Vuelta a España - Stage 20 San Martín de Valdeiglesias - Bola del Mundo 172.1km

[Climbing]

Do you mean going alone in the descent of Monte Grappa and then going full gas alone in the subsequent flat to make Scarponi and Evans work wasn't "working for Basso" ?
Couldn't he have attacked in the last stage to get 2nd stage to get over Arroyo in GC, if that was possible not having Basso stopping him (rightly so).
And don't forget 2 days before Giro start he was still on Sicilian beach!
Camon I'm not saying he is the new Indurain or Coppi + Bartali + Alien + Predator togheter fused in a superman raced in bicicle.
The truth is that you don't like him for some reason and that's it.
But don't get me wrong, for me everyone makes his own luck.
Maybe tomorrow Nibale will get 3 flat tires and we're done with it.

 

[icefire]

Just another video of tomorrow's climb:

http://www.marca.com/2010/09/17/ciclismo/vuelta_espana/1284751024.html

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Crap. That looks like your typical bad road climb combined with your typical idiotic percentages climb.

 

[theyoungest]

Do you mean going alone in the descent of Monte Grappa and then going full gas alone in the subsequent flat to make Scarponi and Evans work wasn't "working for Basso" ?
Couldn't he have attacked in the last stage to get 2nd stage to get over Arroyo in GC, if that was possible not having Basso stopping him (rightly so).
And don't forget 2 days before Giro start he was still on Sicilian beach!
Camon I'm not saying he is the new Indurain or Coppi + Bartali + Alien + Predator togheter fused in a superman raced in bicicle.
The truth is that you don't like him for some reason and that's it.
But don't get me wrong, for me everyone makes his own luck.
Maybe tomorrow Nibale will get 3 flat tires and we're done with it.

What are you talking about? Basso stopping Nibali from attacking? Like I said, he even had to defend Nibali's 3d place on GC in that stage. Nibali was far from strong that day.

 

[icefire]

Add cold and wind to the bad road and ridiculous slope. Weather forecast says 30% propability of rain, but it will be cloudy for sure anyway. I mean, riders will go through the clouds.

 

[Climbing]

What are you talking about? Basso stopping Nibali from attacking? Like I said, he even had to defend Nibali's 3d place on GC in that stage. Nibali was far from strong that day.

Well I'm not Nibali's brother, so I don't really care.
But he was keeping the pace that's why he was dropped and just 10 seconds in the last km.
And then again... Evans and Scarponi being stronger than Nibali... not quite or they would have been on the podium instead of him (and Arroyo got 13 minutes free don't forget that).
And btw even if it was luck, that's part of cycling, everyone knows that.

 

[roundabout]

going through the clouds is not pleasant, but it's still only going through the clouds. a minor inconvenience compared to everything else.

 

[icefire]

going through the clouds is not pleasant, but it's still only going through the clouds. a minor inconvenience compared to everything else.

But even if it doesn't rain, water condensation will make the path slippery, which may not be a minor inconvenience.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Nibali?
I know one thing.
I'll never by a pair of glasses from a Dutch optician.

 

[theyoungest]

Well I'm not Nibali's brother, so I don't really care.
But he was keeping the pace that's why he was dropped and just 10 seconds in the last km.
And then again... Evans and Scarponi being stronger than Nibali... not quite or they would have been on the podium instead of him (and Arroyo got 13 minutes free don't forget that).
And btw even if it was luck, that's part of cycling, everyone knows that.

That wasn't me, who said that I just said Basso was stronger. Personally I think it's hard to argue otherwise, but ok, fair enough.

Let's see what Nibali can do tomorrow. I'm starting to think he might be able to hold Mosquera's wheel. After all, if he manages to do so, he'll win the Vuelta. That should help him to bite through the pain.

 

[Climbing]

Not an easy task at all, especially if weather conditions are that bad as you guys are saying.
Whoever is gonna get the GC will deserve from my point of view.

 

[Climbing]

Oh camon what's that teddy bear talking!
Everyone is becoming like Andy and Alberto!
http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/videos/20100917/esos-12-malditos-segundos/879959.shtml

 

[Scirea]

I aslo doubt he will have the tremendous luck of getting a stage victory and hence 20 second bonus when he crosses and then have 2 others sweep the other bonuses from Nibali.

That's a clear possibility though. Eze taking first and then Purito/Schleck2/Sastre...

 

[mwbyrd]

The Others

How come there isn't much talk about 4-10th? To me that's super interesting. If one or two of them are on a good day and can get away together, that could make everything really interesting. And it goes the other way, a bad day by Mosq or Nibali and who knows who wins.

Me, I'm hoping for a miracle and Tommy D has his best day ever on the bike!

