Vuelta a Andalucía 2013 (17th - 20th February)

[manafana]

I think you often see lack of effort from everyone in some these early season prologues, it was long enough for a prologue too.

Valverde going he hard to beat he is in the best shape has an advantage over everyone already and a strong team

 

[Dazed and Confused]

20 minutes recap of the Prologue

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Stage 1 reminder:

Looks pretty good indeed. Roll out at about 11.30 (CET)

Barta FTW.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Hard to see past Valverde for this one unless a break goes all the way which of course seems very likely.

 

[Flamin]

Yes, he says he isn't. But if you look at him, and look at the climbs/efforts he's best at, he's better at shorter climbs and shorter time trials. He has never even made the top-10 in a long TT.

He doesn't get better as the effort lengthens.

That doesn't mean he is explosive either.

There is a reason why he has only won one race in his entire career and completely sucks in one day races, you know.

 

[hoerpi]

Hope that Ion Izagirre can do something today, the profile looks perfect for him but that doesn't show the real difficulty, Valverde.

 

[theyoungest]

That doesn't mean he is explosive either.

There is a reason why he has only won one race in his entire career and completely sucks in one day races, you know.

That's because he's just never the best rider on the day, that doesn't mean he isn't explosive. He's just more of a stage racer.

His strengths in stage races lie in the shorter efforts, not in the long climbs and time trials. Look at last year's Tour, he was great in that stage Pinot won, with the short climbs. On the longer climbs he wasn't at the level of Nibali, Wiggo, Froome.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Valverde can win every stage in this race. Next.

if they drop moreno

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Robert Gesink
Start of Ruta: When I got on the start podium it started raining, now the roads are dry again. #notmyday #badtime

mollema also rode in the "rain", as shown in video. so gesink looking for excuses again

 

[theyoungest]

mollema also rode in the "rain", as shown in video. so gesink looking for excuses again

Hm, interesting. According to Mollema himself he rode dry.

Could we call you a hater?

if they drop moreno

Moreno isn't really quicker than Valverde.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Hm, interesting. According to Mollema himself he rode dry.

Could we call you a hater?


Moreno isn't really quicker than Valverde.

maybe you should watch the video where you can se ehim riding in the rain and he only started 15 minutes after gesink anyway, so then the roads were dry all of a sudden?

moreno is quicker than valverde. moreno wouldn't do bad in massprints. valverde has lost some of his quickness

 

[theyoungest]

maybe you should watch the video where you can se ehim riding in the rain and he only started 15 minutes after gesink anyway, so then the roads were dry all of a sudden?

moreno is quicker than valverde. moreno wouldn't do bad in massprints. valverde has lost some of his quickness

I've seen the vid, no Mollema didn't ride in the rain, no the roads didn't look wet. Whether Gesink is a whining biatch, I have no idea, I didn't see the conditions when he rode.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Situation after 28km:
Agreement to let a couple of smaller teams getting in the break: Van Hecke (Topsport), Moyano (Caja Rural), Jodts (Colba), Mas (Burgos-BH)

Piano until around the 100km mark methinks.

Gap 4:10

 

[Pentacycle]

maybe you should watch the video where you can se ehim riding in the rain and he only started 15 minutes after gesink anyway, so then the roads were dry all of a sudden?

moreno is quicker than valverde. moreno wouldn't do bad in massprints. valverde has lost some of his quickness

Last year Valv beat Moreno in la Lastrilla, and on the last stage of the Vuelta he placed sixth in the sprint. So he used to be able to win flat stages? I don't think so. Or do you mean he's not fast after 250km anymore? Valverde hasn't lost a bit, he only seems better than pre-ban.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

he seems better than pre-bann but no his sprint. valverde before his bann could place top 3 in massprints

 

[Dazed and Confused]

90km in. Break reduced to three guys: Van Hecke (Topsport), Moyano (Caja Rural), Mas (Burgos-BH)

Gap 2:55

All according to plan A.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Van Hecke went solo on the cat 3. climb Prado del Rey
Reached the summit only 17 seconds ahead of Moyano and Mas, but now has 1:17 (unless biciciclismo did a typo?)
Peloton at 3:13. 110 km into the race, 10 km from the start of the ascent of the cat 1 climb.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Van Hecke caught 3km from the summit. 36km to go.

 

[jens_attacks]

rebellin manages to catch the fav group.vai davide!

 

[classicomano]

A 25 kms de meta. El grupo de cabeza:

Valverde, Quintana y Moreno (Movistar), Gesink y Mollema (Blanco), Van den Broeck, De Clercq y Van de Walle (Lotto), Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Brajkovic, Fuglsang, Ponzi y Seeldrayers (Astana), Armee (Topsport), Maté y Navarro (Cofidis), Spilak (Katusha), Arroyo (Caja Rural), Hivert (Sojasun) y Belda (Burgos-BH)

 

[Flamin]

That's because he's just never the best rider on the day, that doesn't mean he isn't explosive. He's just more of a stage racer.

His strengths in stage races lie in the shorter efforts, not in the long climbs and time trials. Look at last year's Tour, he was great in that stage Pinot won, with the short climbs. On the longer climbs he wasn't at the level of Nibali, Wiggo, Froome.

Riders with an explosive kick do/can win races whilst not being the strongest.

Well yeah, he's a worse climber than these guys. And the longer the effort, the more selective it gets.

Btw, how many explosive JVDB attacks have you ever witnessed?

 

[vladimir]

A 25 kms de meta. El grupo de cabeza:

Valverde, Quintana y Moreno (Movistar), Gesink y Mollema (Blanco), Van den Broeck, De Clercq y Van de Walle (Lotto), Nieve (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Brajkovic, Fuglsang, Ponzi y Seeldrayers (Astana), Armee (Topsport), Maté y Navarro (Cofidis), Spilak (Katusha), Arroyo (Caja Rural), Hivert (Sojasun) y Belda (Burgos-BH)

Ponzi
Impressive if it's correct!

 

[Housoe]

Ponzi For the win.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Ponzi
Impressive if it's correct!

Astana with an entire team almost.

 

[jens_attacks]

i think valverde will beat ponzi in the sprint
unfortunately,rebellin hasn't a great chance here