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Anyone think Soler crosses the line and straight away called his agent to say “get me a transfer to Jumbo for next year; they might let me win a stage when I’m leading with 3km to go.”
No. Soler have no problems with riding for Valverde (or Landa for example). The problem in Andorra was a really special case and it’s pointless trying to make the narrative that Soler doesn’t like to work for the team. He was one of the best domestique sin the Tour and he’s been doing a lot of great efforts for team leaders the past years. No need to exaggerate to make him look bad.Anyone think Soler crosses the line and straight away called his agent to say “get me a transfer to Jumbo for next year; they might let me win a stage when I’m leading with 3km to go.”
In fact he rode so fast on the Izoard because he was trying to catch Quintana.No. Soler have no problems with riding for Valverde (or Landa for example). The problem in Andorra was a really special case and it’s pointless trying to make the narrative that Soler doesn’t like to work for the team. He was one of the best domestique sin the Tour and he’s been doing a lot of great efforts for team leaders the past years. No need to exaggerate to make him look bad.
So they rode it like a Unipuerto stage.
5.9 W/kg for 20 minutes is fast but it's not leg breaking. After that they had a few hours to recover.Well the first climb was brutal as well.
It's not a criticism. It's an observation. It expected a bit more tempo on the penultimate climb in the peloton but it was always gonna have the bunch together at the bottom of the climb.Folks who "criticize" how this stage was ridden (like unipuerto) should realize tomorrow is not a rest day, but yet another mountain beast. Perhaps worth a suicidal make or break long range attack (MAL has nothing to lose, not even white jersey
Is 4.5 W/kg over 2 1400m mountain passes what counts as “recovery” to you?5.9 W/kg for 20 minutes is fast but it's not leg breaking. After that they had a few hours to recover.
Not to me.Is 4.5 W/kg over 2 1400m mountain passes what counts as “recovery” to you?
This Vuelta is generally spectacular regarding climbing times.Tadej Pogacar's power number for today's stage. Crazy high numbers, and that means Valverde and Roglic were having a spectacular day.
Kuss got his first win outside of USA today and It stroke me that there are a lot of American riders who if win in Europe, then mainly in Spain and not anywhere else.
Horner had 5 out of his 7 European wins in Spain, including the last 5 ones of his career.
Van Garderen 3 of 5 including his first 3 ones.
Danielson 2 of 3
Ben King 2 of 3
I see a pattern here
The exception is Talansky who had 4 wins in France and 0 in any other European country.
Actually Armstrong has more wins in France alone than all of the guys I listed alltogether in Spain and that's without all of his TdF results that were taken away!Armstrong won a couple of times in France.
Kuss got his first win outside of USA today and It stroke me that there are a lot of American riders who if win in Europe, then mainly in Spain and not anywhere else.
Horner had 5 out of his 7 European wins in Spain, including the last 5 ones of his career.
Van Garderen 3 of 5 including his first 3 ones.
Danielson 2 of 3
Ben King 2 of 3
I see a pattern here
The exception is Talansky who had 4 wins in France and 0 in any other European country.
Tadej Pogacar's power number for today's stage. Crazy high numbers, and that means Valverde and Roglic were having a spectacular day.
They might as well rename it the Movistar Award in all the Grand Tours. I bet they must have won around 70% of the Grand Tour Team Classifications this decade.The funny thing about Movistar is everybody talks about their leaders and the team always end winning the team classification.
Makes me think the team ranking is what matters to the management and the individual GC is left to riders to sort it out between themselves.
I'm not sure there's enough data to call it a big trend to be honest.Soler won Paris-Nice last year.
I'm fairly sure a guy named Greg Lemond has some success in France.
My guess is why Spain is where many American riders find success is maybe the terrain a bit more like the US south western terrain is?