Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2020: Stage 17 (Sequeros > Alto de la Covatilla , 178.2 km)

[RedheadDane]

Is he a bad descender?

He can't be worse than Zakarin. Surely...

 

[Red Rick]

Is that a serious question?

He always gets dropped on almost every descent.

I just have never payed attention to De La Cruz a minute of my life

 

[titan31]

Having a break of that size and 4 teams are unrepresented.

Ineos, CCC, ISN and Direct Energie.

I can understand Ineos and ISN to an extent although would be better off having someone up there, but for CCC and Direct Energie, it's criminal.

 

[tobydawq]

I just have never payed attention to De La Cruz a minute of my life

Lol, me neither, really, but it's quite meme-worthy how he always manages to get distanced from breaks on the most innocuous of descents.

 

[IndurainsTdF1994]

I just have never payed attention to De La Cruz a minute of my life

Poor guy. Let's hope he doesn't read this forum after the race... Love ya, David.

 

[sir fly]

Lol, me neither, really, but it's quite meme-worthy how he always manages to get distanced from breaks on the most innocuous of descents.

He's just cruising...

 

[Eclipse]

Such lovely weather

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Jumbo chasing all day because there’s a guy 10 minutes down in the break seems a bit over enthusiastic

 

[Eclipse]

Jumbo chasing all day because there’s a guy 10 minutes down in the break seems a bit over enthusiastic

Rogla has been perma scarred by UAE

 

[ice&fire]

Oliveira and Costa looking back to check if De La Cruz is still there in the descent

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Jumbo chasing all day because there’s a guy 10 minutes down in the break seems a bit over enthusiastic

Don't think there is any chasing going on currently. Paul Martens is riding comfortably on the front of the peloton and a large break is going slowly enough up a Cat 1 that Ackerman can keep up

 

[saganftw]

tjv will pull to lose enough time to the break forcing movistar to work, 200 IQ

 

[titan31]

Ya, with Hofstede up front, it'll be Martens setting whatever pace he can comfortably do. Not sure they'll want to use Gesink or Vingegaard this early

 

[tobydawq]

Impressive move by Terpstra. Very worthy for a Flanders and Roubaix winner.

 

[richwallone]

I'm surprised G. Martin made it into the break and keeps vacuuming the KOM points despite having won the jersey already... Worthy winner...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I'm surprised G. Martin made it into the break and keeps vacuuming the KOM points despite having won the jersey already... Worthy winner...

The team need some prize money.

 

[IndurainsTdF1994]

How much can we read into Roglic's current riding? Seems not to be too comfortable?...

 

[ice&fire]

How much can we read into Roglic's current riding? Seems not to be too comfortable?...

Gesink is accelerating to test him

 

[topcat]

Gesink is accelerating to test him

Jumbo bluffing, la vuelta is the race of bluffs

 

[Libertine Seguros]

He can't be worse than Zakarin. Surely...

Has Reichenbach really improved enough to not be mentioned in this series of posts?!

 

[Swiss Tony]

Foaming bum

 

[IndurainsTdF1994]

Gesink is accelerating to test him

They switched to riding for Kuss.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Covatilla is not big in absolute terms but has a steep section in the middle (3 km at 10%) followed by 7-8% until the finish. This climb can produce differences (i.e. Perez over Heras at Vuelta 04) but Roglic would need to have a weaker day to lose 40-50 seconds to his rivals. TBH I've never seen such an easy last week of la vuelta with just one moderate MTF and no really hard mountain stages.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Covatilla is not big in absolute terms but has a steep section in the middle (3 km at 10%) followed by 7-8% until the finish. This climb can produce differences (i.e. Perez over Heras at Vuelta 04) but Roglic would need to have a weaker day to lose 40-50 seconds to his rivals. TBH I've never seen such an easy last week of la vuelta with just one moderate MTF and no really hard mountain stages.

Pushes it close I reckon. They were a bit hesitant to make the Basque stages too decisive seeing as it was the first time going back in over 30 years and they weren't sure if there would be any reaction to that. Obviously there wasn't, so they could easily have stood to make stage 20 more decisive than it was, or have a harder run-in to Bilbao. Peña Cabarga is good as an early MTF or one at the start of a block as it will only open up 30-45 second gaps due to its comparative short length, but here it was almost last chance saloon. the Bilbao stage did offer an opportunity to attack, however, while the issue with the Vitória-Gasteiz stage was more the lack of anything really serious leading directly into Urkiola. If they'd gone over Kanpazar before Elosua and then Karabieta from its other side to descend into Durango and climb Urkiola, or if they'd used Asentzio or Elgeta instead of Kanpazar on the way back to Durango from Azkoitia, they could have seen something happen despite that long flat run-in (especially as Froome could TT well and Cobo's team resources weren't really set up for power on the flat, though Menchov was in great form by that point). As it was, however, there was nothing decisive for 50km before the base of Urkiola and 45km flat after it, which meant it was unlikely you'd see a really decisive move there.

 

[sir fly]

I suppose some local knowledge would come handy on today's profile.
Covatilla just doesn't look 45"+ sufficient.