Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2021: Stage 7 (Gandia - Balcón de Alicante, 152.0 km)

[wheresmybrakes]

Any idea the reason Carthy abandoned? I'm assuming illness.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Let me have my very simple system: Younger than me - up until the day I turn 35, at which point 35 will be the split-age - are young. Older than me are old!

From the mouths of babes... just wait till you turn 50! Everybody looks young then.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

From the mouths of babes... just wait till you turn 50! Everybody looks young then.

Even Quintana?

 

[perico]

Damn that was a fall from Grace

111- Padun, Mark 26’19”

 

[Sciatic]

Damn that was a fall from Grace

111- Padun, Mark 26’19”

Yeah, I think the dramatically poor performance of Bahrain so far in this Vuelta, compared to the superb performances of several of their riders earlier this year is eye opening, and will probably merit further discussion elsewhere.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Even Quintana?

Quintana is a bit of an outlier, I think he was born with an old man's face.

 

[southwards]

Yeah, I think the dramatically poor performance of Bahrain so far in this Vuelta, compared to the superb performances of several of their riders earlier this year is eye opening, and will probably merit further discussion elsewhere.

Caruso from podium at the Giro to peloton fodder looks really strange.

 

[Rackham]

I still think this is Bernal versus Roglic & Roglic versus Bernal.

But, I also don't believe Bernal will hit the required heights to drop Roglic on a climb from the moment Roglic has shown he has recovered from his Tour disaster & his form is there. So I think we could see just more of the same between them, i.e. a continuation of last year's Tour de l'Ain basically.

In any case Roglic was hyper vigilant today & Jumbo rode a good race considering the potential danger everywhere (jumping on Lopez & Carapaz 40km out was also the smart thing to do).

Caruso from podium at the Giro to peloton fodder looks really strange.

Either this Vuelta makes Caruso look like he's fallen off a cliff in terms of performance, or, it puts Bernal's Giro into perspective.

 

[Leinster]

Let me have my very simple system: Younger than me - up until the day I turn 35, at which point 35 will be the split-age - are young. Older than me are old!

I had a system like that until it devolved to counting the number of riders older than me left in the race. Svein Tuft was my hero for a season or 2 there…

 

[Leinster]

Either this Vuelta makes Caruso look like he's fallen off a cliff in terms of performance, or, it puts Bernal's Giro into perspective.

Caruso was always a guy who had a GT podium in him, but it’s surely not a surprise that he doesn’t also have 2 GT top 10s in a season in him.

His best previous 2-GT season was 2015, top 10 in the Giro and 53rd in the Tour. He’s currently sitting in 24th in the Vuelta.

 

[RedheadDane]

I had a system like that until it devolved to counting the number of riders older than me left in the race. Svein Tuft was my hero for a season or 2 there…

Still 28 riders older than me in the race.

 

[Leinster]

Still 28 riders older than me in the race.

Treasure them. Remember their names.

 

[VeloMaster]

It certainly has me in two minds.

On the one hand, I naturally want Sepp Kuss as far away from success as possible, but on the other hand, if he does collapse from the GC entirely, then he's going to get stapled to Roglič's hip again. If he's high up in the GC then at least there's a justification for the team's use, or rather non-use, of him, because he's a threat in and of himself rather than just a deterrent.

Wow, you're really taking this Kuss-thing to a new level. Congrats

 

[VeloMaster]

Is it just me, or others noticing an inordinate number of "mechanicals," seemingly the fault of electronic shifting systems? It's been visible all season, and even the commentators have picked up on it -- however gently to avoid pissing off the industry sponsors -- with talk of "crash mode" and the need to kick the rear mech to reboot it.

As a almost-daily rider myself, I don't get the point. Top-end mechanical shifting these days is unbelievably quick, smooth, and reliable -- no batteries to fail (See the Film Icarus), not crash mode lockups, and in the worst case of cable break, you can still get home.

 

[Rollthedice]

Damn that was a fall from Grace

111- Padun, Mark 26’19”

He peaked for the Tour, instead he was sent back to mum who proceeded to cook some tasty meals for Mark. All that effort to lose 4.5 kg in a week went down the drain.

