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

[Earns1985]

Seems that only Kuss is left in the chasing group as Jumbo rider? Oomen dropped back?

 

[Rackham]

If they give them 5 minutes Jan Polanc will be in the lead by 3 minutes. And he's not a bad GC rider, recently more of a helper for Pogacar but he has some good GC results.

Movistar & Ineos will do some chasing at some point if the gap gets too big. That's the way these situations usually unfold (because they're also losing time & positions in the GC).

 

[Lequack]

Movistar will only chase if Carapaz goes up the road.

 

[roundabout]

Seems that only Kuss is left in the chasing group as Jumbo rider? Oomen dropped back?

Yeah, I don't see Oomen as well

 

[Netserk]

Now the first act is over. 95 km to go and the break is steadily increasing their advantage, currently at 2'15''.

Jumbo-Visma: Sepp Kuss
AG2R-Citroën: Geoffrey Bouchard, Stan Dewulf
Alpecin-Fenix: Jay Vine
Astana-Premier Tech: Alex Aranburu, Gorka Izagirre
Bahrain Victorious: Jack Haig
Bora-Hansgrohe: Felix Grossschartner
Caja Rural Seguros RGa: Jonathan Lastra
Cofidis: Fernando Barcelo, Jesus Herrada
EF Education Nippo: Diego Camargo, Lawson Craddock
Ineos Grenadiers: Pavel Sivakov
Intermarché-Wanty Gobert Matériaux: Simone Petilli
Lotto Soudal: Andreas Kron, Steff Cras, Harm Vanhoucke
Movistar Team: Nelson Oliveira, Carlos Verona
Team BikeExchange: Andrey Zeits
Team DSM: Romain Bardet, Thymen Arensman, Chris Hamilton, Michael Storer, Martijn Tusveld
Trek-Segafredo: Kenny Elissonde
UAE Team Emirates: Jan Polanc, Matteo Trentin

 

[Red Rick]

I think this is a scenario Jumbo would've signed for beforehand.

 

[ice&fire]

Movistar will only chase if Carapaz goes up the road.

Don't forget the team classification

 

[sir fly]

TJV keeping the gap at 2:20 to give Movi and INEOS a chance, and then just to show them there are their two guys ahead.

 

[Earns1985]

I think this is a scenario Jumbo would've signed for beforehand.

Well with Haig, Grosschartner and Polanc there are a few GC wise dangerous riders upfront. I think they would have preffered a 10 rider break without any GC threats...

 

[Netserk]

I think this is a scenario Jumbo would've signed for beforehand.

I think they would have preferred a group they could give 10+ minutes.

 

[Samamba]

I like riders like Bardet. Crashed hard, GC gone, doesn't sit around and cry but just changes goals to KOM jersey.

 

[Rackham]

With Sepp Kuss in the breakaway, Movistar, Ineos & Bahrain can't let the gap get out of control. He's only 3:16 behind in the GC.

 

[Red Rick]

I think they would have preferred a group they could give 10+ minutes.

No Movis, no Ineos threats. I think an anonymous break on this stage was an unrealistic scenario.

They have to work but all the real potential for an ambush is gone.

 

[Earns1985]

With Sepp Kuss in the breakaway, Movistar, Ineos & Bahrain can't let the gap get out of control. He's only 3:16 behind in the GC.

Bahrain has Haig upfront. So they will not chase..

 

[sir fly]

By the time they hit the intermediate I think we'll get the idea what kind of racing lies ahead... even during the coming days.

 

[Earns1985]

I think an anonymous break on this stage was an unrealistic scenario.

Well it nearly happened. I already thought, that the six rider group would have been the break of the day. (the one with 3 DSM)

 

[search]

and Jumbo surely was hoping for Bouwman and Hofstede to be around to help. I mean, guys like Stan Dewulf are up the road, so there's no excuse for them to end up in the gruppetto instead

 

[Red Rick]

and Jumbo surely was hoping for Bouwman and Hofstede to be around to help. I mean, guys like Stan Dewulf are up the road, so there's no excuse for them to end up in the gruppetto instead

I don't know wtf is up with Bouwman.

 

[Earns1985]

Will we see anymore action before the last climb?
With Gesink and Oomen now working it should possible for the other teams to isolate Roglic...

 

[Netserk]

Will we see anymore action before the last climb?
With Gesink and Oomen now working it should possible for the other teams to isolate Roglic...

Action in the break, not in the peloton.

 

[sir fly]

Not the hardest gradient but they seem to be fairly quick.

 

[Pirazziattacks]

It's interesting that Jumbo are still working to keep this group close. Is Polanc, Großschartner and Haig gaining time an acceptable tradeoff for Kuss also becoming a potential GC threat? More riders up there on GC is more of a problem for Movistar and Ineos than it is for Jumbo (assuming Roglic continues to look a level above the rest).

It's a fairly irrelevant question at this stage though because it's basically a stalemate with Trentin and Arensman (now Hamilton) cancelling out Gesink and Oomen. Probably better for Jumbo to keep this tempo up instead of dropping the pace and risking more attacks from dangerous riders in the peloton.

 

[Samamba]

The guys who were in that first 6 man group (Arensman, Bouchard) struggling. Hamilton, Storer, Vanhoucke and Camargo probably also used too much energy already.

 

[BlueRoads]

Polanc mountain goat.

 

[Netserk]

It's interesting that Jumbo are still working to keep this group close. Is Polanc, Großschartner and Haig gaining time an acceptable tradeoff for Kuss also becoming a potential GC threat? More riders up there on GC is more of a problem for Movistar and Ineos than it is for Jumbo (assuming Roglic continues to look a level above the rest).

It's a fairly irrelevant question at this stage though because it's basically a stalemate with Trentin and Arensman (now Hamilton) cancelling out Gesink and Oomen. Probably better for Jumbo to keep this tempo up instead of dropping the pace and risking more attacks from dangerous riders in the peloton.

I think it's easier to steadily lose time to the break (slowly) than to sit up and give them a big advantage, and then risking that you have to set a far higher pace to control it.