Vuelta a España Alcalá de Guadaíra - Marbella 173.7km

[theyoungest]

Except for the part where Hutarovich finished first?

Sometimes irony is not that hard to see...

 

[icefire]

It was 45 degrees today. You cannot expect much. Heard there were plans to cancel the football matches in Spain due to the heat. Says enough.

Not true. Temperature in today's stage has not been above 36 C at any point. And all the afternoon football matches today are in northern Spain.

 

[Arnout]

Not true. Temperature in today's stage has not been above 36 C at any point. And all the afternoon football matches today are in northern Spain.

Shouldn't believe the commentators anymore.

Anyway, it is still quite hot.

 

[turtlesoup]

hmmm 36 degrees for a long ride! i think id stay home and get on the trainer

 

[kjetilraknerud]

Bennati messed that sprint up and Hushovd of Bos was nowhere to be seen in the end.

Hushovd was actually supposed to lead out Bos, but that didn't really work out...

 

[icefire]

Hushovd was actually supposed to lead out Bos, but that didn't really work out...

Bos crashed before the final downhill and lost contact with the peloton for a while. I guess he was a bit spent after chasing the group.

 

[Cobblestoned]

The vuelta-organizers are really cunfused
Cav with green FDJ jersey

http://www.lavuelta.com/10/imgwebimg/VE_2010_0200_LIV05.jpg

The official homepage now says: no points yesterday - and Hutarovitch in green

 

[pedaling squares]

... I get it, I should shut up and just sit and enjoy the action as I watch the break's gap tick up from 2'35 to 2'40 and think "does this mean they have more of a chance?"...

No, you were right. All but about a minute of that stage was very boring.In defense of HTC, they were playing their best hand for the win. At our expense.

 

[Mellow Velo]

No, you were right. All but about a minute of that stage was very boring.In defense of HTC, they were playing their best hand for the win. At our expense.

Indeed.
However, people would have us believe that this year's Tour was exciting.
How often did we see Bert Grabsch and Tony Martin doing this very same thing there?

Modern day stage racing is what it is, for the most part.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

The vuelta-organizers are really cunfused
Cav with green FDJ jersey

http://www.lavuelta.com/10/imgwebimg/VE_2010_0200_LIV05.jpg

The official homepage now says: no points yesterday - and Hutarovitch in green

The official homepage is wrong, unless they're going for some classic Bent-Euro-Cycling-Scene make it up as you go along rulings.

The rulebook for this race explicitly says points will be allocated for placings on each of the 21 stages.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

2. OVERALL POINTS STANDINGS.
This is obtained from the sum of the points earned by each rider in each of the
21 stages and in all of the intermediate sprints. If there is a tie in the total
number of points, each of the riders in the tie shall be awarded the points
corresponding to the starting position.
STAGE POINTS: INTERMEDIATE SPRINTS:
1º 25 points 9º 7 points 1º 4 points
2º 20 points 10º 6 points 2º 2 points
3º 16 points 11º 5 points 3º 1 point
4º 14 points 12º 4 points
5º 12 points 13º 3 points
6º 10 points 14º 2 points
7º 9 points 15º 1 point
8º

Seriously, is stage 1 now not one of the 21 stages?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Seriously, is stage 1 now not one of the 21 stages?

Perhaps they realised slightly too late that giving points out for a TTT is a really stupid thing to do.

(For the record, the Giro didn't award points for its TTT this year).

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Perhaps they realised slightly too late that giving points out for a TTT is a really stupid thing to do.

(For the record, the Giro didn't award points for its TTT this year).

As long as we're all agreed that it is too late and this is either a mistake soon to be corrected, or arbitrary rubbish.

Perhaps there are some other rules the Spanish federation would like to waive when it suits them?

 

[hrotha]

As long as we're all agreed that it is too late and this is either a mistake soon to be corrected, or arbitrary rubbish.

Perhaps there are some other rules the Spanish federation would like to waive when it suits them?

It's silly that they didn't realize before, and once the race started they probably shouldn't have changed the rules, but how does this suit them? You think they don't want Cav to win the points jersey? Why?

 

[laura.weislo]

Still awaiting an official update, but yes, Cavendish is in the green jersey and our initial report was incorrect. Seems the transition from La Vuelta's old web site to the new ASO version has not been seamless, and they've posted today's stage points under both the stage and GC.

I'm too tired to do the math for Unipublic and correct our results just yet, but Cav should have 45 points to Huta's 25. Hopefully they'll get on the stick.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

It's silly that they didn't realize before, and once the race started they probably shouldn't have changed the rules, but how does this suit them? You think they don't want Cav to win the points jersey? Why?

'When it suits them' is idiomatic english, it doesn't pointedly suggest this is a malicious conspiracy.

It's much more likely ****-up, but rather depressing that they can't follow their own rules. Maybe CONI could help them?

 

[indurain666]

And, believe or not, Cav had an excuse: the heat

Sorry Mark, but the other guys had to endure the same heat too, they were just better than you, period.

 

[auscyclefan94]

And, believe or not, Cav had an excuse: the heat

Sorry Mark, but the other guys had to endure the same heat too, they were just better than you, period.

mark is such a fricken baby! always making excuses!

 

[The Hitch]

Indeed.
However, people would have us believe that this year's Tour was exciting.
How often did we see Bert Grabsch and Tony Martin doing this very same thing there?

Modern day stage racing is what it is, for the most part.

Finaly some sannity. I keep hearing about how brilliant this tour was. One for the ages. That awesome Schleck Conti duel for 3 weeks, bla bla bla. Most days were like this. Cav led the bunch home on the 2nd alpine stage. Hushovd led the bunch home on the big pyraneen stage. Thats not counting Cavs 5 wins, Pettachis 2 and the boring breakaway (2 solo) wins which brought home 3 of the 4 pyraneen stages.

As for this race, thank you Hutarovich for spoiling the party. And what was up with Farrar. After Vattenfalls, i was expecting more from him here, especially sinc Cavs season outside the tour has been crap. Looks like augusterone is wearing off.

 

[The Hitch]

mark is such a fricken baby! always making excuses!

Nah hes just self absorbed. Man in the state of nature generaly will blame others for any discomfort. Its natural and in many ways beneficial. Still hes no baby. Has a lot of balls, just cant accept defeat.

 

[Oldman]

Indeed.
However, people would have us believe that this year's Tour was exciting.
How often did we see Bert Grabsch and Tony Martin doing this very same thing there?

Modern day stage racing is what it is, for the most part.

But that stage finish by Hutavorich(sp) was tactically pretty sweet. Looked like there must have been a headwind and all that HTC work was out the door.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

mark is such a fricken baby! always making excuses!

Considering you're an Evans fan, you may want to reconsider such accusations.

Though you're right, Cav does always seem to have an excuse, or if he doesn't his fans will find one.

 

[hfer07]

I thought Cav was set to win the stage, but looking at the video-it's evident how cleverly Hutarovich rode behind his wheel and basically out sprinted him in the last meters--wow-talking about spoiling the party...
http://www.youtube.com/user/CanalF10#p/u/0/Z3XXsrPc4g0

 

[The Hitch]

So cav extends his lead in the gc by 12 seconds right? FDJ werent near enough to break any htc riders?

 

[icefire]

Unlike the points classification, we can trust the GC given in the official web page