Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2021: Stage 9 (Puerto Lumbreras - Alto de Velefique, 188.0 km)

[movingtarget]

Landa to pull off a performance greater than Landis, Contador, and Froome combined.

Waiting waiting.............

 

[roundabout]

I think the only criticism of Movistar with merit today is that they didn't take over after Ineos to reel in Caruso. The duo of Mas and López seem to work well together.

I think there was only Verona (?) left at that point. Their team needs to be on a collective super day to do damage or even chase breaks in the mountains before Mas and Lopez can take over.

 

[saganftw]

not much has changed for roglic, instead of yates and bernal he now has to watch mas and MAL, ineos beautifully nuked their own leader,carapaz continues to make just bad attacks

its kinda shame next week is pretty tame, im sure Mas would welcome more mountains sooner rather than 3rd week, for bahrain its time to unleash padun and let landa ride for haig

 

[gregrowlerson]

Do you mean dropping out of two GTs in the same season?

Comedy = tragedy + time

It's too soon mate.

 

[Escarabajo]

Yup, insane. Movistar raced an amazing race so far, 2nd and 3rd overall. Imagine this team with Valverde.

Oh well, some people never seize to amaze me.

Actually I don't have a problem with the results at the end for Movistar, but I didn't like 2 things, 1- when they chased down Carapaz and 2- Mas was too much at the front breaking the wind for Roglic, who I think is the strongest rider.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Waiting waiting.............

You might want to sit down, could be waiting awhile.

 

[Escarabajo]

Chapeau to Caruso again. Great stage win for him!

 

[movingtarget]

You might want to sit down, could be waiting awhile.

Yes save the weight bearing joints.

 

[RedheadDane]

You might want to sit down, could be waiting awhile.

How do you know he isn't sitting down while waiting?

 

[SHAD0W93]

How do you know he isn't sitting down while waiting?

Since they’re a “moving target” so can’t already be sitting down






I’m going to bed now, it’s been a long night. xD

 

[perico]

I think Mas is very strong. The strongest in the team. I have a question for You? Do you think Movistar will ride for the win or for podium 2, 3?

After today they will probably need to sacrifice Lopez if they want the win.

That’s the whole point. They made it a 2 on 1 race because Superman still can’t be let go on a raid without Roglic having to chase him, while Mas has looked strong enough to counter every attack he makes except being able to outsprint him.

They basically exposed or eliminated Bernal and Carapaz- no one is going to work to bring him back after losing 9 minutes today, and Bernal is now an outsider. Now if Lopez attacks KMs out, Roglic still has to mark him, while he hasn’t been able to drop Mas.

Today the strategy after losing Valverde was for Superman to mark every move by Yates and Carapaz, while Mas was to mark Roglic and Bernal. It worked. Yates and Bernal are now on the back foot, Carapaz and Kuss are out of contention for the win.

Now there is Roglic still as the favorite, but Enric Mas is on his level, with MAL as the most dangerous outsider.

 

[perico]

I think there was only Verona (?) left at that point. Their team needs to be on a collective super day to do damage or even chase breaks in the mountains before Mas and Lopez can take over.

Verona may be the most underrated domestique in the peloton.

 

[Netserk]

I think there was only Verona (?) left at that point. Their team needs to be on a collective super day to do damage or even chase breaks in the mountains before Mas and Lopez can take over.

Ah, my memory of how many Movistar riders in the peloton at that point was a bit fuzzy.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Team-wise it was an epic fail by Ineos. They were clearly strong as a team, were setting tempo on the climbs and Yates was most active attacker on the last climb. They ended up losing time to top contenders (Carapaz a lot of time, Bernal & Yates moderate amount).

OTOH great situation for Movistar. Mas is still withing striking distance from Roglic and Lopez is not far enough to be ignored by the Slovenian. They have options to make the race against Roglic interesting. Even if the Slovenian proves too strong they still are in a good position to fight for 2 podium places.

 

[Red Rick]

The weight of the gold helmet.

Because rubbing salt in the wound of me being wrong about Roglic finishing 5 minutes ahead of Carapaz in the Tour.

 

[JosefK]

That’s the whole point. They made it a 2 on 1 race because Superman still can’t be let go on a raid without Roglic having to chase him, while Mas has looked strong enough to counter every attack he makes except being able to outsprint him.

They basically exposed or eliminated Bernal and Carapaz- no one is going to work to bring him back after losing 9 minutes today, and Bernal is now an outsider. Now if Lopez attacks KMs out, Roglic still has to mark him, while he hasn’t been able to drop Mas.

Today the strategy after losing Valverde was for Superman to mark every move by Yates and Carapaz, while Mas was to mark Roglic and Bernal. It worked. Yates and Bernal are now on the back foot, Carapaz and Kuss are out of contention for the win.

