Vuelta a España:Stage 3 August 30, Marbella - Malaga 157,3km

[hrotha]

edittttttttttttt

In the GC. He was 7th today, better than I expected.

 

[icefire]

Post stage interview with Gilbert: he has come early in the morning to see the finish

 

[Kwibus]

Thought Gilbert may have gone a little bit early, so strong though!

I guess I was half wrong about Rodriguez too.

Thought so too. I had the idea Rodriguez was gonna get him, but he just kept on going. Incredibly impressive.
When I see them doing it I can only imagine the pain they feel in the muscles(calf?). Sprinting uphill so fast... wow.
Also very nice by Rodriguez. 2 of the best short uphill finishers.

 

[Carl0880]

That was one sick acceleration by Gilbert. Rodriguez took key seconds on the short steep climb, to help him out with the long TT at the end.

Great job by Bole to finish 4th on a significant uphill finish. Roche looked good.

 

[hrotha]

Very impressive by Gilbert. Is he in top form too early for the worlds though?

He was dropped in the big climb when the bunch was still quite large, so I doubt he's at 100% yet. This finish was just too good for him.

 

[El Pistolero]

Very impressive by Gilbert. Is he in top form too early for the worlds though?

He's not in top form yet. He can go over the limit a few times in this Vuelta because he hardly rode anything after the spring season.

This Vuelta already beats this year's Tour for me! (But I'm saying that as a Belgian. VdB fifth place was nice and all, but Gilbert is just more exciting to look at.)

And the best thing of them all is, there's lots of stages like this with uphill finishes.

 

[ttrider]

Yeah but Rodriguez has gained 24 on everyone but Anton, that is a big success for him

 

[El Pistolero]

Didn't Menchov got fifth place in this stage as well? I don't know if he got time on some important opponents though.

If there were more tt he would be my top favourite at the moment.

 

[theyoungest]

He's not in top form yet. He can go over the limit a few times in this Vuelta because he hardly rode anything after the spring season.

This Vuelta already beats this year's Tour for me! (But I'm saying that as a Belgian. VdB fifth place was nice and all, but Gilbert is just more exciting to look at.)

And the best thing of them all is, there's lots of stages like this with uphill finishes.

No love for El Pistolero?

 

[Arnout]

Didn't Menchov got fifth place in this stage as well? I don't know if he got time on some important opponents though.

If there were more tt he would be my top favourite at the moment.

7th, loses 18 second and bonification.

 

[El Pistolero]

No love for El Pistolero?

I might be a fanboy, but I'm not blinded by it. He had a weak and boring Tour. Still glad he won it though and all the more respect for him that he can win a Tour while not being on his best. There were only 2 stages I liked in that Tour. The one were Rodriguez won and the one were Andy Schleck(Tourmalet) won.

(And I'm really a bigger fan for Gilbert and Boonen)

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Very impressive by Gilbert. Is he in top form too early for the worlds though?

That was my thought as well

 

[Ferminal]

Cuddles says otherwise.

Although they are a week later this year.

 

[ttrider]

Tomorrow has an equally good finish final km at 7-8% average with kicks of 15% backing Rodriguez and Gilbert to be the 1 -2 but the other way round

 

[theyoungest]

Tomorrow has an equally good finish final km at 7-8% average with kicks of 15% backing Rodriguez and Gilbert to be the 1 -2 but the other way round

That'll probably be a Rodriguez-Anton 1-2.

 

[sublimit]

Pozzato Position 11 so he has good form also, he's my tip for the worlds with Gilbert going close but great win for him today. Its looking very good for both of them at the moment.

 

[Escarabajo]

Does anybody know if Ardila is sick or if he crashed?

Thanks.

 

[roundabout]

CVV is done for the GC, lost 14.10 today

 

[Grzdylu]

Andy +14'10"
Benat +19'05"

 

[theswordsman]

Complete classification. Some big names finished more than 25 minutes back on the day. What's gonna happen on real mountain stages like Bola del Mundo?


http://www.biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=29933

 

[maltiv]

Would like to see kennaugh or nordhaug get in breaks and go for win

Kennaugh was dead last today though, so doesn't look like Britain's "future GT winner" is in particularly good shape at the moment.

 

[ingsve]

Seems like there will be an opportunity for someone new to take a position in the top 10 in GC. With people like Andy and CVV gone it might indicate that they are simply not going for the GC. With the intense heat it's understandable that unless a rider is the absolute GC captain that they might not even try to stay high up. That's probably the case with Andy.

What this means is that the number of riders that are really going for the GC will be fairly small and this opens up the chance for someone to get a very good placing with some good consistent racing.

Can Tejay van Garderen hold on the whole tour and get a very nice finish perhaps? Who else out there is ready for a breakthrough.

 

[luckyboy]

Awesome stuff. Gilbert

Good to see Menchov up there, only losing a few seconds to Anton and Nibali.

 

[ingsve]

Kennaugh was dead last today though, so doesn't look like Britain's "future GT winner" is in particularly good shape at the moment.

I read somewhere that he was probably also the victim of the food poisoning that took out Augustyn and Swift.

 

[Boardslide]

Kennaugh was dead last today though, so doesn't look like Britain's "future GT winner" is in particularly good shape at the moment.

Coming in with Hushovd I don't think he'll mind too much, at least he showed some guts completing the course while struck down with this bug.