 

[Scirea]

saxo,katusha and cervelo should rip the field apart on navacerrada with 50km to go.if they will crack kreuziger and velits,it will be so interesting.if they won't try,they're a bunch of pusssies.

Agreed. They should hammer the first two first category climbs. What would they lose if Serafin Martinez, Rabunal, Marcos Garcia, Lund, Ignatiev, Kolobnev, Florencio, Pujol... goes all out on those climbs?

 

[Scirea]

Nibali has 3 options
1 Follow Mosquera everywhere
2 Own pace up Bello
3 Send Kreuziger into a break and then attack on descend of 2nd climb very risky and unlikely but its an option.

1 worked for Contador on the TOurmalet but then Contador was equal to Schleck on mountains. Is Nibali equal to Eze?

What you are proposing (2) is in my opinion also the best option. Make Mosquera work for those 50 seconds. Its what he did in Asturias on those 2 climbs and it worked then. Could be the wrong strategy but its the safest one.

The problem with that, what if Purito and Sastre can go with Mosquera and they will work together? No way Nibali can stay inside 50 secs (or possibly 30) if he'll let them go.

 

[The Hitch]

I must have missed something. Does Antón crashing count as Nibali being lucky?

If he wins yes.

 

[The Hitch]

Then surely Mosquera has been just as lucky as Nibali? Urán would probably have hurt Nibali more because of his style, but Brushegin and Antón would hurt Mosquera exactly the same.

Yep if Mosquera wins then it will be he who is lucky. But in a way he has been unlucky because right before Anton crashed he took a stage win from Mosquera.

But i think Nibali has been lucky this year because of the ttt which got him the podium. TTTs can be interesting but perhaps shouldnt be so long that some riders are given huge advantages over others. So hes been lucky.

But yes if Mosquera wins then he will be the one who is lucky

 

[Moondance]

Good work on the intro Hitch

I hope, hope, hope that Mosquera can do it today. It seems like a very tall order, and at best I rate his chances at 1-in-3. If Rodriguez decides to attack at Navacerrada to take his best shot to get back on the podium, and Mosquera can follow him, and they form a little Spanish armada to take down the Italian I guess it could happen.... But Mosquera doing the necessary damage, entirely by himself, seems too much.

 

[The Hitch]

Like Evans fans and everyone who beats him.

Yes but they are all evil south european dopers who cheat just to beat Evans

 

[The Hitch]

Good work on the intro Hitch

I hope, hope, hope that Mosquera can do it today. It seems like a very tall order, and at best I rate his chances at 1-in-3. If Rodriguez decides to attack at Navacerrada to take his best shot to get back on the podium, and Mosquera can follow him, and they form a little Spanish armada to take down the Italian I guess it could happen.... But Mosquera doing the necessary damage, entirely by himself, seems too much.

Ah welcome back and thanks. Have to give hats off to the way you went out. In style

 

[Moondance]

Ah welcome back and thanks. Have to give hats off to the way you went out. In style

Yes yes... Back from the sin bin.

I didn't know the mods had all of a sudden gotten all Benedict XVI on potty mouths. Needless to say I'm aware of it now and there will be no further infractions on my part.

 

[The Hitch]

Do you mean going alone in the descent of Monte Grappa and then going full gas alone in the subsequent flat to make Scarponi and Evans work wasn't "working for Basso" ?
Couldn't he have attacked in the last stage to get 2nd stage to get over Arroyo in GC, if that was possible not having Basso stopping him (rightly so).
And don't forget 2 days before Giro start he was still on Sicilian beach!
Camon I'm not saying he is the new Indurain or Coppi + Bartali + Alien + Predator togheter fused in a superman raced in bicicle.
The truth is that you don't like him for some reason and that's it.
But don't get me wrong, for me everyone makes his own luck.
Maybe tomorrow Nibale will get 3 flat tires and we're done with it.

Having said that the ttt got Nibali the podium i have to admit Nibali did lose a lot working for Basso. Also in Strade Bianchi. He waited for Basso and everyone was puzzled. On the Mortirolo descent he could have gone but waited for Basso (though tbf Basso paced him up). He then let Basso take the 12 second time bonus.

 

[roundabout]

Yeah, welcome back, Moondance.

I dunno way, but i have a gut feeling that anyone going early on the final climb will suffer in the end. Sure it gets steeper, but it's very unlikely that Nibali will do any chasing himself as the battle for 3rd will help him out and thus save some energy for the really steep bit.

 

[ferryman]

The problem with that, what if Purito and Sastre can go with Mosquera and they will work together? No way Nibali can stay inside 50 secs (or possibly 30) if he'll let them go.

That would be interesting but I think you will find Liquigas will be super strong Saturday