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

[LaFlorecita]

Actually JV is better than Ineos at suffocating a race.

Ineos was using their train to shred the peloton into pieces, JV is using it to keep everything together.

I don't have a preference, but when Sky started pushing the pace, you knew they meant business. Jumbo is just controlling for the sake of controlling. They rarely try to set something up.

 

[roundabout]

Roglic, with LBL the difference.

Bradburying his way to victory should not be the difference.

yes, he won and a win is a win, but there should be more to it than just the final result

 

[LaFlorecita]

Bradburying his way to victory should not be the difference.

yes, he won and a win is a win, but there should be more to it than just the final result

I could see Roglic take it, but it shouldn't be because of LBL. Roglic was going to finish 4th in that sprint
Bradbury is a perfect comparison

 

[gunara]

I don't have a preference, but when Sky started pushing the pace, you knew they meant business. Jumbo is just controlling for the sake of controlling. They rarely try to set something up.

It looks to me that you and Anderis meant the same thing

 

[Fernandez]

Do you think that was their motivation? I thought Soler was pulling to get more time on Martin for Mas.

For a 4th place? Knowing Movistar it could be, but then its sad.
Spanish TV comentators were mad at that move.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

he's not that good.
0 results at WT level in his career.

He’s a frequent winner of climbing stages at 2.1 level. It may be that he never improves to be a big WT level contender. But that’s not what I’m asking about. He hasn’t been climbing at the level he has previously demonstrated. This is a Vuelta with a tired and somewhat thin field. He’s been nowhere.

 

[richwallone]

To be fair, I feel there may be a cultural aspect to his boring interviews. Pogacar doesn't come across as very charismatic either, but he could be mistaken for the shy kid from a few doors down thanks to his baby face.

The command of English and, in general, Eastern Europeans don’t show their feelings so quickly and so openly... Now, Sagan with his refreshing candidness and unbound jackass-ery (in his younger years) is more of an exemption... LOL And I’m saying it as a huuuuge Sagan fan

 

[ice&fire]

Bigger gaps today among top 10 contenders than in La Farrapona. I had the impression that the group at the start of the last climb was also smaller today than last Saturday. Perhaps the succession of many short climbs isn't such a bad thing at the end of the race.

 

[Rollthedice]

Wonder what Roglic could've done in the Tour and in this Vuelta with his Giro team.

 

[LaFlorecita]

It looks to me that you and Anderis meant the same thing

Yeah I was agreeing with Anderis

 

[Carols]

As big as Tom can be, he is now in the same team with arguably today's best GT rider and at least another competent GC man in Kruijswijk.

There are 3 GTs, enough for all . Plus TJV actually behave like a Team, none of the 3 have a huge ego that stops them from helping a teammate who is stronger. (Unlike Movi).

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Bradburying his way to victory should not be the difference.

yes, he won and a win is a win, but there should be more to it than just the final result

I couldn’t disagree more with this. For me, the rider of the year is about wins. Then the second most important thing to evaluate is also wins. And the third. Placings, panache etc are just tie breakers.

 

[roundabout]

I wonder what happened to Woods today?

If he was as strong as on previous MTFs, he could set the higher pace to prepare for Carthy's attack and there could have been bigger gaps on the last mountain.

Yeah, Woods instead of Schelling in the early part of the final climb and it could have been game on.

And this is not meant as disrespect to Schelling who stepped up very well today.

But of course, on one of the few days that Jumbo struggles, the only one left to work is a neo-pro defending a 7th place on GC.

 

[johnymax]

Imagine Roglič doesn't crash in the Dauphine. He would have had one of the best seasons maybe ever or at least in last couple of decades. I'm assuming here that without his crash, he wins both the Dauphine and the Tour. Of course it's a big if, so this is only hypothetically speaking. It would have been a monster season.

