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It's either that or a rest day. Easy choice.ice&fire said:ASO and Unipublic are pushing so hard with this gimmick of the short stages that I've read today the Tour de l'Avenir will have a 23km stage to keep down with the big boys
I mean, It's a modern Vuelta route, so you know what to expect.Red Rick said:Few good things, few more bad things. All in all just very underwhelming.
https://mobile.twitter.com/laflammerouge16/status/1075467732676698112rick james said:Any profiles for the stages?
I assume there's a rest day between Andorra and Pau. I guess it was possible to do at least Ordino before that. With an exclusively Andorra stage it would be short no matter what, unless they would do Envalira and then descend the tunnel route like in 2012. Judging by how clunky a number of stages look it was maybe a way to go? I guess Vuelta is a fan of "grid" start. I still think the main action will be in the 2nd week (mainly thinking about Acebo and Machucos), as Vuelta likes to do.hrotha said:Jesus, that Andorra stage. 96 km. On stage 9. After an easy stage. Before an ITT. They went out of their way to position it as badly as possible, didn't they?
Robert5091 said:Longest ITT in the 3 GT's next year - might tempt Froome or Tommy D. Could all be over though after 2 weeks.
Or a 250 km stage with 8 mountain peaks the preceding day!hrotha said:Stages under 100 km are perfectly fine if they also had, like, an ITT that morning.
Red Rick said:Few good things, few more bad things. All in all just very underwhelming.
Dumoulin hasn't said Giro/Tour, he has said Giro, and then they'll see.Koronin said:Robert5091 said:Longest ITT in the 3 GT's next year - might tempt Froome or Tommy D. Could all be over though after 2 weeks.
I think Tommy D has already said Giro/Tour. If he goes he'll skip the Tour. Froome likely will go after the Tour.
As for the others, I'd guess Mas. Valverde will definitely be there.
Well it's not like Dumoulin doesn't have a chance to win the tour after the giro. If it's Thomas and not him who has a mechanical before the mur de Bretagne he very well might have won last year and while Froome won't have the giro in his legs next season he has looked to be in slight decline for a few years now. The point is, he wouldn't be the favorite at the tour but he would definitely have a chance to winRed Rick said:Dumoulin hasn't said Giro/Tour, he has said Giro, and then they'll see.Koronin said:Robert5091 said:Longest ITT in the 3 GT's next year - might tempt Froome or Tommy D. Could all be over though after 2 weeks.
I think Tommy D has already said Giro/Tour. If he goes he'll skip the Tour. Froome likely will go after the Tour.
As for the others, I'd guess Mas. Valverde will definitely be there.
Dumoulin made it a big point in an interview last month that he can't do what he did this year every year cause it won't make him a better rider.
The only reason to go for Giro/Tour is if they believe that like a 3rd place in the Tour is much more important than a big chance to win the Vuelta.
It makes absolutely no sense to ride the Tour except for "muh sponsors" which is a reason that's just **** disgusting