• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Vuelta a España 2019 stage 2: Benidorm > Calpe 199,6 km

Page 8 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
EC1OpTVXkAA8sHy.jpg:large
 
Quintana already looked brisk on the flat in the TTT. This time Movistar did everything right. However Roglic remains a big candidate with that ITT coming up. I expected him to try something to make up for yesterday's bad luck. Astana failed to support Lopez properly today.

Now the big question is whether Quintana can hold on to that green jersey. Did he work on that sprint? ;)
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Sandisfan
- So Astana was exposed. I know Fuglsang is preparing for the worlds but he can at least try to help his teammates. And I thought from the rest of the team that someone would make the front group with Lopez.

- Lopez again with his tactical ineptitude. When he realized that nobody was pulling is was too late. LOL. He should have been told that every important rider in the group had a teammate in front.

We don't know who the DS has told to save themselves today, and who were supposed to be there for Lopez.

However, I would think Fuglsang and Gorka are on a light schedule at the start of the Vuelta, to be ready for the big mountains in the last week, as they both did the Tour.

So did Sanchez and Fraile, but they are less valuable in the big mountains, so less important to save.

As for Lopez being tactically inept today, I disagree.... when the move went, he went with it.

The problem was only Ion was with him at the front of the peloton, so everyone else got dropped - and Ion then decided to burn himself up trying to get away - and got dropped when it counted, leaving Lopez all alone to pull the 2nd group.

I see this a a complete team fail, not a Lopez fail, he pretty much did what he could.... but as was the case at both the Giro and the Tour, Astana look great and coordinated for the first 3/4 of the stage, but then failed miserably in the last 50 k, when things came to a head.

Astana need new DS leadership for the Grand Tours, because they always seem to be in complete disarray at the start of the race.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
Broccolidwarf, I will look at the video again, I could be wrong, but I was referring to the attack by Roglic and Uran that Lopez didn't follow. That group came to an stand still if I remember correctly. And Lopez didn't try to go initially with Uran and Roglic.

I say this because this type of actions is something that Lopez has repeated in GT's and often cost him at the end. Whether is bad positioning or bad decisions he needs to improve that.

As for Astana, I was surprised that they all were dropped so easily.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
Do not pretend that he wouldn't have won that race anyway. He absolutely obliterated everybody on the Monte Grappa TT, and he sat idly by defending happily on Monte Zoncolan when he was clearly the strongest climber in that race. I'd have expected him, had he needed time still, to have lit up Monte Zoncolan that year.
Also, everyone deliberately forgets that Gautier was smart enough to get gilets and bidons for himself and Rolland before the race was even neutralised, so they didn't even need to stop while Quintana and Hesjedal simply followed
 
How.

Maybe they said over the radio to let Izagirre work.

Maybe they didnt.

He couldnt close that group on his own. He limited his losses pretty good in the end anyway. Could have been well over a minute.
Because he let that group slip away in the first place.
Roglic is the no.1 favorite, Quintana is a multiple GT winner, and Uran has a multiple GT podiums. When riders like that make a move together, you follow.
 
We don't know who the DS has told to save themselves today, and who were supposed to be there for Lopez.

However, I would think Fuglsang and Gorka are on a light schedule at the start of the Vuelta, to be ready for the big mountains in the last week, as they both did the Tour.

So did Sanchez and Fraile, but they are less valuable in the big mountains, so less important to save.

As for Lopez being tactically inept today, I disagree.... when the move went, he went with it.

The problem was only Ion was with him at the front of the peloton, so everyone else got dropped - and Ion then decided to burn himself up trying to get away - and got dropped when it counted, leaving Lopez all alone to pull the 2nd group.

I see this a a complete team fail, not a Lopez fail, he pretty much did what he could.... but as was the case at both the Giro and the Tour, Astana look great and coordinated for the first 3/4 of the stage, but then failed miserably in the last 50 k, when things came to a head.

Astana need new DS leadership for the Grand Tours, because they always seem to be in complete disarray at the start of the race.
really, all the top favorites went, he didnt and its not his fault.....
 
really, all the top favorites went, he didnt and its not his fault.....

I honestly don't know what you mean?

My point was, that we don't know what riders had been told to save themselves today, and which have been told to perform.

There is no doubt that on an intermediate stage like today, all the big GC teams pick some riders, and tell them to save themselves for later in the Vuelta..... none of them had everyone up front and ready today, even the teams that made a move.

I surmised that in the case of Astana, it would probably be some of the riders that did the Tour, who are there to ride themselves into form and be of help in the second half of the Vuelta, especially after killing themselves on the TTT yesterday.

If you disagree with that assessment, fair enough, but I don't really see you making a logical argument against it, so I am left wondering why you believe that not to be the case?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
I honestly don't know what you mean?

My point was, that we don't know what riders had been told to save themselves today, and which have been told to perform.

There is no doubt that on an intermediate stage like today, all the big GC teams pick some riders, and tell them to save themselves for later in the Vuelta..... none of them had everyone up front and ready today, even the teams that made a move.

I surmised that in the case of Astana, it would probably be some of the riders that did the Tour, who are there to ride themselves into form and be of help in the second half of the Vuelta, especially after killing themselves on the TTT yesterday.

If you disagree with that assessment, fair enough, but I don't really see you making a logical argument against it, so I am left wondering why you believe that not to be the case?
And don't try to make an effort to understand. His (her?) 3 or so comments in this thread are all against Colombians one way or the other.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan
Uran never pulls? There you go, he and Roglic took the lion's share of the effort
Quintana never attacks? Well he had to surprise them if he wanted to win. In a sprint against anyone Quintana would have lost. And he did it masterfully

Roglic seems undercooked. Several times he was leaving a gap in front of him, and it took some time to react and come terms with Uran after the Mick Jagger accelerated
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sandisfan

TRENDING THREADS