Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2023, stage 18: Pola de Allande - La Cruz de Linares, 178.9k

[KZD]

Nice to see Bernal back at the front of a Grand Tour. I think he could fight for the win today with Remco, Caruso and Poole.

 

[nightowl]

The breakaway going for victory today. No fight for the stage among GC guys. Also no fight for top3 among non-JV riders. This is good news for Sepp: JV guys could finish together today.

One of the other two will attack, of course to protect the podium because they let the break take too much time and didn’t want to take chances.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Remco vs Bernal vs Caruso vs Vino

 

[RobertCrawley]

The truth is that Tadej is as good as Jonas at ITT. Many commentators came to the same conclusion that Tadej was not as prepared when looking at comparison videos. However, I regret the word "sloppy" it was bad of me.


But my point is nobody knows what team order is. So accusing one or the other of stabbing their teammate in the back is no big deal.

I don't think Tadej was "sloppy" in the TdF TT, but rather than Jonas absolutely attacked every corner of that parcours.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Ayuso looks ****ed

 

[RobertCrawley]

Hinault and Koechli v Lemond.

Vinegaard and Roglic v Kuss.

Slashing the Kusshion.

Love this movie.

 

[Rob5091]

Mas, Landa & Ayuso are the only guys under 5 minutes behind Kuss, so unless one of them goes up the road, Jumbo will ride tempo to the finish, is my guess. Jumbo have no reason to attack.

 

[RobertCrawley]

If Kuss wins the Vuelta now, it'll absolutely be because Vingegaard & Rog stop their attacks (under team orders). There's just no way Kuss under normal circumstances can defend 8 seconds against Vingegaard.

I just don't believe it. Even intermediate sprint bonuses can play a role here.

I think it's possible for Sepptimus to hang on to Jonas' wheel on an 8k cat 1 if he is drafting and not domestiquing. We might find out today.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

91km to go - the weather is nice, the scenery is glorious, Nature Boy Remco doing what Remco does, and also, I want Gesink on my team. His best/young days are clearly behind him and he may retire after next season, but for now he's still an admirable workhorse for Jumbo.

Also, chapeau to Groves, apparently he's still hanging with the peloton.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Remco is just a watts machine. Zero tactical knowledge. He can still win but he is dragging the break alone

 

[Gargamel35]

I think it's possible for Sepptimus to hang on to Jonas' wheel on an 8k cat 1 if he is drafting and not domestiquing. We might find out today.

Maybe Sepp fakes fading and loosing wheel to come down the spirits and let's Jonas win so he won't get the wrath of Trine.

 

[peterfin]

Remco is just a watts machine. Zero tactical knowledge. He can still win but he is dragging the break alone

He made the last effort to ensure there is no sprint and he take the points and the KOM (these were the last points he needed to be sure he has the KOM)

 

[peterfin]

Remco can now stop pretending that he doesn't go for the green as well.

 

[Filippo_3467]

The breakaway going for victory today. No fight for the stage among GC guys. Also no fight for top3 among non-JV riders. This is good news for Sepp: JV guys could finish together today.

It would be really unrational for Landa not to attack. Ayuso is struggling and he can move up a place. Better chance today then on saturday. Also Bora should try... they have a satellite ahead and almost no downside in the GC.

 

[Rob5091]

Assuming Kuss does not have a bad finish today, Saturday could be interesting as lots of KOM points (Remco in the break), up and down all day and the rain is returning on Friday.

 

[RobertCrawley]

Cool. Has Jessie Diggins or Lizzie Deignan come out to say that they should ride for Sepp too? I'm playing bingo.

(note: it would be HILARIOUS if Lizzie Deignan was to say they should ride for Sepp given she's dedicated her career to being a selfish leader who almost never rides anything unless she gets sole leadership)

Being serious though, Thomas morally pontificating on what other teams should do is hardly a new thing, but I'm presuming he got asked a loaded question there.

Yep. That's the thing. How many GT champions have gifted a GT to a teammate because of "respect" or "loyalty"? It's just not a thing, but it's now expected and demanded of Jonas and Rog.

 

[Red Rick]

Is it me or is does San Lorenzo always go at 5W/kg max.

 

[Berniece]

Remco can now stop pretending that he doesn't go for the green as well.

Is that realistic? 4 stages left (including today). 2 flat, 2 hilly/mountain, how is he going to close that gap Alpecin puts everything on the sprint tomorrow and Sunday?

 

[RobertCrawley]

Nice to see Bernal back at the front of a Grand Tour. I think he could fight for the win today with Remco, Caruso and Poole.

On the Cycling Podcast, the reports are that Egan is using this Vuelta as training for next year. It would be great if he could get back in form and be among the leaders in the 2024 TdF.

 

[peterfin]

Is that realistic? 4 stages left (including today). 2 flat, 2 hilly/mountain, how is he going to close that gap Alpecin puts everything on the sprint tomorrow and Sunday?

It's probably not very realistic but he wants to have a last challenge for Sunday that could be it.

 

[ontheroad]

I think Kuss has now got this today and will retain red until Madrid. After the complete over reaction by the cycling media I expect that both Vingegaard and Roglic have been told by team management to pull their horns in to guard against any further bad PR. The race will now fizzle out into a snooze fest and a different batch of fans will stomp up and down due to a lack of racing. You can't have it both ways. Meanwhile Roglic may already be telling his manager to find him another team for next year.

 

[RobertCrawley]

Wow beautiful pictures.

 

[JosefK]

The Jumbo drama is a byproduct of the ego struggle between Roglic and Vingegaard. Each has now won two stages. One is a minute ahead of the other, but the time difference is also largely a product of racing circumstances not directly related to how strong each rider is. There's no question that each rider is stronger than the current race leader, a domestique who's greatly assisted in all of the grand tour victories of both champions. The team has leeway to take the five stage victories and top three places on GC by maintaining status quo without further complications. With the margin from third place to fourth place on GC, this might be the easiest course of action if the team management and top riders are okay with it. ... If ... If ...

 

[RobertCrawley]

The Jumbo drama is a byproduct of the ego struggle between Roglic and Vingegaard. Each has now won two stages. One is a minute ahead of the other, but the time difference is also largely a product of racing circumstances not directly related to how strong each rider is. There's no question that each rider is stronger than the current race leader, a domestique who's greatly assisted in all of the grand tour victories of both champions. The team has leeway to take the five stage victories and top three places on GC by maintaining status quo without further complications. With the margin from third place to fourth place on GC, this might be the easiest course of action if the team management and top riders are okay with it. ... If ... If ...

I think the drama is a by-product of Remco not being at his best. Once Remco was no longer a threat, and no one else stepped up, the fight in Jumbo became internal.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

The breakaway going for victory today. No fight for the stage among GC guys. Also no fight for top3 among non-JV riders. This is good news for Sepp: JV guys could finish together today.

Didn't Roglic say yesterday that his money was on himself for the win. To me that sounds like: I am going to attack. Because what else should it mean?
Also there are very steep parts on that climb, like yesterday he could just ride Kuss of his wheel.
And who knows what day today is to Vingegaard.