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

[Escarabajo]

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

And take Purito with them.

 

[AtletiSK]

Velits did an amazing job, as Slovak I am so proud of him...
its a nice surprise but he has always had the talent, remember he is only 25 and has many years left to what is normally a cyclist´s prime... 2 years ago, in his very first TdF he was part of great breakaway in the King stage through Galibier, Croix de Fer and Alpe d´Huez, last season he finished in Top30 there practically without any help of Milram team and had he not lost so many minutes in Grand Bornard stage he would have finished Top20 without problems... he is Under23 World Champion and definately has a lot of GC potential even in GT but in Milram it was way too difficult, that team has simply no conception which was proved when they chose Gerdemann as a leader...
I hope he can stay on the podium but even if he doesn´t what a great Vuelta he has had!!! now it´s time for HTC to realise his talent, he would be a worthy GC team leader for the future

 

[The Hitch]

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.

Nope. Because Mosquera lost more than this to Nibali in the ttt. Ie Nibali started of with a 20 second or so head start. He lost it here. good. He still has the advantage of a far better team.

 

[ruamruam]

Only 29 seconds between 4th and 9th. Saturday will be interesting

 

[theyoungest]

Mosquera - why the heck is he with Xacobeo??

Supposedly Vacansoleil signed him for next year. They may have got themselves a GT winner.

And to the guy who said Mosquera is boring: you don't know shit. Go back to watching only the Tour de France.

 

[salixcycling]

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.

He is - the ticker wasn't quite right and has changed:

1 Nibali (ITA, LIQ) 71:19:49
2 Mosquera (ESP, XAC) +37
3 P. Velits (SVK, THR) +1:58
4 F. Schleck (LUX, SAX) +3:42
5 Joa. Rodríguez (ESP, KAT) +3:45
6 X. Tondo (ESP, CTT) +3:45
7 Danielson (USA, GRM) +3:53
8 Roche (IRL, ALM) +4:01
9 Sastre (ESP, CTT) +4:11
10 L. Sánchez (ESP, GCE) +5:41

 

[Climbing]

Will Mosquera be able to attack and win the Vuelto on Bola?
Can his team stop a breakaway? Because Liquigas will let the breakaway go if possible?
Not an easy task for Nibali to defend his jersey... maybe he will attack on the descent! Not likely.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

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.

So, apart from Vino, is there anybody who is exciting for you? Mosquera blew the race apart in Andorra. Andorra! The most boring MTFs in the world! And you're calling him boring cos he doesn't have enough in him to win? Isn't that in itself exciting cos you don't know if he can make it or not?

 

[The Hitch]

You sound like a movie trailer voice-over.

.

Im glad you see it that way

 

[Christian]

When was the last time a ProContinental squad won a GT? Has it ever been done?

 

[El Pistolero]

Supposedly Vacansoleil signed him for next year. They may have got themselves a GT winner.

And to the guy who said Mosquera is boring: you don't know shit. Go back to watching only the Tour de France.

Nice argument, but he didn't do anything special.

I'd rather see Andy Schleck attacking 10km from the finish then Mosquera's failed attacks.

 

[hrotha]

Nice argument, but he didn't do anything special.

I'd rather see Andy Schleck attacking 10km from the finish then Mosquera's failed attacks.

I think I've only seen one decent Andy Schleck attack in my whole life.

 

[El Pistolero]

So, apart from Vino, is there anybody who is exciting for you? Mosquera blew the race apart in Andorra. Andorra! The most boring MTFs in the world! And you're calling him boring cos he doesn't have enough in him to win? Isn't that in itself exciting cos you don't know if he can make it or not?

Well, not in this Vuelta. Purito is exciting, but only in the last km. Nibali has just not been exciting. Mosquera did like what? 2 attacks from 4-5km from the finish? Sure, I'll give him some credit then if you feel so offended by it.

Schleck has also been boring except for one stage, but then again, his attack wasn't packed with all that much power.

 

[salixcycling]

Judging by Monday's climb, Podium is very likely to be

Mosquera
Nibali
Schleck/Rodriguez/Roche/Danielson/Roche/Velits

 

[The Hitch]

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

We can all dream.

 

[rhubroma]

This race would have been so much better had they brought The Cobra on, although it would have been tough for him to have been at his best given how he has been sent to purgatory by the sport over the season.

What a pity.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Well, not in this Vuelta. Purito is exciting, but only in the last km. Nibali has just not been exciting. Mosquera did like what? 2 attacks from 4-5km from the finish? Sure, I'll give him some credit then if you feel so offended by it..

He's not as good a rider as A Schleck or Contador but he's a thousand times more exciting.

 

[El Pistolero]

I think I've only seen one decent Andy Schleck attack in my whole life.

Well, to be fair, there were 2 decent attacks of him this Tour. Would've been 3 if he could shift correctly.

 

[Sea The Stars]

I'd like to see Frank Schleck win.

Thought he'd have ridden a better TT though.

Looks between Nibali and Mosquera now, but I'd assume Frank would have the dropping of them all on Monday's showing whearas can Mosquera shed Nibali on his own?

 

[The Hitch]

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.

Thats exactly what they said when he blew up in the red the first time.

yet who was in the red for the tt today

 

[El Pistolero]

He's not as good a rider as A Schleck or Contador but he's a thousand times more exciting.

Didn't see any of that excitement in his 2008 Vuelta. Well, there was excitement, but Contador excited me more there.

Perhaps I'm expecting more of a guy who really only does one decent/big race his entire season.

 

[Aguirre]

It's a pity that such an exciting Vuelta like this one, with a fairly well designed parcours and action every day has been so amateurishly organised.

well, TV broadcast is being awfull, I write from Spain and here fans we are not happy with this TV disaster, I guess the rest of the Vuelta is good organised

Don't miss saturday, it's gonna be hot! aslo including sastre, schleck, LL Sanchez and so on will be on attack

 

[hfer07]

Eze is going to inflict so much pain on Nibali's legs this upcoming Saturday-- can't wait for that- I'd love to see Purito making the podium too.

 

[Ney the Viking]

Eze is going to inflict so much pain on Nibali's legs this upcoming Saturday-- can't wait for that- I'd love to see Purito making the podium too.

totally 100% offtopic:
I love google maps. It says you are dead and burried in Boston

 

[Rocksteady]

Hurray!!! Tom Danielson didn't Blow up!!!!!


yet...