Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2021: Stage 18 (Salas - Alto d'El Gamoniteiru, 162.6 km)

[southwards]

It's nice to see MAL winning big again. This is the guy who can gap Rog and Pog (and lose 4 min in the next ITT), and ever since his fall at the Giro last year I was missing him.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

A shame that talented Fausto Masnada is not here to show Bahrain how to race.

 

[hfer07]

happy for MAL to win after a long stroke of bad luck with crashes, health, etc.
At least Movistar got a great reward out of this Vuelta.

& Roglic is solid & set to win this Vuelta

 

[Red Rick]

Doesn’t look as hard as Angliru that’s for sure. I wonder if it’s a case of steadier gradients, although hard, are just easier than very irregular climbs

No it's the geriatric pace in the first part which leads to everyone getting to the 2nd part without being shattered yet which in turn leads to smaller gaps cause the 2nd half of the climb isn't Angliru.

If a team would blow up the bottom here *** would be crazy.

 

[Fantastico]

Großschartner lost a whole lot of time today. Almost 7 minutes.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Oscar Cabedo 17th

 

[roundabout]

Bahrain should have roughly 4 minute lead left on the team GC which should just about be enough, I guess

 

[JosefK]

No knucklehead awards for TJV today, I guess. Kuss limited damage to Lopez (for a while) while Roglic marked Mas.

 

[movingtarget]

Did you see that?! Kuss working, face showing hard effort!

Roglic finally lost his poker face in the last few kns as well. He was digging deep after yesterday but as usual the damage was minimal.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

It's a bit annoying that Ineos doesn't have a strong team anymore here because I think they still could attack the podium with Bernal on Saturday. But as it stands Mas and Lopez would just have to sit behind a bazillion of Bahrain guys working to close the gap.

 

[movingtarget]

Meintjes into the top-10

Even the fog couldn't hide him..............

 

[roundabout]

Roglic finally lost his poker face in the last few kns as well. He was digging deep after yesterday but as usual the damage was minimal.

And he still bossed the finish.

 

[Red Rick]

And he still bossed the finish.

Problem for Roglic was Gamoniteiru had about 120m at 6% and MAL made all the difference there.

 

[southwards]

Even the fog couldn't hide him..............

With wantys text marker uniform it is more difficult.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Jesus this TJV director doesn't inspire much confidence, he's clearly been involved in one too many Dutch sports teams.

 

[JosefK]

Today's stage turned out a little better than I had expected.

 

[BlueRoads]

It's a bit annoying that Ineos doesn't have a strong team anymore here because I think they still could attack the podium with Bernal on Saturday. But as it stands Mas and Lopez would just have to sit behind a bazillion of Bahrain guys working to close the gap.

Bernal could probably have gotten on the podium if the had raced differently yesterday...
But he would never have caught Roglic anyway. So it's just nice (for me at least) to see he's better than in the beginning of the race, that his back doesn't seem to be bothering him too much, and that he does something worth watching in the race.
About results, I'm just looking forward to 2022 and hope he has a good year then. He's still quite young and he already has a Giro win this year.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Let's take a moment to reflect on the nightmare tactics of Bahrain today.

I mean, WTF.

Sunday can still see big gc changes I think.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Problem for Roglic was Gamoniteiru had about 120m at 6% and MAL made all the difference there.

Sepp Kuss has entered the chat.

 

[movingtarget]

Nice win for Lopez and another good day for DMS and Storer. Roglic looks as solid as a rock. He can always seem to respond when he has to. Hopefully he can avoid crashes in the next Tour and give Pogacar a good battle.

 

[ice&fire]

Let's take a moment to reflect on the nightmare tactics of Bahrain today.

I mean, WTF.

Sunday can still see big gc changes I think.

A repeat of Col de La Loze

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Mas and Lopez are a bit like Zubeldia and Mayo. One is really consistent while the other one has higher highs, but also lower lows.

Great minds and all that - from the transfers thread when Supermán first signed with Abarcá, when we were discussing how he might integrate at the team:

I had a couple of comparables from cycling history of the difference between the two, but they didn't truly work. The two I was looking at were Sastre and his brother in law (I think the Sastre comparison for Mas has mileage), and also mid-2000s Euskaltel, with Mas as pre-ninja Zubeldia, and López as Mayo.

Ultimately however I downplayed the comparison as I felt López has achieved far more in keeping with his capabilities than Mayo ever managed, and although he does have higher highs and lower lows than Mas, I didn't feel either the highs nor the lows (although the highs are close) match those of Jiménez, whose form on any given day could be anything from Basso at Livigno '05 to Basso at Aprica '06.

 

[movingtarget]

Let's take a moment to reflect on the nightmare tactics of Bahrain today.

I mean, WTF.

Sunday can still see big gc changes I think.

Yes and they couldn't even catch Storer anyway. The fog just made their tactics even more impenetrable.............

 

[Gigs_98]

MAL certainly knows how to win big mtf's. Sierra Nevada, Col de la Loze, Alto de Gamoniteiru...that's not a bad collection.

 

[Mayomaniac]

MAL certainly knows how to win big mtf's. Sierra Nevada, Col de la Loze, Alto de Gamoniteiru...that's not a bad collection.

Now he only needs a big stage win at the Giro next year...