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Hmm... In addition to the performance of Poels and Geoghegan Hart, Ineos also had Kiryienka finish over 5 minutes behind the last group on the road
let's hope so. In the Tour he looked determined to get back in shape, pushing every day. Even when he was dropped early on he kept riding at the limit, never taking it easy. Back then he said that this was the best way for him to reach 100% for the Vuelta.Anyway the biggest surprise was Fabio Aru, is the the old Aru we are now seeing?
#likehunter
- 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.
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.
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 followedDo 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.
you really think they have to tell the wheelsucker not to pull, its in his natureI wonder if the team were telling Quintana to not push too much with Valverde chasing? And same with Nieve, he has Chaves chasing.
Anyway the biggest surprise was Fabio Aru, is the the old Aru we are now seeing?
Because he let that group slip away in the first place.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.
really, all the top favorites went, he didnt and its not his fault.....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.....
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.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?