Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2020: Stage 12 (Pola de Laviana > Alto de l'Angliru, 109.4 km)

[titan31]

Unfortunately the only guy with a team good enough for an ambush is Roglic.

Mas and Movistar are aswell.

 

[Anderis]

Ey? Carthy has been noticeable in quite a lot of mountain stages for a few years now. He's very inconsistent so hasn't been a big threat to date much, but he's also now 26 so getting to the point where he ought to be able to put it together.

Back in 2016 with Caja Rural he was 9th in the Volta a Catalunya, finishing with Froome and Martin on Port-Ainé. He won the Vuelta a Asturais admittedly against a fairly mediocre field. He had a pretty meh first year at the top with Cannondale but he was 8th on Lo Port. He was 5th in Utah in 2018 and 3rd in Colorado, and perhaps most worthy of note, he was 11th in the 2019 Giro d'Italia, as well as winning the queen stage and the GPM in the Tour de Suisse. He's been prominent with attacks or in breaks in the mountains in the Giro and Vuelta for the last 3 years but hasn't been strong enough to make it stick. However, 11th in last year's Giro shows that he has the ability to put it together but he hasn't been able to really manage a consistent enough performance to make him a man talked up for the top end of the GC until now.

I would add he was one rider in the peloton whose results didn't do the justice to how good of a climber he was.

He was flying on Mortirolo on last year's Giro but not many people remember because a breakaway won the stage and he ended up only 11th in GC- which was due to one bad day, otherwise he was firmly top10 level throughout the race.
He's lost a bunch of results and opportunities in one week races due to a number of factors. He had a badly-timed puncture in Catalunya in 2018. He had top10 legs in Tour de Romandie last year but worked for Woods who ended up weaker than him and again a similar story in Pais Vasco when he worked for Martinez who ended up weaker than him. During that Tour de Romandie, he came close to winning the queen stage but his attack was brought back in the last 2kms. In this year's Tour he had been riding on Valverde's level until he crashed at the beginning of 2nd week. He was certainly due to experience some kind of a breakthrough result with this kind of climbing performances.

 

[will-10]

Mas and Movistar are aswell.

Yeah, fair point

 

[Anybody_but..]

Although I'm a fan of none of those riders I'm close to reporting you for trolling.

You may do what you want, I will not change my mind, professional cycling will just benefit, if all of them retire.

 

[roundabout]

Week 3 is full of traps. But if nothing happens then is left to the TT and Covatilla.

Which traps? The zipper on the rain jacket not working? Or dozing off on the stage out of Salamanca and missing the split in the wind?

 

[topt]

Yep, Kuss is too good to be a demestique. It's time to change teams and fight for a GT win. Today it was clear that he was of little help as Roglic was struggling to hold his wheel on steepest ramps (so Kuss had to slow down ). Sepp would have won this stage methinks.

Kuss is not the profile to win a GT

 

[titan31]

Kuss is not the profile to win a GT

He could win a Vuelta imo. Hell, he'd probably have won this year's Giro even with the TT considering the weakness of it

 

[topt]

He could win a Vuelta imo. Hell, he'd probably have won this year's Giro even with the TT considering the weakness of it

no way, he is a good climber, everything else is average at best

 

[Fernandez]

Kuss is not the profile to win a GT

Man, the way he climbs and without too many TT kms he can win a GT

 

[topt]

Man, the way he climbs and without too many TT kms he can win a GT

when was the last time a 50kg climber won a GT

 

[Saint Unix]

Kuss is not the profile to win a GT

He doesn't need to win the race to justify being captain of a team. Just seeing him pound people on MTFs would be awesome enough. There's plenty of stage wins to be had for him if he's given the chance, and in a mountain-heavy GT he'd be able to challenge for the overall as well, I think.

 

[richwallone]

38,39,40,41 probably should all be the same form tbh. They are all such an outlier

This year was an outlier... He said it himself, he won’t train indoors... Not his cup of tea... Plus, the competitive drop-off can sneak up on you in any of these years no matter how perfect is the training execution and preparation... I’m still surprised he is still that good this late in his career...

 

[ice&fire]

when was the last time a 50kg climber won a GT

Kuss is about as light as Carapaz

 

[titan31]

no way, he is a good climber, everything else is average at best

Not like Hart and Hindley are world beaters, and Vueltas are generally steep MTF fests which is his wet dream.

 

[Fernandez]

when was the last time a 50kg climber won a GT

60 kgs

 

[Eclipse]

All this Kuss hype but he's another landa at best

 

[titan31]

when was the last time a 50kg climber won a GT

Bernal and Carapaz just last year. Yates the year before that

 

[richwallone]

Considering the weather, that 2002 Heras time was insane.

Edit: not was, is insane, you dummy

Yes, it was insane... But I’m sure everybody here knows the “funny business” of those years

 

[sir fly]

60 kgs

Meat in the middle.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Kuss is not the profile to win a GT

These are not 90s anymore. As years pass by races are more weighted towards mountains so yeah Kuss surely would be a contender in a GT with little TT (such races are bound to happen in the near future). He's one of the best climbers even as a domestique so would he be worse as a leader? Such reasoning makes no sense, he would have put time into everyone today. He's still young and will have his chance to ride as a leader, I think.

 

[richwallone]

Kuss is not the profile to win a GT

And that’s why JV should let him go for a stage here and there and keep him happy... He deserved to mix in for the win today... Roglic was fine and able to manage it himself.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Yes, I know it's weird to notice these things, but today we not only had this rather familiar situation:

127	OLIVEIRA Ivo	UAE-Team Emirates			,,
128	OLIVEIRA Rui	UAE-Team Emirates			,,

(Came in with Janse Van Rensburg)

But also this:

139	RÄIM Mihkel	Israel Start-Up Nation			37:00
140	LAAS Martin	BORA - hansgrohe			,,

Guess you might as well - if at all possible - finish together with the only guy you can speak to in your own language.

That happens all the time (maybe not with twins), but staying with riders of your team or nationality or just old friends is definitely not uncommon.

 

[Fernandez]

All this Kuss hype but he's another landa at best

Could be, but we need to watch it

 

[hrotha]

All this Kuss hype but he's another landa at best

I haven't seen him whine about wanting to lead in a GT then sign for a stacked team yet.

 

[Eclipse]

I haven't seen him whine about wanting to lead in a GT then sign for a stacked team yet.

Indeed. Lack of ambition