most of work.

 

[bigcog]

Re:

De La Cruz was apparently in the GC group. Still possible for him to get a good GC result.

Really ? Didn't see him. I take back my previous comment, hopefully he will do something GC wise.

 

[Der Effe]

Re:

Smile of the Day

Seems like a really nice guy. Great win for him and the first one of any significance for Dimension Data this season.

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re: Re:

Sky-B/C train unfortunately .. :sad:

I'm actually surprised that De La Cruz was hiding somewhere in the front group. Two Sky riders among top 15 GC riders is better than none.

And what I'm more surprised Henao was dropped at ca. 5-6 km before finish line. WTF was it?

He's been crap all year. Even at Pologne he was barely useful. Siviakov did most of work.

Yes.
And Hart: impressive at California, 5th at Burgos, without TdF - lost today 13 min..

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

What I noticed.

S. Yates has the Giro legs again. Beware
Buchmann is fantastic
Lopez is Purito like on long mountains, only jump 1km to go. But way worse at hills obviously. I somehow don't like him.

Other GC contenders hard to say. Obviously Aru is not winning. Kelderman did not look great to me either today. Lotto Jumbo tactic seemed to work against them. Kuss I think killed Bennett with his pace. Kruijswijk does not have the explosiveness to attack on a mountain like today. So in the end all they did was set up Yates.

 

[bigcog]

Re: Re:

Sky-B/C train unfortunately .. :sad:

I'm actually surprised that De La Cruz was hiding somewhere in the front group. Two Sky riders among top 15 GC riders is better than none.

And what I'm more surprised Henao was dropped at ca. 5-6 km before finish line. WTF was it?

He's been crap all year. Even at Pologne he was barely useful. Siviakov did most of work.

Yes.
And Hart: impressive at California, 5th at Burgos, without TdF - lost today 13 min..

It is probably due to heat today, 38C.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

Lotto are no Sky that's for sure. No idea what to do when Yates went. The others may have given him a bit too much space but it's early and I can understand why they'd not be too concerned given what happened with him at the Giro

The way I see it, Kuss fried Bennett. Kruijswijk does not have the acceleration of Yates and others. So this was basically it :lol: On a harder mountain Kruijswijk could've done something

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

S.P. Yates using every opportunity he gets... smart tactics.

The same tactic that self destructed himself at the Giro. Let's see if he can keep this pace up for 3 weeks. You can't always expend this much energy

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

What I noticed.

S. Yates has the Giro legs again. Beware
Buchmann is fantastic
Lopez is Purito like on long mountains, only jump 1km to go. But way worse at hills obviously. I somehow don't like him.

Other GC contenders hard to say. Obviously Aru is not winning. Kelderman did not look great to me either today. Lotto Jumbo tactic seemed to work against them. Kuss I think killed Bennett with his pace. Kruijswijk does not have the explosiveness to attack on a mountain like today. So in the end all they did was set up Yates.

Mainly because he didn't help Dumoulin on Sestriere I suppose?