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Vuelta a España 2019, Stage 13: Bilbao - Los Machucos > 166.4 km

Page 9 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
I don't share the, well, not hate, but dislike for Quintana here. I see a rider who's trying his best but maybe doesn't have the form he once did, and being on a team that doesn't believe in him 100 percent. He may be "only" a Top 5/10 GC guy for the rest of his career but what's wrong with that? He's maintained a very high level in GTs for 7 years now, which is still pretty impressive.
Also, he still managed to win the last two 'queen stages' of the TDF while finishing top 10 overall. Despite the downturn in form, shows what a high class rider he still is.
 
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Colombia.

I admit that it took me a while to distinguish Slovenia and Slovakia, too. I still revert to Czechoslovakia sometimes...

Don't worry, Slovenia is MUCH BETTER Colombia than the original south american one, at least in terms of altitude for sports training/sleeping... frikkin 6000m hotel!

 
It's funny how Quintana sometimes just seems to switch from not aggressive at all to totally stupidly aggressive from one second to the other.
I think he's way too aggressive all the time. No one can attack every stage without burning themselves out. We saw this with Roglic and Yates in the Giro. Quintana doesn't usually meltdown as spectacularly, but he wears himself down unnecessarily. He isn't all that crafty at picking his spots. He just goes. I still think he might have hung onto Froome on LPSM and to Dumoulin on Oropa had he not burned himself out. Maybe he hangs on today as well.
 
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To be honest with NQ, it seems that his problem is the team...

NQ is working as a domestique here, and his attitudes on lavuelta has been for a domestique, even when he weared red (He didn't drag too deep on ITT, in order to save energies for this week); and now on a stage that is good for him, he takes Valverde to the finish line...

Don't get me wrong, I still think NQ is not the quality star we had in 2-3 years ago, but he is not the second tier climber we are watching today.
 
Quintana attacks early, because that is how he's won nearly every big race in his career. Hasn't worked for the last couple of years though, since hoards of big TT guys have worked out how to lose weight without sacrificing power.
This is also true. I may also be asking for too much. You don't always have the best legs and you can't always pick the perfect spot to attack. But I still felt uneasy about it as soon as I saw him go today.
 
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Well, yes and at the same time Quintana is equally probelamtic. So lets put it that way - there problem are two rather egoistical leaders who have not been near GT-winning form for years.
I see this kind of sentiment a lot recently, but why are either of them problematic? Do you think Valverde and Quintana have had the ability to win more GTs in the last few years, only to be held back by tactics or rivalries? I don't think so - they just haven't been good enough.
 
Pogacar strikes me as even more impressive than Bernal for some reason - simply crazy strong! Contador says that Pogacar is 3rd on GC now.
Sad for Latour though. Lopez will never win a GT, I think.

I agree ..Pogacar seems to me the most impressive of all youngsters ..and there are some great ones this year
This is a rider who could win this race and even the Tour very soon

So so impressive ...if only he was with a better team

And probably be retired by 27
 
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I don't know guys, as talented as he might be, somehow Pogacar winning multiple mountain stages doesn't change my mind about this Vuelta field being weak as sh*t

Well 39 year olds and 20 year olds don't usually make the podium of grand tours but it seems both might happen in this race. The race has been entertaining even with the weaker field but it doesn't look like Roglic is going to weaken this time. As of today anyway. Pogacar is some talent. Not sure what to make of Lopez's performance. Better ride by Majka today and Latour tried hard. Astana tried to make the race harder but apart from killing off the break it didn't effect Roglic.
 
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I see this kind of sentiment a lot recently, but why are either of them problematic? Do you think Valverde and Quintana have had the ability to win more GTs in the last few years, only to be held back by tactics or rivalries? I don't think so - they just haven't been good enough.
Yes, i fully agree. Still both contribute to the funny looking tactics of Movistar a lot. So sneaking in the top 10 with Soler would give Movistar probably a lot less criticism. But i agree - Quintana and Valverde are just not good enough to win a GT. Movistar, in my opinion, should be more clear who is riding what and who is leading what. The double/triple thing they are doing isn't helping.
 
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Yes, i fully agree. Still both contribute to the funny looking tactics of Movistar a lot. So sneaking in the top 10 with Soler would give Movistar probably a lot less criticism. But i agree - Quintana and Valverde are just not good enough to win a GT. Movistar, in my opinion, should be more clear who is riding what and who is leading what. The double/triple thing they are doing isn't helping.
I don't see a lot wrong with what they're doing. They are getting two (sometimes even three) riders inside the top 10 in most GTs - despite none of them being good enough to win, or possibly even podium. And they are winning big stages in the process.

Seems like they get a lot of criticism that would probably be more fairly directed at teams with similar or bigger budgets like Katusha, UAE, Trek, Bahrain... who have been utterly failing for years now.
 
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In fairness Valverde never said he was going to be the leader...He said the team would wait and see how Quintana went...and lets face it it not happening for Quintana not because of tactics but becasue he doesn't have the legs

Valverde never said he was a GT contenders in this race and at 39 years old he is riding so impressively.He is also the World Champion ...he is a class bike rider and some are forgetting that ...Pogacar may be impressive cos of his age but so in fairness is Valverde

As for the field strength ....I think we will see next year when Roglic and Pogacar are riding the Tour that there are few better . Dumoulin may rue his move
 

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