Might have something to do with the pace being set on the front…
Gotta agree here. Sometimes a riders legs just feel good and he tells a teammate to step on it. You only know how good your legs truly are until you put em to the test. Seems like Wilco's really were good, Rodriguez's turned out to be somewhat less. But I'll always prefer the rider who actually dares to put himself out there so respect to both Martinez and Kelderman.
Just a new tactic to get a top 10 in GC. Easy the first half, allowed to be in big breaks and be fresh for the second half. Was just thinking the same, paced himself very well
Ineos even lost the teams classification which actually in Spain after red, green and polka dots is the next important classification.
With all due respect, but if Gesbert fully outclasses Thibaut Pinot the Francaise des Jeux rider should finally consider retirement.
The break was very large though, so unlike breaks of 4 to 10 guys, it was possible to conserve a lot of energy even in the break, especially since the break was big enough to have proper domestiques there as well. Then you need to consider that the best climbers in the break were actually riders that were supposed to be riding for GC to begin with. Basically, early on the climb, the peloton was hardly larger than the break was when they passed that point.
Carapaz especially. But Vine just wasn't fresh enough.
Still, on the climb itself it was only Fabbro setting the pace for over half an hour and neither Jumbo nor Movistars domestiques really put time into him.
Roglic looked like he was surfing in the last kms, staying in a decent position when he was boxed near the finish. He shows little "strong" form and then he'll spin to the front with no apparent effort. I would think he has more to give at some point and needs alot of things to go right to set it up without teammates. MAS did what he could but there wasn't much opportunity for gain with Movistar willing to use all of their folks to set pace. Remco at the front was the studied tempo-machine, checking his data once in a while and looking at the competition when the road allowed. Good ride for him and hope that hip ding doesn't become more irritating. Like others have said it can take a good 48 hours to feel the deep damage.
They are definitely the team in the strongest position for "three riders in the top ten but nobody on the podium." INEOS still has a shot, but that would require Carapaz to continue moving up and for Rodriguez not to slip into the top three. With Higuita's continuing struggles, BORA looks to be out of it as well.UAE has three riders on GC top 10! I told you they are going for team classification
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