Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2021: Stage 20 (Sanxenxo - Castro de Herville, 202.2 km)

[Red Rick]

I think the chasing group will probably win the stage now?

Ez game.

 

[Carols]

Wow! What a stage, what a steal

 

[Valv.Piti]

Yates not trying to get the podium, Mas and Roglic's completely disinterest in a stage win etc etc.

I dont understand how these favourites race sometimes

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Chapeau!

But why did they keep closing down Bizkarra? Of course A Galician stage winner would have been even better, but an Euskaltel win would still be supreme.

 

[kingjr]

Yates not trying to get the podium, Mas and Roglic's completely disinterest in a stage win etc etc.

Remember the whining when Roglic beat Mäder to the line?

 

[saganftw]

Champoussin FROM TOP ROPE !!!!

 

[JosefK]

Giant Roglic gift. Withheld the stomp. Just a mini-stomp at the end.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Let's hope that this stage impacts GT race design the way AdH 2011 did.

 

[titan31]

Tbf, I can get Roglics disinterest. He wins so much stages, an individual stage means nothing to him, and it shouldn't really. Was same with the first Cort stage where if he was bothered, he'd have taken it.

Yates and Mas though should slap themselves. Haig didn't have it so I can't really blame him, he was just hanging on.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Remember the whining when Roglic beat Mäder to the line?

Yes, but that sure as hell wasnt from me. I want to watch the best rider win, not some random french rider I have barely heard off

 

[RedheadDane]

Alright, Chad! Oversimplify this!

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Hahahaha loving this. Champoussin winning this and Roglic with the pure disrespect punch at the end. Yates and Mas just dumb, Yates rather taking a low chance of winning this instead of getting distance between himself and Haig and Mas simply not interested in stages - I actually think Roglic would've gifted him the stage if he attacked and the two would've gone clear.

 

[KZD]

Incredible win by Champoussin. In the GC group everyone was too afraid of Roglić but unless Yates gets the podium the Vuelta will be a disappointment for Ineos

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

Who said AGR2 don't have winners?
Best GT stage for a very long time, right from the gun (IMHO, see others in this thread disagreed).

 

[Red Rick]

Tbf, I can get Roglics disinterest. He wins so much stages, an individual stage means nothing to him.

Yates and Mas though should slap themselves. Haig didn't have it so I can't really blame him, he was just hanging on.

Yates was trying to drop Haig but wasn't strong enough to do it.

MAL for some reason decided that trying to play poker with Roglic was a better bet than just attacking and hoping Roglic is on a bad day.

 

[burning]

I can absolutely understand Roglic playing games, he probably does not care about stages at this point, and Haig was spent. For Yates and Mas, I have no idea what they were up to tbh.

 

[movingtarget]

Yates not trying to get the podium, Mas and Roglic's completely disinterest in a stage win etc etc.

I dont understand how these favourites race sometimes

Not sure what Yates was doing. Haig was spent after the first Yates attack and only the stop start tactics kept letting him come back.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Lopez doing his best Pinot impersonation

 

[Leinster]

Mader up to 5th on gc!

 

[TourOfSardinia]

 

[Aimar16]

Lopez DNF?

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Yates, Haig, Mas - what were they thinking? Last chance for them to get some real glory, little risk to their overall standing, and they just let folks ride past and away. Classic game theory resulting in sub-optimal outcomes for all involved.

And Mas...as a Contador fan, I want to like him, but every time he attacks it has the vibe of someone attacking because he's heard it's something a GC rider should do and it looks something like this. Seemingly no intent or desire to actually get away from the bunch ever. So strange. He has been so strong in this race that he should have put in some real attacks. Today, for example, he was likely in the top two strongest riders and should have gotten in top 2 on the stage, but instead he tagged along passively.

 

[yaco]

One of the most bizarre stages I've witnessed in a Grand Tour.

 

[More Strides than Rides]

Do GT fans not watch classics? This was pretty straight forward: Roglic had the most to lose, he would always be the winner on that uphill sprint. Mas, Yates et al tried to get away, but couldn't. So when an outsider attacks, you look at Roglic to chase, the only pressure you can add onto Roglic to possibly weaken him would be to make him chase. But he didn't. Same thing happens all over in the spring.

Anyone saying Mas, Yates, Haig threw away a chance today are not being realistic. They were not going to beat Roglic in the uphill sprint. They did in fact try to get away before.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Yates was trying to drop Haig but wasn't strong enough to do it.

MAL for some reason decided that trying to play poker with Roglic was a better bet than just attacking and hoping Roglic is on a bad day.

But he DID drop him and when he saw Rogla and Mas on his wheel, he stopped. Very weird riding.

If I was Roglic id win as much as possible. He basically threw a sure stage win here and a very memorable on at that! Mas, disappointing effort as well.