 

[davidsonduke]

Any idea the reason Carthy abandoned? I'm assuming illness.

Vaughters was on the NBC telecast, and he said that Carthy has been up and down since his vaccination in early August and just didn't have it for a 3 week tour.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I remember how I handled 2017 Tour de France. Coupled with the worst route I can remember, uninspiring GC-riders I completely turned the race out more or less for 3 weeks. Couldn't care less. Different race, but same feeling when you have looked so much forward to something and then its just gone.

I will probably tune in to the mountain stages since I actually care about these riders (Mas, Bernal, Lopez and Landa mainly), but oh man, its kinda of depressing.

 

[Lequack]

I am really bummed about Valverde and Carthy abandoning, but especially Valverde. He tried to brave on but just couldn't, a scene that reminded me of Pinot abandoning the Tour. He was in such a good shape as well. Always disappointments in bike racing.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1428811026854723603

View: https://twitter.com/alejanvalverde/status/1428811026854723603

 

[Leinster]

I remember how I handled 2017 Tour de France. Coupled with the worst route I can remember, uninspiring GC-riders I completely turned the race out more or less for 3 weeks. Couldn't care less. Different race, but same feeling when you have looked so much forward to something and then its just gone.

I will probably tune in to the mountain stages since I actually care about these riders (Mas, Bernal, Lopez and Landa mainly), but oh man, its kinda of depressing.

Other than “Froome wins. Again.” there was nothing boring about the 2017 Tour. Attacking riding throughout, a KOM worthy of the title, who didn’t win it by default with yellow, Contador and Quintana going long on multiple days, and stages contested in small-group sprints by the GC riders, with wins shared among the top 10. All it was missing was that the Giro champion didn’t show up.

 

[Netserk]

Other than “Froome wins. Again.” there was nothing boring about the 2017 Tour. Attacking riding throughout, a KOM worthy of the title, who didn’t win it by default with yellow, Contador and Quintana going long on multiple days, and stages contested in small-group sprints by the GC riders, with wins shared among the top 10. All it was missing was that the Giro champion didn’t show up.

What? It was a horrible and boring race.

 

[titan31]

Yeah, I think the dramatically poor performance of Bahrain so far in this Vuelta, compared to the superb performances of several of their riders earlier this year is eye opening, and will probably merit further discussion elsewhere.

Ya, I know someone mentioned Landa earlier underperforming but it's a whole team thing here. Padun and Poels are probably the worst but then you'd be expecting a bit more from Caruso,Mader and Haig too. Haig should have been one of the stronger riders in that break today

 

[Roku]

Still 28 riders older than me in the race.

I felt depressed when noticing how almost all favourites bar Roglic for the ITT OR were younger than me.

 

[noob]

Re Valverde and the camera: I don't think there is anything else to do as a photographer in that situation. I don't find it even the slightest gory. Here's a rider so loved, and he's even on Netflix and it shows the bond between him and Tente. The crash has already happened and Valverde won't be any less loved for it, nor will Tente nor Movistar. It would probably be on Netflix still etc etc.

(I wonder if Valverde is set to be Movistar DS in the future. Everything just looks so set up for it)

I desperately hope he can come back soon. He's the best. ❤️

 

[Danskebjerge]

Is it just me, or others noticing an inordinate number of "mechanicals," seemingly the fault of electronic shifting systems? It's been visible all season, and even the commentators have picked up on it -- however gently to avoid pissing off the industry sponsors -- with talk of "crash mode" and the need to kick the rear mech to reboot it.

As a almost-daily rider myself, I don't get the point. Top-end mechanical shifting these days is unbelievably quick, smooth, and reliable -- no batteries to fail (See the Film Icarus), not crash mode lockups, and in the worst case of cable break, you can still get home.

Yeah, like disk brakes for ordinary bike riders. Makes no difference for those who don't live in mountaneous areas, but makes the bike more expensive.

Btw, last year my cousin travelled to Italy or something like that in order to participate in a half ironman. He had to abandon because of no more battery in the shifting system. It was a human error, but an error that was made possible by the technology. (He still thinks the electronic solution is brilliant!)

 

[Lequack]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od_0hZUeQeg