Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2023 - post race discussion & poll

[Lequack]

You can write you love letters to Sepp Kuss here

Something to get into the spirit

View: https://youtu.be/ED4JlcjT-C4?si=NvczHnyv9solkMzV

 

[RedheadDane]

I just love cycling. Even when it's a bit weird.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Who'd have thought Jumbo's dominance would create one of the all-time greatest feel good moments in cycling history? & that we had Landa to thank for it.

 

[Lequack]

I am just wondering how the Netflix documentary will look like. Who will be the villain?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Sepp, I would have loved you, if you had been from the other Durango.

 

[Lequack]

Meanwhile Remco has so many wild fans they had to be restrained behind metal bars

https://twitter.com/x/status/1703486414631874769

View: https://twitter.com/Ciclored/status/1703486414631874769?s=20

 

[CyclistAbi]

I loved and hated it at the same time.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

As I mentioned, I use to follow the results and development of Caja Rural‘s Scot, Calum Johnston, a little bit.

Now they again let him ride the Volta a Portugal, and I had slight hope he‘d be selected for the Vuelta a Espana, for the first time.

Caja did not select him, and maybe they were right. Calum possibly would have finished „out of time“, missed the time cut, in one of the mountain stages.

And he weighs less than 60kgs, and is built for climbing.

What I want to say, this Vuelta offered tons of extremely strong climbing performances.

Man of the race, for me, is Uijtdebroeks. He let it look as if it all was the easiest thing to do, on earth. First Grand Tour, and finishes every stage close to these Jumbo rockets. Absolutely incredible. Don’t hype him too much - we saw what that did to Almeida. But if Uijtdebroeks can keep on flying under the radar, we‘ll see great things from him.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I am just wondering how the Netflix documentary will look like. Who will be the villain?

Libertine Seguros.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Meanwhile Remco has so many wild fans they had to be restrained behind metal bars

https://twitter.com/x/status/1703486414631874769

View: https://twitter.com/Ciclored/status/1703486414631874769?s=20

Wihch one is logic-is-your-friend?

 

[Nick2413]

Wihch one is logic-is-your-friend?

The one taking the video in the first place

 

[VeloMaster]

A few post-Vuelta observations and takeaways:

That old cliche, "riders make the race," proved all too true, as some of the more intriguing stages fell victim to intramural JV considerations. They also suffered from the inability of other teams to mount a serious challenge, although Bahrain hinted at what might have been possible. Stage 20 could have been a barn-burner if the GC had been a close fight. Tourmalet was undermined by the similar circumstances, as were a few others.

Gimmick stages suck, i.e., the TTT in the dark.

The sprinting level was substandard, although the difficulty of the parcours reduced participation by the best of the best.

While Remco is truly an amazing talent (Road WC, now TT WC), he has not shown himself as a threat win the TdF or to compete against the 3-4 best GC riders in a Grand Tour.
(There, I said it. I live on an island off the coast of Western Canada, so it's unlikely the inevitable brick bats will find me). He and SQ (not to mention a legion fans) all bought the pre-race hype, and it cost him badly. Ayuso appeared at times to suffer the same malady.

Finally, the Kuss affair demonstrated once again the conundrum of professional cycling as an individual sport in a team context.

What a weird way to end the GT season.