Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2021: Stage 1 (Burgos - Burgos, 7.1 km / Prologue)

[roundabout]

Bernal was roughly s.t as Roglic after 2'30'' of racing, so he lost all of his time in the last 6 minutes which included a 1 km descent. I would say that he was around 6 s/km slower on the flat part which is very bad.

 

[Escarabajo]

Think at best he's a co leader. Unless Bernal and Carapaz completely collapse or crash, I can't see Ineos fully backing Yates in any GT. He hasn't shown the ability to be competitive in 3 weeks in a long time.

And definitely not after 7 kilometers!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You're a smart woman. Can you tell me a scenario that would make Kuss rise in your esteem?

Or are you just going to twist every single performance into somehow enhancing your weird hatred for him?

I mean, I love Sagan but I understand your dislike there. This just seems so silly...

You can dig back a few years and see me actually hailing him in the Tour of Utah as the best climbing performance of the season. However, for me to soften my dislike of him, I feel he needs to be away from Rogla as much as possible (and possibly away from Jumbo-Visma to facilitate that, as their team car is the real problem), as he is infinitely more interesting when he isn't being used in this negative reinforcement role as non-domestiquing domestique, who only exists to discourage racing by looking strong without actually doing anything to distance others. None of Jumbo's other leaders are as reliably elite, so Kuss might actually be used to domestique positively to drop or isolate others, or given freedom to do his own thing, when that is the case. As soon as they put him in a team with Rogla, suddenly 15 riders are tapping out the tempo of the third best Jumbo rider on every mountain and Sepp is breathing through his nose, riding all the way to the summit without turning a pedal in anger, just there to ensure nobody else dares try to be entertaining. Unfortunately, because of how strong he is as a climber, but how inconsistent he has been in stages like TTs, he always gets selected as a helper for Rogla, so we only ever get to see interesting Sepp on rare occasions, and on those occasions I largely root against him because of his usual role.

Oh, or maybe he could slap Peter Sagan in a post-stage fight. That would probably make him rise in my esteem.

 

[Red Rick]

Bernal was roughly s.t as Roglic after 2'30'' of racing, so he lost all of his time in the last 6 minutes which included a 1 km descent. I would say that he was around 6 s/km slower on the flat part which is very bad.

I think there is a trend among riders to go too hard on hills in ITTs and Roglic just rides within himself on those hills and then kills the flats afterwards.

 

[hfer07]

Kudos to Roglic - He looked truly happy knowing after the Olympics ITT Gold, anything is a bonus. finger crossed he gets through the 1st week without a crash or injuries
BTW I still don't get how INEOS is going to work out leadership between Yates, Bernal & Carapaz....

 

[titan31]

Well the three amigos strategy is a proven Movistar strategy, tested time and time again.

What I'm expecting anyway is Yates and Bernal are the two more protected riders but Carapaz will try and attack from longer range rather than sitting behind Jumbo. Sivakov, Van Baarle, Narvaez and Pidcock will be the main mountain doms and Puccio for the flat. Carapaz should be used as a foil to attack and force Jumbo, Bahrain and Movi to do the chasing.

 

[Lequack]

 

[Red Rick]

You can dig back a few years and see me actually hailing him in the Tour of Utah as the best climbing performance of the season. However, for me to soften my dislike of him, I feel he needs to be away from Rogla as much as possible (and possibly away from Jumbo-Visma to facilitate that, as their team car is the real problem), as he is infinitely more interesting when he isn't being used in this negative reinforcement role as non-domestiquing domestique, who only exists to discourage racing by looking strong without actually doing anything to distance others. None of Jumbo's other leaders are as reliably elite, so Kuss might actually be used to domestique positively to drop or isolate others, or given freedom to do his own thing, when that is the case. As soon as they put him in a team with Rogla, suddenly 15 riders are tapping out the tempo of the third best Jumbo rider on every mountain and Sepp is breathing through his nose, riding all the way to the summit without turning a pedal in anger, just there to ensure nobody else dares try to be entertaining. Unfortunately, because of how strong he is as a climber, but how inconsistent he has been in stages like TTs, he always gets selected as a helper for Rogla, so we only ever get to see interesting Sepp on rare occasions, and on those occasions I largely root against him because of his usual role.

Oh, or maybe he could slap Peter Sagan in a post-stage fight. That would probably make him rise in my esteem.

Sadly the usual Kuss scenario is relatively likely, though I can also see them using Kuss to babysit Carapaz or Yates if they attack earlier on a climb.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Sadly the usual Kuss scenario is relatively likely, though I can also see them using Kuss to babysit Carapaz or Yates if they attack earlier on a climb.

It's Adam Yates in this race, not Simon.

