Vuelta a España - Stage 16: Gijón - Cotobello 181.4 km

[La Pandera]

Read? Maybe you should have watched the stage. Schleck went pretty much from the bottom of Cotobello. Danielson and Sastre 2 riders who in this race have shown to be not at the level of Mosquera and Rodriguez in the mountains were able to get away and hang on ahead for quite a while.

If Schleck playing his game with Sastre was able to keep the gap to a "charging" Kreuziger behind the pace couldn't have been that brutal.

Mosquera didn't have it. Rodriguez is not a rider who can successfully attack from more than 2 kilometers out on the climb.

No need to be rude. I posted my comments about the previous day's stage by mistake. Shoot me because I'm a couple of days behind in watching the stages. Busy weekend.

 

[Escarabajo]

+ the gap at the foot of the climb from Nieve to the heads of state was 2 minutes.

EVen though Nieve, having been in a break for 70 km, and not being a gc climber was all on his lonesome, he kept the gap between 1 30 and 2 mins for most of the climb. Nibali came in 1 56 behind Nieve. If Kreuziger was charging how comes a Euski domestique, with every disadvantage was able to match him the whole way?

I think this is the best proof that most of the GT contenders are on the limit.

 

[royalpig180]

Not very. He was interviewed by daddy before tdf tt and said he was expecting to lose minutes to Canc which he did.

Everyone lost minutes to Cancellara, excpet Tony Martin...
Roche is at least a decent TTer among GC contenders

 

[royalpig180]

I just had a look at the stats again and I seem to have misses some results yesterday, he had some results better than I remembered:



he should be better than Mosquera and Rodriguez, but I don't think he will gain enough time to win the vuelta

I agree... he'll be in the lead by a minute, maybe a minute and a half, but will lose that easily to Mosquera and Rodriguez on the Bola del Mundo...

Looking at the pictures of the road up it, passing is going to be dicey when you're out of the saddle going "full speed". There better be barriers.
Should be fun!

 

[issoisso]

This GC is going to get very interesting in the next few days.

I spent the entire climb hoping Kreuziger would blow so others would attack. Too bad it took so long.

Mosquera lost his big chance today. Says he felt the worst he's ever felt in his career. Legs hurt, arms hurt, head hurt......and that was before the stage started. It got worse.

 

[craig1985]

This is way more interesting then a Tour de France mountain stage where Contador and Schleck just ride away from everybody and spend the time soft pedalling and holding hands.

 

[Mellow Velo]

+ the gap at the foot of the climb from Nieve to the heads of state was 2 minutes.

EVen though Nieve, having been in a break for 70 km, and not being a gc climber was all on his lonesome, he kept the gap between 1 30 and 2 mins for most of the climb. Nibali came in 1 56 behind Nieve. If Kreuziger was charging how comes a Euski domestique, with every disadvantage was able to match him the whole way?

Hitch: Sorry to nit pick, but the specific gap at the foot of the climb was 2'-32", to the bunch. A small difference, I know, but it gives Schleck gaining 1'-20" on Mr Snowman and JR about a minute.
Not huge gains, but you would expect the GC boys to take something back.

I think the point about Kreuziger is that he did most of the graft from half way up the second climb, to with 1500 metres of the finish.
It would be interesting to know if there was a headwind at any point.

 

[Christian]

No need to be rude. I posted my comments about the previous day's stage by mistake. Shoot me because I'm a couple of days behind in watching the stages. Busy weekend.

Welcome to the forum, buddy.

 

[Christian]

Fuc...............I mean flipping heck! That ain't a road, that's a very bad footpath!
Spain's answer to Plan de Corones.

Wow just looked at the pictures, that'll be hella sweet. I'll have to find somewhere to watch it, I just moved and don't have TV yet.

y para finalizar 2 rampones al 19%........../QUOTE]

I hope FS will have the same form he had yesterday!

 

[The Hitch]

Hitch: Sorry to nit pick, but the specific gap at the foot of the climb was 2'-32", to the bunch. A small difference, I know, but it gives Schleck gaining 1'-20" on Mr Snowman and JR about a minute.
Not huge gains, but you would expect the GC boys to take something back.

I think the point about Kreuziger is that he did most of the graft from half way up the second climb, to with 1500 metres of the finish.
It would be interesting to know if there was a headwind at any point.

Yeah i made a mistake your right. My point wasnt that Schleck was going slow, he was obviously going faster, especially towards the end. I still think taking back less than a minute on Nieve throughout that entire climb shows that Kreuziger wasnt going as fast as some suggest he might have been. The gap was as i recall 137 at their peak and then went up again. And in the last km Rodriguez and co took back probably 30 seconds. Romans man, Nibali came in 156 and god knows where Kreuziger came in. So to gain 30 seconds on a domestique who had been going solo shows he wasnt charging. My best guess is they were all tired from the previous day.

 

[icefire]

Hitch: Sorry to nit pick, but the specific gap at the foot of the climb was 2'-32", to the bunch. A small difference, I know, but it gives Schleck gaining 1'-20" on Mr Snowman and JR about a minute.
Not huge gains, but you would expect the GC boys to take something back.

I think the point about Kreuziger is that he did most of the graft from half way up the second climb, to with 1500 metres of the finish.
It would be interesting to know if there was a headwind at any point.

No. The TDP commentator on the moto reported tailwind most of the time since live video started.

 

[Anonymous]

so which one of you were that upset with Kreuziger after this stage?

 

[search]

No. The TDP commentator on the moto reported tailwind most of the time since live video started.

hm, that doesn't really fit with Nicolas Roche todays blog:

"The mountains are his [Frank Schlecks] playground, but I knew there was a strong headwind waiting for us in the valley, leading up to the final climb. With nobody to share the workload with, it would have been suicide for him to continue and after a few kilometres, he came back to us and the pace settled down a little."

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

so which one of you were that upset with Kreuziger after this stage?

Kreuziger reports

Around 100m from our team bus a car dashed from the opposite direction. The driver just nicked me with his rearview mirror. I fell off my bike, my helmet split in two pieces and I bumped my shoulder and elbow

And to think that last week someone was suggesting that helmets spoil the spectacle.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Yeah i made a mistake your right. My point wasnt that Schleck was going slow, he was obviously going faster, especially towards the end. I still think taking back less than a minute on Nieve throughout that entire climb shows that Kreuziger wasnt going as fast as some suggest he might have been. The gap was as i recall 137 at their peak and then went up again. And in the last km Rodriguez and co took back probably 30 seconds. Romans man, Nibali came in 156 and god knows where Kreuziger came in. So to gain 30 seconds on a domestique who had been going solo shows he wasnt charging. My best guess is they were all tired from the previous day.

I agree, kreuziger's performance was over-hyped last night by many, when in reality he wasn't going that quick.

Compared to the likes of Szymd that was nothing.

 

[Climbing]

I agree, kreuziger's performance was over-hyped last night by many, when in reality he wasn't going that quick.

Compared to the likes of Szymd that was nothing.

And it confirms that many gc guys are almost exausted and had not the strength to attack, if not in the last 2 km.

 

[icefire]

And it confirms that many gc guys are almost exausted and had not the strength to attack, if not in the last 2 km.

..and they got to the finish well ahead the fastest schedule (20min?)