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

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Sciatic

Mar 4, 2011
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Gigs_98 said:
So as I wrote I missed most of the stage but looking at what happened now I'm just so completely baffled by the Movistar tactics. No matter if he got instructions from the team or not, playing the "one guy attacks the other one sits back" game when literally every important rider except Bernal is in the attack is so extraordinarily stupid. And it's not even like it was complicated to think of whether you should follow a move or not. There was exactly one reason not to follow a move and that was if Roglic had not followed it either. But no matter the racing situation, if Roglic is in the group in front there is absolutely nothing MAL possibly could have achieved by staying behind. Nothing. This decision is honestly in the pantheon of inexplicably bad tactical moves. Absolutely inexcusable.
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That’s a good point. But I’m not sure we will ever truly know whether the moment he was gapped was part of the tactics or was his in attention or inability to read the situation.
 
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Cagalitroso

May 29, 2021
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This stage is the gift that keeps on giving, LOL
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTaAgtmru7H/

Texts

Mas: "This has been a very demanding stage. I didnt know anything about the Miguel Angel situation. Did he have a fall? . I knew nothing.


MAL's wife in the comments: " 'You knew nothing?' hahaha, you were the one who demanded that MAL should stay back and not pursue...you stabbed him,just like in the first week after he covered all the gaps because he arrived in excellent shape to the race.. you took with you the leader on your wheel and you didnt let Miguel to rejoin the group with the excuse you didnt hear anything on your earpiece. What a team leader!"
 
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Koronin

Koronin

Oct 14, 2017
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Cagalitroso said:
This stage is the gift that keeps on giving, LOL
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTaAgtmru7H/

Texts

Mas: "This has been a very demanding stage. I didnt know anything about the Miguel Angel situation. Did he have a fall? . I knew nothing.


MAL's wife in the comments: " 'You knew nothing?' hahaha, you were the one who demanded that MAL should stay back and not pursue...you stabbed him,just like in the first week after he covered all the gaps because he arrived in excellent shape to the race.. you took with you the leader on your wheel and you didnt let Miguel to rejoin the group with the excuse you didnt hear anything on your earpiece. What a team leader!"
Click to expand...


I'm included to believe Roglic over this that Mas was ordered not to help in hopes that MAL could get back to that group. What the heck does MAL or his wife expect Mas to do? He wasn't helping that group. The others in the group (bar Roglic) were trying to distance MAL. I also wouldn't be surprised if Mas didn't know anything about what happened as Movistar aren't exactly known as very good communicators.
 
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Cagalitroso

May 29, 2021
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Koronin said:
I'm included to believe Roglic over this that Mas was ordered not to help in hopes that MAL could get back to that group. What the heck does MAL or his wife expect Mas to do? He wasn't helping that group. The others in the group (bar Roglic) were trying to distance MAL. I also wouldn't be surprised if Mas didn't know anything about what happened as Movistar aren't exactly known as very good communicators.
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Believing Roglic over MAL (because his wife is just his mouthpiece) is just your prerogative.

I am just speculating here but I think Superman thought was different. Mas was not going to win the stage/nor take time on Roglic so if he could drop back at the beginning when the difference was less than 100 m they could rejoin the lead group later because it was going to be Bahrain+Yates against them. I am not saying he is right of course, only trying to understand his thoughts.

If you think Mas didnt know what was happening I have a pretty bridge to sell to you.
 
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Koronin

Koronin

Oct 14, 2017
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Cagalitroso said:
Believing Roglic over MAL (because his wife is just his mouthpiece) is just your prerogative.

I am just speculating here but I think Superman thought was different. Mas was not going to win the stage/nor take time on Roglic so if he could drop back at the beginning when the difference was less than 100 m they could rejoin the lead group later because it was going to be Bahrain+Yates against them. I am not saying he is right of course, only trying to understand his thoughts.