 

[tobydawq]

You can dig back a few years and see me actually hailing him in the Tour of Utah as the best climbing performance of the season. However, for me to soften my dislike of him, I feel he needs to be away from Rogla as much as possible (and possibly away from Jumbo-Visma to facilitate that, as their team car is the real problem), as he is infinitely more interesting when he isn't being used in this negative reinforcement role as non-domestiquing domestique, who only exists to discourage racing by looking strong without actually doing anything to distance others. None of Jumbo's other leaders are as reliably elite, so Kuss might actually be used to domestique positively to drop or isolate others, or given freedom to do his own thing, when that is the case. As soon as they put him in a team with Rogla, suddenly 15 riders are tapping out the tempo of the third best Jumbo rider on every mountain and Sepp is breathing through his nose, riding all the way to the summit without turning a pedal in anger, just there to ensure nobody else dares try to be entertaining. Unfortunately, because of how strong he is as a climber, but how inconsistent he has been in stages like TTs, he always gets selected as a helper for Rogla, so we only ever get to see interesting Sepp on rare occasions, and on those occasions I largely root against him because of his usual role.

Oh, or maybe he could slap Peter Sagan in a post-stage fight. That would probably make him rise in my esteem.

Okay, but as I have said before (maybe not to you, but generally); Kuss never looks to be in trouble, he always looks like he's breathing through his nose even if he's about to be dropped. I can't really see why that should be a problem.

 

[Red Rick]

It's Adam Yates in this race, not Simon.

I believe in the theory they were switched at birth tbh.

But a lot will depend on if Ineos are gonna actually finally use different strategy as they were so loudly telling everyone before the Giro and before the Tour.

 

[Eeslliw]

BTW I still don't get how INEOS is going to work out leadership between Yates, Bernal & Carapaz....

Pretty easy, just wait after stage 3 and there will be big enough gaps to make decision.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Roglic can drink with his eye, what a legend! Hopefully he drinks a lot tonight making the race a bit more competitive.

 

[Rollthedice]

Roglic can drink with his eye, what a legend! Hopefully he drinks a lot tonight making the race a bit more competitive.

He already emptied the bottle, the photo was taken when he was looking for a last drop, maybe was still something left.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

I think so, Adam Yates was supposed to be targeting this as a leader.

Yes, but since the Tour went so well with multiple leaders Brailsford thought he'd give it another go.

 

[Carols]

Nothing like giving the winner an empty bottle of bubbly! Vuelta Fail!

 

[solo80k]

Bernal was roughly s.t as Roglic after 2'30'' of racing, so he lost all of his time in the last 6 minutes which included a 1 km descent. I would say that he was around 6 s/km slower on the flat part which is very bad.

Bernal a little bit disappointing but it's just 7 kms. We'll have a better understanding after 3rd stage MTF.

It's not surprising that Ineos probably plan to strike hard in the last week because it's Roglic's Achilles heel - he had problems in the past (Tour and Vuelta 2020).

 

[JosefK]

So, Bernal not as good in the opening TT as Carapaz. It's a short route, so maybe not too significant, but also maybe not a good sign for Bernal.

 

[roundabout]

Yes, but since the Tour went so well with multiple leaders Brailsford thought he'd give it another go.

I think with Carapaz doubling up, Bernal getting Covid and Yates being not able to make another step in GTs after 2016 it is just a case of having a back-up plan or 2 in case something goes wrong. And not an aggressive one-after-the-other attacking.

But I hope that I am wrong and JV would not be easily the best team this time around.

 

[titan31]

I'm not expecting much in that stage 3. Surely Jumbo leave a small break go and then refuse to chase to get the jersey off them. GC come in 4-5 mins down and action be limited to about the final 2k as all the teams are still fresh.

 

[Red Rick]

So, Bernal not as good in the opening TT as Carapaz. It's a short route, so maybe not too significant, but also maybe not a good sign for Bernal.

We'll see on stage 3. It's just much more time lost than you'd like to this early in the race.

 

[Pinot's goat]

The reason Ineos did not win the Tour was not due to having multiple leaders, in fact having so many leaders saved their podium chances as if one leader crashed out then they had an alternative.

 

[Escarabajo]

So, Bernal not as good in the opening TT as Carapaz. It's a short route, so maybe not too significant, but also maybe not a good sign for Bernal.

2"?

 

[broppo]

Bernal a little bit disappointing but it's just 7 kms. We'll have a better understanding after 3rd stage MTF.

It's not surprising that Ineos probably plan to strike hard in the last week because it's Roglic's Achilles heel - he had problems in the past (Tour and Vuelta 2020).

lol roglic owned pogacar in the last 2 mountain stages of the tour 2020 in week 3!

 

[Escarabajo]

lol roglic owned pogacar in the last 2 mountain stages of the tour 2020 in week 3!

And what happened?