Vuelta a España - Stage 17 - Peñafiel individual time trial, 46 km

[El Pistolero]

This Vuelta has been dissapointing ever since Anton dropped out. One thing is for sure, a boring cyclist will win this Vuelta.

 

[Escarabajo]

A lot of you have been moaning about the fact that if Nibali wins it that he will be underserving. Well if Mosquera wins the GC because of those 15-30 seconds Nibali lost then I think that means he would be somewhat undeserving of being the overall winner too.

They are both deserving IMO.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Velits now has almost 2 minutes over Schleck in 3rd. Amazing!
One thing for sure, Mosquera may be able to wait for the last, killer 3 kms of Bola, but Frankie boy can't.
Strange, but maybe the ITT will have somewhat neutered the Vuelta's showpiece climb.
Most of the gaps look too big to overcome.

 

[The Hitch]

Is it customary to share winnings on a time trial with your team?

If it wasnt, maybe Nibali would have had a longer bike change

Yes it is.

 

[roundabout]

And now we are down to 2.

39 seconds seprates the big boys. One has a super team to help him. One has to do it all himself.

You sound like a movie trailer voice-over.

Xacobeo is not that bad and the gap is small enough to decide the race on the final climb.

Go, Eze.

 

[vcampbell]

This Vuelta has been dissapointing ever since Anton dropped out. One thing is for sure, a boring cyclist will win this Vuelta.

Mosquera is a boring cyclist? In the first 2 weeks he made us the show.

 

[Luis Ocaña]

Nibali's TT proves the last mountain stage wasn't just an accident. This really is THE once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Eze. Hopefully he takes it.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

This Vuelta has been dissapointing ever since Anton dropped out. One thing is for sure, a boring cyclist will win this Vuelta.

Yea, cos Mosquera hasn't done a single attack in the race

 

[indurain666]

I feel bad for Rodriguez, his 5'6" 128 pound frame looked horrible on TT bike the whole time, nevertheless he was still pushing his machine at around 50kph, which was not good enough for anything. Golden jersey gave TT wings to Roberto Heras and others a few times but not the red jersey

I hope Mosquera has the legs to attack on Saturday.

 

[jezzer]

GC standings

1 Nibali (ITA, LIQ) 71:19:51
2 Mosquera (ESP, XAC) +37
3 P. Velits (SVK, THR) +1:58
4 F. Schleck (LUX, SAX) +3:42
5 X. Tondo (ESP, CTT) +3:43
6 Roche (IRL, ALM) +4:01
7 Danielson (USA, GRM) +4:05
8 Sastre (ESP, CTT) +4:11
9 L. Sánchez (ESP, GCE) +5:41
10 D. García (ESP, XAC) +7:17
11 Karpets (RUS, KAT) +8:50
12 Nieve (ESP, EUS) +9:22
13 Moncoutié (FRA, COF) +10:35
14 V. Gusev (RUS, KAT) +12:16
15 R. Plaza (ESP, GCE) +13:53
16 Le Mével (FRA, FDJ) +15:11
17 A. Kashechkin (KAZ, LAM) +16:12
18 Bakelants (BEL, OLO) +19:25
19 Larsson (SWE, SAX) +19:38
20 Arroyo (ESP, GCE) +21:52

No J-Rod in there????

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

This Vuelta has been dissapointing ever since Anton dropped out. One thing is for sure, a boring cyclist will win this Vuelta.

You think that Mosquera is a boring cyclist? Nibali I can see the argument, but Mosquera has not been remotely boring.

 

[roundabout]

Velits now has almost 2 minutes over Schleck in 3rd. Amazing!
One thing for sure, Mosquera may be able to wait for the last, killer 3 kms of Bola, but Frankie boy can't.
Strange, but maybe the ITT will have somewhat neutered the Vuelta's showpiece climb.
Most of the gaps look too big to overcome.

Obviously the rest (other than Mosquera and Nibali) will now aim for 3rd.

 

[Christian]

Mosquera - why the heck is he with Xacobeo??

 

[salixcycling]

Velits now has almost 2 minutes over Schleck in 3rd. Amazing!
One thing for sure, Mosquera may be able to wait for the last, killer 3 kms of Bola, but Frankie boy can't.
Strange, but maybe the ITT will have somewhat neutered the Vuelta's showpiece climb.
Most of the gaps look too big to overcome.

Although as there are 6 people nearly within 2 minutes of Velits, maybe one of them will go on the attack to get on the podium. They are all so close in 4th-9th that someone may want to make an impression.

 

[El Pistolero]

Mosquera is a boring cyclist? In the first 2 weeks he made us the show.

I didn't even see him in the first week. Second week was ok, but not very exciting of Mosquera... For him to be more exciting he should finish what he starts. He's the least boring cyclist of the boring cyclists that can still win though.

 

[salixcycling]

No J-Rod in there????

Oop, posted it too early

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

No J-Rod in there????

That list is wrong in a few places. I think that Danielson should be a few seconds ahead of Roche rather than a few behind, for instance.

 

[Escarabajo]

I am not DT but at least I predicted the last TT is about recovery and we were giving too much credit to Nibali's TT skills.

 

[Ney the Viking]

Carlos and Fränk in an all out attack on the very first mountain on saturday!

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Although as there are 5 people nearly within 2 minutes of Velits, maybe one of them will go on the attack to get on the podium. They are all so close in 4th-8th that someone may want to make an impression.

Quite a rest day that guy evidently had.

 

[Descender]

Vuelta organisers got what they wanted: everything to be decided at the Bola del Mundo.

 

[Cobblestoned]

14 101 Danielson + 1:53 - not too bad
Solid ride.

 

[Christomir]

And now we are down to 2.

39 seconds seprates the big boys. One has a super team to help him. One has to do it all himself. I know which person in such a scenario i support
THis really could come down to time bonuses on the Bola.
20
12
8

If Mosquera can win, then he needs Purito and one other to take 12 and 8 and he will need a 19 second gap. Its doable.

Perhaps the best tactic will be to make a pact with Katusha.

Katusha work to keep break down. Purito goes with Mosquera on the Bola, paces him up the climb and gets the stage win.

Purito won't have the legs for that, not even close. His awful performance in the TT was not only due to him being bad a TTs - he just has nothing left.

 

[ruamruam]

General classification after stage 17

1 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 71:19:49
2 Ezequiel Mosquera (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia 0:00:39
3 Peter Velits (Svk) Team HTC-Columbia 0:02:00
4 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:03:44
5 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha 0:03:45
6 Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervélo Test Team 0:03:45
7 Tom Danielson (USA) Garmin-Transitions 0:03:55
8 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Ag2R-La Mondiale 0:04:03
9 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervélo Test Team 0:04:13
10 Luis-Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 0:05:43

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Scary thought, Danielson can still podium if young Velits collapses and Danielson somehow does better than F.Schleck/Rodriguez

Although, it's very unlikely he'll do better than F.Schleck or Rodriguez