If you think Mas didnt know what was happening I have a pretty bridge to sell to you.
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WRONG. You do NOT sacrifice a guaranteed podium to help Lopez who likely drops the podium in the ITT. Mas is NOT a helper for Lopez in this race. This was soley on Lopez to pay attention and follow the attacks. He KNEW he had no help from teammates in that group because the team LOST all of it's climbing help due to crashes earlier in the race, thus meaning once climbing started the two leaders were on their own. If Lopez thought the team should sacrifice Mas for him he's crazy. Mas actually can ride a solid ITT while Lopez is likely to lose a couple of minutes. The ONLY option for Movistar with Mas was to leave him exactly where he was. Anything else would have been horribly stupid tactics and WOULD have cost them both podium spots. Lopez is not the sole leader and if thought Mas should drop back he was acting like he was the sole leader.

By the way, it's a very well known FACT Movistar is good at bad communication to their riders. It's well known that Movistar riders have asked riders on other teams about what is going on to get information they weren't told.
 
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Escarabajo

Escarabajo

Apr 16, 2009
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perico said:
If that is the case (and Colombian media is notoriously biased), it would make sense if Lopez couldn’t get away from Bernal. Bottom line is that he missed the split and should’ve immediately tried to close it or attacked from the chase group. When he was working, he was pulling Bernal with him.

And it’s not like JJ Rojas wasn’t pulling for him anyway.
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Of course Colombian media is biased. What do you expect?

I don't like what Lopez did, but at the time when JJ Rojas was pulling was a moot point already. That doesn't prove anything at that point.
 
SHAD0W93

SHAD0W93

Aug 13, 2011
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Cagalitroso said:
This stage is the gift that keeps on giving, LOL
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTaAgtmru7H/

Texts

Mas: "This has been a very demanding stage. I didnt know anything about the Miguel Angel situation. Did he have a fall? . I knew nothing.


MAL's wife in the comments: " 'You knew nothing?' hahaha, you were the one who demanded that MAL should stay back and not pursue...you stabbed him,just like in the first week after he covered all the gaps because he arrived in excellent shape to the race.. you took with you the leader on your wheel and you didnt let Miguel to rejoin the group with the excuse you didnt hear anything on your earpiece. What a team leader!"
Click to expand...
Lopez had been riding his own race and happened to be in Movistar’s kit with Mas benefiting. He still was almost a minute behind him before his stage win and Mas is the better TT rider. Mas was always finishing ahead of him unless he blew up.
 
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Eddy Evenepoel

Eddy Evenepoel

Aug 31, 2019
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Cagalitroso said:
I am just speculating here but I think Superman thought was different. Mas was not going to win the stage/nor take time on Roglic so if he could drop back at the beginning when the difference was less than 100 m they could rejoin the lead group later because it was going to be Bahrain+Yates against them. I am not saying he is right of course, only trying to understand his thoughts.
Click to expand...
If the team had chosen to tell Mas to drop down to Lopez so they could work together that would’ve been the most risky and dumbest tactical decision in the 18 years I have followed the sport IMO
 
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CyclistAbi

May 29, 2019
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Congratulations to Clément Champoussin for taking the stage win.

It was not a gift this one was a steal. As for the stage. Imagine Roglič would not made the effort to close the gap. Some serious time could get lost as Ineos going all in with Yates. Baharain profited the most with Mäder taking the white jersey and Haig staying on the GC podium. Considering the strength of Baharain it's a shame Landa wasn't in a good shape. As soon as they deliver in this aspect Baharain will become a force to be recon with on any GT race. Too bad Valverde wasn't around to discipline López (fan style). Then López would finish the race. Some great mano-a-mano action at the end of the race.

Roglič strong.
 
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Escarabajo

Escarabajo

Apr 16, 2009
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This one is the third case, or fourth better, that they have issues with riders. At some point you have to ask the question with management.

BTW, the comments by Mas have to be one of the most stupid and ridiculous comments that I have heard this year. No excuse.
 
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