Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2020: Stage 8 (Logroño > Alto de Moncalvillo, 164 km)

[richwallone]

Yes Dan Martin went all in today, he collapsed at the finish line. Very impressive ride

That doesn't look good for his GC prospects... He's gonna ride out of energy by week 3, and I know it's shortened this year... Plus, being on the wrong side of 30, it certainly won't help him with recovery between races...

 

[Sciatic]

This makes 3 stages with entertaining racing in a row (not counting rest day)—when does that ever happen in a GT?

 

[Lequack]

Another great shot of todays action

 

[Devil's Elbow]

This makes 3 stages with entertaining racing in a row (not counting rest day)—when does that ever happen in a GT?

Stages 7, 8 and 9 of this year's Tour? Stages 12, 13 and 14 of last year's Giro? It even happens in mediocre GTs.

 

[Luthor]

I confess to having written him off after the time loss the other day. With more info, it looks like the rain jacket issue really was an issue on that stage.

And the weather. While Roglic might be originally a ski jumper, ski jumpers don't actually spend a lot of time in bad weather. Ski jumpers are accustomed to the wind but not the rain/snow. Actually ski jumping competitions are stopped if bad weather happens(wind over 3m/s, heavy rain/snow) due to high danger. Thankfully it looks like on Angliru the rain might come on Monday, after the stage happens.

 

[Eclipse]

That doesn't look good for his GC prospects... He's gonna ride out of energy by week 3, and I know it's shortened this year... Plus, being on the wrong side of 30, it certainly won't help him with recovery between races...

I suppose he does have as close as it gets in professional cycling to two days of active recovery, but I won't be surprised if the weekend was to break him. I just hope that even if he cracks that he is able to limit losses enough that he can get that elusive top 5 in a GT

 

[richwallone]

I suppose he does have as close as it gets in professional cycling to two days of active recovery, but I won't be surprised if the weekend was to break him. I just hope that even if he cracks that he is able to limit losses enough that he can get that elusive top 5 in a GT

He definitely deserves it to be up there in the final GC based on his gutsy riding so far

 

[Eclipse]

Just realised Champoussin was in the top 10 today. Very good ride from him

 

[RedheadDane]

Follow-up from my previous post. Silly me for not realising it's obviously brothers-finishing-together day at the Vuelta.

21	IZAGIRRE Ion	Astana Pro Team			3:48
22	IZAGIRRE Gorka	Astana Pro Team			,,

(But at least they had a few others with them.)

Meanwhile, Jesus Herrada not making the start of the Vuelta, meant that poor José had to finish the stage all in lonesomeness.

 

[Gigs_98]

He hadn't really dropped the rest yet, and after Formigal I'd say there were some question marks.

But this is probably his best stage win IMO

Idk, I think this was pretty impressive. This definitely wasn't an uphill sprint there was no Jumbo sprint train today and the steepness of that climb made that final kilometre pretty long. I think this felt more like Contador dropping Froome on the top of the 2014 Vuelta mtf's than the typical Roglic final kilometre efforts.

 

[Luthor]

That doesn't look good for his GC prospects... He's gonna ride out of energy by week 3, and I know it's shortened this year... Plus, being on the wrong side of 30, it certainly won't help him with recovery between races...

Kudos to him. I was never his fan but this Vuelta he is growing on me. I really hope he gets a top5, and why not a podium.

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

Lovely scenery and an awesome ride. With Roglic's (how is this even pronounced?) bad day possibly already behind him the Vuelta is his to lose... too strong in the TT and quite possibly also the best climber in the race.

Great ride by Carthy and Martin (the Irish one). Movistar paced the whole stage and ended up shattering Mas', Marc's and Ale's times.

 

[Red Rick]

Mareczko at only 29 minutes. 10 minutes ahead of the time limit and not even dead last.

 

[Leinster]

I suppose he does have as close as it gets in professional cycling to two days of active recovery, but I won't be surprised if the weekend was to break him. I just hope that even if he cracks that he is able to limit losses enough that he can get that elusive top 5 in a GT

Martin will ride a good race, but he’s going to lose a lot of time in the TT. His only hope there is that Carthy, Mas, Chavez all have bad days too.