Now there is Roglic still as the favorite, but Enric Mas is on his level, with MAL as the most dangerous outsider.

The Vuelta is definitely not in the bag at this point. Best stage of the race so far, today.

 

[Red Rick]

Also guys, when I said Roglic was struggling, I meant he wasn't easy, not that he was close to dropping.

Mas and Roglic seemed pretty evenly matched.

A problem for Movistar is how much better Mas and Roglic seemed to be than MAL. That gap might get too big too quickly. Bigger problem for Movi is they're down to 6 guys, gonna be hard for them to create chaos without Valverde.

If I were Jumbo I would seriously consider controlling the break to Valdepeñas and stomp the hill there.

 

[gunara]

You can only pull or attack when you outnumbering opponnent in 2-2-1 situation, and the 1 perceived to be the strongest, and everyone else is close to each other. Awkward decision might be taken and things willl only be cleared in hindsight. I'm not on criticizing Movistar, or Ineos, tactic this time, if chasing Yates is seen as stupid, I don't know what's not, Bernal at the moment had to be seen as the least immediate danger anyway after being distanced at least once. To do calculation on him and Roglic at once to me would just have resulted in even more classic Movifail. And why thinking about 2nd card when you hadn't even ensure your 1st, and I think they did well with Mas today, and Lopez is still hanging on close enough in the end anyway.
And for Ineos, they're just weaker, and Yates tried. I think simple thought like that might just work in the end.

 

[Rackham]

Now there is Roglic still as the favorite, but Enric Mas is on his level, with MAL as the most dangerous outsider.

The gap widened considerably once Roglic started taking turns up front with Mas (the chase group with Yates was hovering around at about 15 seconds at that point). IMO that lower gradient allowed riders working together to pull even more time than on a usual summit finish.

Wait & see what happens when the road hits 10%+ again. Mas is impressive, but he also still lost 18 seconds against Roglic in the first TT. In any case the GC field has just been considerably shredded.

 

[JosefK]

Also guys, when I said Roglic was struggling, I meant he wasn't easy, not that he was close to dropping.

Mas and Roglic seemed pretty evenly matched.

A problem for Movistar is how much better Mas and Roglic seemed to be than MAL. That gap might get too big too quickly. Bigger problem for Movi is they're down to 6 guys, gonna be hard for them to create chaos without Valverde.

If I were Jumbo I would seriously consider controlling the break to Valdepeñas and stomp the hill there.

A great point, I think. I can't remember a stage when Roglic fully imploded, like losing minutes to a GC group (not counting this year's TDF after he rode in a hospital gown). His biggest struggles in the last couple years were at La Planch des Belles Filles at the TDF last year, when he finished 5th overall in the TT, and on stage 17 of last year's Vuelta. Those were both examples of Roglic struggling, and he did seem to be on the limit today.

 

[Carols]

Waiting waiting.............

We've been Waiting for Years now.......

 

[Escarabajo]

You can only pull or attack when you outnumbering opponnent in 2-2-1 situation, and the 1 perceived to be the strongest, and everyone else is close to each other. Awkward decision might be taken and things willl only be cleared in hindsight. I'm not on criticizing Movistar, or Ineos, tactic this time, if chasing Yates is seen as stupid, I don't know what's not, Bernal at the moment had to be seen as the least immediate danger anyway after being distanced at least once. To do calculation on him and Roglic at once to me would just have resulted in even more classic Movifail. And why thinking about 2nd card when you hadn't even ensure your 1st, and I think they did well with Mas today, and Lopez is still hanging on close enough in the end anyway.
And for Ineos, they're just weaker, and Yates tried. I think simple thought like that might just work in the end.

My question is Yates. He seemed stronger at one point. Did Yates tried to help Bernal too much that he hurt his own chances. Or Ineos do not believe in him in the long run. Because it looked at one point like he could have gone faster and limit his losses.

 

[dusty red roads]

Does Roglic always ride so low? I thought he's normally a bit more upright? Maybe he's still got some issues from his Tour crashes, even though he's obviously very strong.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Does Roglic always ride so low? I thought he's normally a bit more upright? Maybe he's still got some issues from his Tour crashes, even though he's obviously very strong.

Yeah, I noticed it as well. When riding with Mas he spent a lot of time out of the saddle in a very low position. Maybe reducing the aerodynamic drag?

 

[perico]

The gap widened considerably once Roglic started taking turns up front with Mas (the chase group with Yates was hovering around at about 15 seconds at that point). IMO that lower gradient allowed riders working together to pull even more time than on a usual summit finish.

Wait & see what happens when the road hits 10%+ again. Mas is impressive, but he also still lost 18 seconds against Roglic in the first TT. In any case the GC field has just been considerably shredded.

Mas is stronger on steeper gradients. His best results are always on climbs like Árate and the Angliru last year.