 

[Blanco]

I'm fine with the race not being decided only on physics.
I'm fed up with people bending words meanings to fit their agenda.
Roglic has been faster than Carapaz for a few moments, not in global terms. And Sam Bennett has been faster than both Roglic and Carapaz. For a few moments, I mean.

Did you and those riders knew about time bonuses before the race?I'm not getting what are you trying to say...

 

[gunara]

Bigger gaps today among top 10 contenders than in La Farrapona. I had the impression that the group at the start of the last climb was also smaller today than last Saturday. Perhaps the succession of many short climbs isn't such a bad thing at the end of the race.

I like the lack of road to recover after Garganta, it's "worrying" for the race at some point to see the front drill failed to drop any remaining soul before that.

 

[ice&fire]

Did you and those riders knew about time bonuses before the race?I'm not getting what are you trying to say...

Time bonuses impact the race result, which I'm fine with. Time bonuses do not change the physics. Fast is a physics term.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Bigger gaps today among top 10 contenders than in La Farrapona. I had the impression that the group at the start of the last climb was also smaller today than last Saturday. Perhaps the succession of many short climbs isn't such a bad thing at the end of the race.

This has been the best stage design in the Sierra de Béjar for over a decade, to be honest.

 

[ciranda]

I wonder what happened to Woods today?

If he was as strong as on previous MTFs, he could set the higher pace to prepare for Carthy's attack and there could have been bigger gaps on the last mountain.

Puncture on the third or fourth last descent; it was the reason for the split there.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I couldn’t disagree more with this. For me, the rider of the year is about wins. Then the second most important thing to evaluate is also wins. And the third. Placings, panache etc are just tie breakers.

Then a vote is completely unnecessary, just check the UCI standings.

You can win, while a dozen riders are better. Or you can be the best by far, but get a puncture at the wrong time. You can also win thanks to being in a better team or lose due to being in a crappy team.

 

[gunara]

There are 3 GTs, enough for all . Plus TJV actually behave like a Team, none of the 3 have a huge ego that stops them from helping a teammate who is stronger. (Unlike Movi).

I like the optimism, Carols, but a Tour runner-up has just secured his back to back Vuelta win, he seems to like and is within reach to win both races.

 

[Speadge]

Do you think he would be a more exciting rider if he came from, say, France?

Of course. If not else he would be exciting to and praised by potentially 67 millions souls instead of 2 millions fanbase ;-)

 

[johnymax]

Time bonuses impact the race result, which I'm fine with. Time bonuses do not change the physics. Fast is a physics term.

Yes, but then you need to take into account the real time of every rider everytime. Even when they finish together in the peloton. There can be big differences between the first and the last rider in a group when it ends in bunch sprint, but because of the race rules, they all get the same time. That's way the talk about Carapaz being faster despite Roglič winning the race doesn't make sense. It's just nitpicking.

 

[JosefK]

I don't have a preference, but when Sky started pushing the pace, you knew they meant business. Jumbo is just controlling for the sake of controlling. They rarely try to set something up.

I think the difference between peak Sky train and peak Jumbo train is that when Sky had Froome in top form, they knew that he was untouchable in the high mountains, totally nuclear. With Jumbo, their train is done to discourage attacks on Roglic, to discourage other teams from exploiting any weakness (or less-than-superhuman-ness) that Roglic might have. Roglic never was as dominating as Froome in the long, high hills. Primoz is a better all-round rider than Froome was (say, for classics, etc.), but not near peak Froome's level as a pure climber.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Then a vote is completely unnecessary, just check the UCI standings.

You can win, while a dozen riders are better. Or you can be the best by far, but get a puncture at the wrong time. You can also win thanks to being in a better team or lose due to being in a crappy team.

UCI standings give high value to placings and minor wins. Which like panache and other things should be essentially tie breakers. I don’t see how anyone can reasonably be considered rider of the year without very big wins. Maybe in some very tight year where nobody takes multiple big wins a sprinter might get in the conversation by taking some totally absurd number of smaller wins.