 

[Rackham]

What an amazing climb. Seriously, this is why I sit through hours of cycling, i.e. the winner of the Giro versus the winner of last year's Vuelta in a literal boxing match on the last climb. Attack, counter-attack.

Epic stuff. Well done Primoz.

 

[Koronin]

Why do you now also hold a grudge against Carthy? He did Valverde no wrong.

I don't really have any issues with Carthy, but the ONLY way for Woods BS excuse to be accurate is Carthy needs to blow up on a climb.

 

[Koronin]

Father and son

That was my thought as well. Valverde has look like a proud father of both Mas and Soler this year, but in some ways even more so with Mas.

 

[shalgo]

Mareczko at only 29 minutes. 10 minutes ahead of the time limit and not even dead last.

He is finding his climbing legs. Just wait for the Angliru!

Or, in Mareczko's case, wait, and wait, and wait....

 

[shalgo]

I don't really have any issues with Carthy, but the ONLY way for Woods BS excuse to be accurate is Carthy needs to blow up on a climb.

Don't you mean that the only way that you can twist Woods's legitimate excuse into BS is for Carthy to blow up so that you can claim he was never a legitimate GC contender?

If anything, today's stage confirms that Woods should not have worked with Valverde yesterday. EF worked hard to set up a Carthy attack and even though it didn't work, Carthy still seems like one of the top four GC contenders in the race. Moreover, even when Valverde was dropped early, he didn't sit up and rest like he should have if he was just riding as a domestique, but instead struggled to the end to preserve his GC chances. Should Woods have helped Valverde get closer to Carthy yesterday?

 

[Koronin]

Don't you mean that the only way that you can twist Woods's legitimate excuse into BS is for Carthy to blow up so that you can claim he was never a legitimate GC contender?

If anything, today's stage confirms that Woods should not have worked with Valverde yesterday. EF worked hard to set up a Carthy attack and even though it didn't work, Carthy still seems like one of the top four GC contenders in the race. Moreover, even when Valverde was dropped early, he didn't sit up and rest like he should have if he was just riding as a domestique, but instead struggled to the end to preserve his GC chances. Should Woods have helped Valverde get closer to Carthy yesterday?

Nope, today PROVES 100% that Woods excuse was pure and complete BS. Woods ONLY wanted the stage win yesterday and his BS excuse was just that because Valverde is NOT a GC threat unless Carthy is NOT a GC contender. Valverde HAS to stay up there if he can because Movistar needs the GC points. If Valverde was a GC contender he would NOT be losing 1 plus minutes PER mountain top stage and he'll likely lose more than that on Angliru as that is a bad climb for him. Woods should have either worked or stayed in the peloton yesterday.

 

[Blanco]

Roglic winning on finishes like this one is literally the most predictable thing ever, can't get excited about it.
At least the racing was good

Roglic winning on what finish would surprise you then?

 

[RedheadDane]

Nope, today PROVES 100% that Woods excuse was pure and complete BS. Woods ONLY wanted the stage win yesterday and his BS excuse was just that because Valverde is NOT a GC threat unless Carthy is NOT a GC contender. Valverde HAS to stay up there if he can because Movistar needs the GC points. If Valverde was a GC contender he would NOT be losing 1 plus minutes PER mountain top stage and he'll likely lose more than that on Angliru as that is a bad climb for him. Woods should have either worked or stayed in the peloton yesterday.

You seem to think that an excuse for not pulling in a group should always be justified. It just has to work.

Roglic winning on what finish would surprise you then?

Champs-Élysées.

 

[titan31]

Martin will ride a good race, but he’s going to lose a lot of time in the TT. His only hope there is that Carthy, Mas, Chavez all have bad days too.

Losing minutes to Roglic is one thing, but a lot of the others TTs ain't that impressive. For a top 5 too, he's got a decent buffer on Grosschartner, Chaves etc who also suffered today.

He won't lose a top 5 in the time trial, so they'll have to take time off him on the mountain stages that are left.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Champoussin still only 25 minutes behind. Roglic and Carapaz need to be careful - he might well take back 20 on the Angliru alone if he kicks into gear.

Far from over for the young Frenchman.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Roglic winning on what finish would surprise you then?

Flat sprint stage maybe the point is it is hard to see anyone but Roglic winning on such a finish