Vuelta a España 2019 stage 7: Onda > Mas de la Costa 183.2km

[DFA123]

Agree with your post but I find it almost sad that those four riders are the big four of this race. I just really cannot get excited about this gc field

I agree in a way, it does seem to be missing a bit of star quality. But still much rather see a competitive 4 way battle of riders with different qualities, than some burly English or Dutch rider dominate a time trial and then grind their way to a dull victory in the mountains.

 

[movingtarget]

Familiar finish for Valverde in the sprint but not much between the top four climbing wise. Aru fighting hard and a good ride from Majka.

 

[carton]

Apparently Pogačar's running a 36/32. It always amazes me the difference between what pros do vs local self styled 'hard men' grinding a 39/25 everywhere.

And he's doing twice the speeds they are. So (likely well) over 3x the cadence.

It's always a bit funny when fitter guys I ride with will drop me like a stone on any 6%-8% gradient, but when the 10%-12% ramps start to bite I'll catch back up to them. Then someone will say something to the extent that chunky legs have a lot of power in them. I used to try to correct them, but I've found that the best way to go about it is to let it be. Often after a few times the wise up, see that I'm matching or exceeding the pace downhill and in the flats, they"ll come around to asking me how I'm geared. Either that or I'll see them surreptitiously counting my teeth. It's all good.

I mean, there's also plenty of folks that like the aesthetics beyond the performance. Good on 'em too. It helps me keep up.

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Virtually no drafting advantage on a climb that steep. Quintana was riding the way that suited him best imo

 

[DFA123]

Virtually no drafting advantage on a climb that steep. Quintana was riding the way that suited him best imo

I think he rode for the team a bit as well. There was a point where he dropped Valverde by 3 or 4 bike lengths and could have stuck the knife in, but eased way off instead.

 

[Lequack]

Quintana to selfishly tow Valverde to the line after which they hug and exchange phone numbers.

I guess I wasn't far off.

 

[Escarabajo]

I guess I wasn't far off.

Exchange phone numbers!!!

 

[Mayomaniac]

And he's doing twice the speeds they are. So (likely well) over 3x the cadence.

It's always a bit funny when fitter guys I ride with will drop me like a stone on any 6%-8% gradient, but when the 10%-12% ramps start to bite I'll catch back up to them. Then someone will say something to the extent that chunky legs have a lot of power in them. I used to try to correct them, but I've found that the best way to go about it is to let it be. Often after a few times the wise up, see that I'm matching or exceeding the pace downhill and in the flats, they"ll come around to asking me how I'm geared. Either that or I'll see them surreptitiously counting my teeth. It's all good.

I mean, there's also plenty of folks that like the aesthetics beyond the performance. Good on 'em too. It helps me keep up.

What kind of gearing do you use?
I recently did the Zoncolan with granny gears, but I also went to the Basso/Cobo school of seated climbing.
Aru did better than expected after all that talk about his leg hurting because of the TTT crash.

 

[Unchained]

Valverde is a hard man to crack. This is a great race. The GC is still pretty close for the top 10 so some potential mix ups..
Sad to see so many riders crash out,but glad to hear most were not seriously hurt.

 

[Red Rick]

I agree in a way, it does seem to be missing a bit of star quality. But still much rather see a competitive 4 way battle of riders with different qualities, than some burly English or Dutch rider dominate a time trial and then grind their way to a dull victory in the mountains.

Yeah the 2017 Giro was a *** horrendous race alright.

Total garbage compared to 4 dudes holding hands until the the final 200m.

 

[DFA123]

Yeah the 2017 Giro was a *** horrendous race alright.

Total garbage compared to 4 dudes holding hands until the the final 200m.

Agreed. Way too much TT kms distorted it.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

GC top 10

 

[perico]

Unfavourable terrain? Lopez doesn't like climbing?

He’s more comfortable on long grinding climbs, opposed to the muritos.

 

[Laplaz]

Can't wait for the next days, MAL vs. Rogla vs. Movistar.

 

[Lequack]

In the 2016 edition Froome, Contator, Quintana and Chaves all finished together on top of this MTF as the top 4 GC contenders. Valverde finished one minute back. Full results from that stage:

Vuelta a España 2016 Stage 17 results

Vuelta a España 2016 Stage 17 from Castellón to Llucena. Camins del Penygolosa was won by Mathias Frank before Leopold König and Robert Gesink. Nairo Quintana was leading the general classification.

www.procyclingstats.com

In 2016 the 4 GC guys finish together and the same happened today.
Except that Valverde got better.

And not only better, but beating the climb record better! Crazy

 

[Blanco]

Yeah the 2017 Giro was a *** horrendous race alright.

Total garbage compared to 4 dudes holding hands until the the final 200m.

Well the most interesting part was shitting by the road, so...

 

[Escarabajo]

This is turning out to be a good race so far. We'll see after Sunday and the TT we should have a more clear view of the contenders.

As for Chaves it should be expected that He should have these type of days. He is trying to come back to his old form. He was practically missing for 1 year. So keeping up in the top 10 should be a good thing for his confidence.

 

[del1962]

Wouldn’t it be better for Valverde to ride for Nairo if Movistar want to win GC?

 

[Escarabajo]

New record??
Wow, I was not expecting that.
These 4 guys are really pushing it harder than expected.

 

[del1962]

Nice to see Higuita and Knox finish after being told they crashed out

 

[Lequack]

Teejay also did not finish today.

 

[carton]

Unfavourable terrain? Lopez doesn't like climbing?

As was mentioned earlier, he's actually not all that good on the muritos, particularly the unipuerto ones. I venture that the bit of climbing before things kicked off today leveled the playing field.

I agree in a way, it does seem to be missing a bit of star quality. But still much rather see a competitive 4 way battle of riders with different qualities, than some burly English or Dutch rider dominate a time trial and then grind their way to a dull victory in the mountains.

I think it's a fairly strong foursome, IMHO. And today bodes well for the battles to come.

I mean the World Champion, a two-time GT winner and a guy who finished on a GT podium twice last year battling out against the guy who was the favorite both coming into the Giro and the Vuelta. The only two guys who have a stronger Palmares than the Movistar duo right now are Froome and Nibali, and it's quite possible neither of them wins another Grand Tour. Realistically, the only guys who are currently fit and healthy and might be making this a better race are Gerraint Thomas and Egan Bernal, and neither of those guys could be touted as stars as of fourteen months ago.

Yeah, there's a "star" quality factor missing, but I think it's mostly that the four of them are rather bland interviews -particularly in English-.

 

[Lequack]

Amazing form from Valverde and Quintana, having both done the Tour.

 

[Noddy97]

Quintana was the strongest today to me. I'm a bit disappointed with roglic, he could attack valverde when he was in trouble but he didn't and waited to beat him in a uphill sprint... And it's impossible to beat valverde in a uphill sprint.

 

[movingtarget]

Well the most interesting part was shitting by the road, so...

Well Nibali and Quintana just didn't have the climbing form to crack Dumoulin who rode a smart race and was the strongest overall. Pinot finished with his usual TT performance of course. Which was why Pinot's TT performance in this year's Tour got people excited. It was a long time coming. Dumoulin made mistakes in the Giro and had other issues but it still didn't matter. It was more about the form of his rivals.