Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2023, stage 3: Súria - Arinsal, 158.5k

[Oldermanish]

Jumbo playing the long game.

I think they're prep for the finish was totally absent. Kuss set them up and Jonas waited for Remco to pick his line and followed late. Primoz was boxed in on the steeper inside line by several riders and looked to have time to change that...but didn't. Playing the "long game" doesn't mean not contesting the finish after setting it up. Just poor pack tactics by them, excellent line selection and timing by Remco.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

We are still waiting for professional comments by Vingo's wife regarding Remco's fat parcentage, GT being a marathon not a sprint etc...maybe after Skeletor's first watt bomb.

 

[Netserk]

Netserk just hates Remco, so everytime he wins, it doesn't count.

For sure it counts. As what it was.

How relevant do you think the stage yesterday was to assess how riders perform in multi-mountain high-altitude stages? That is, over and above their general climbing (and sprinting) abilities independent of that.

 

[tobydawq]

For sure it counts. As what it was.

How relevant do you think the stage yesterday was to assess how riders perform in multi-mountain high-altitude stages? That is, over and above their general climbing (and sprinting) abilities independent of that.

Quite relevant given that it was a multi-mountain high-altitude stage.

 

[Netserk]

Remco is very honest, thoughtful and intelligent.

I can see why the first two qualities are praise-worthy, but the third is not a virtue. And while it correlates with and thus indicates likeability, it is not a likeable quality in itself.

When I judge the character of riders, I do not judge them by their intelligence just like I don't judge them by their beauty nor health.

 

[search]

Sepulveda lost 50 seconds already lmao

didn't see it on TV either, but according to the Cycling Podcast, he had a front wheel puncture

 

[staubsauger]

didn't see it on TV either, but according to the Cycling Podcast, he had a front wheel puncture

I wondered as well whether he had a crash or mechanical, because he obviously looked the strongest in the breakaway before and then suddenly was distanced. Since the favorites reeled in the escapees anyway it didn't matter in the end.

Still, Sepulveda showed good shape and interest in the polkadots jersey. Should be a strong candidate to take it together with maybe his teammate Kron if both keep this shape.

Sepulveda somehow is a nearly man. He's always been solid. Not excellent, but a good climber. Worthy domestique for Carapaz in 2019. But Sepulveda somehow never had that one result for himself that you would think he should be capable to archive. Would be pleased if he manages to win a stage and / or polkadots at this Vuelta a Espana!

 

[noob]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1696189564153397614

View: https://twitter.com/Robert_Chipote/status/1696189564153397614/retweets/with_comments

For noob eyes this is what happened. Without a human to crash into he'd gone straight into the barriers instead. How this is on either of them is beyond me.

 

[Rob5091]

We are still waiting for professional comments by Vingo's wife regarding Remco's fat parcentage, GT being a marathon not a sprint etc...maybe after Skeletor's first watt bomb.

I thought it was Ma Vingegaard who was the cycling expert?

 

[Volderke]

For noob eyes this is what happened. Without a human to crash into he'd gone straight into the barriers instead. How this is on either of them is beyond me.

He didn't even get to see the barriers or wherever there was space to stop without crashing, because people were in the way.

You can even see that 2 meters to (Remco's) right, the barriers stop and there is more space, so he had some more meters of braking over there (if people weren't in the way and if he saw that space).

Without people, he could have crashed in the barriers but at least those barriers were a further 5 meters from where he crashed, and 5 meters is enough to stop from 20k/hr to 0 k/hr.

Having people is very confusing as you don't know if they will get out of the way or not, and what's behind. It has already been said that this was the first day the organizers allowed more people in the mixed zone. Until now, only soigneurs could be there, but on Arinsal, they allowed reporters etc. to stand there. There was already max. 70 meters from finish to barriers (and the barriers were there to protect a fixed camera, the irony), so why did the organisation think it was a good idea to reduce 70 meters to 50 meters, and have some stewards there (see here, in green), to make riders go in a 180 degree curve to the right (that obviously no rider seemed to understand how to physically do this)? The way the stewards were trying to divert riders, proves that they were simply naive thinking riders would take that turn.

For me, the organisers could have prevented all of this. Remco could have not made personal mistakes and he is partly responsible, but why does the organisation f'$% this up?
Because they are simply incompetent? There was a 42k/hr finish, over a small crest, into a slight left hand curve, going downhill, with 50 mtrs of roll out distance. That's less than 5 seconds, with a reaction time of 15 meters and a braking distance as much as 15-20 meter. Not exactly a star move from the organisers to design it this way (they could have moved the finish to the very crest) and organise it with all kinds of people in that zone that have no business there. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Riek s]

He didn't even get to see the barriers or wherever there was space to stop without crashing, because people were in the way.

You can even see that 2 meters to (Remco's) right, the barriers stop and there is more space, so he had some more meters of braking over there (if people weren't in the way and if he saw that space).

Without people, he could have crashed in the barriers but at least those barriers were a further 5 meters from where he crashed, and 5 meters is enough to stop from 20k/hr to 0 k/hr.

Having people is very confusing as you don't know if they will get out of the way or not, and what's behind. It has already been said that this was the first day the organizers allowed more people in the mixed zone. Until now, only soigneurs could be there, but on Arinsal, they allowed reporters etc. to stand there. There was already max. 70 meters from finish to barriers (and the barriers were there to protect a fixed camera, the irony), so why did the organisation think it was a good idea to reduce 70 meters to 50 meters, and have some stewards there (see here, in green), to make riders go in a 180 degree curve to the right (that obviously no rider seemed to understand how to physically do this)? The way the stewards were trying to divert riders, proves that they were simply naive thinking riders would take that turn.

For me, the organisers could have prevented all of this. Remco could have not made personal mistakes and he is partly responsible, but why does the organisation f'$% this up?
Because they are simply incompetent? There was a 42k/hr finish, over a small crest, into a slight left hand curve, going downhill, with 50 mtrs of roll out distance. That's less than 5 seconds, with a reaction time of 15 meters and a braking distance as much as 15-20 meter. Not exactly a star move from the organisers to design it this way (they could have moved the finish to the very crest) and organise it with all kinds of people in that zone that have no business there. What could possibly go wrong?

Its even worse (for both sides) that Soudal (David Geeroms) asked multiple times to the organization to make more room at the finish.
I say for both because:
- organization should have listened, see what they could do
- Remco could/should have been warned, since soudal knew there wasn't much room.

 

[iBanesto]

Similar to Hinault in 1985 but not in a racing situation and a lot less cooler.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I can see why the first two qualities are praise-worthy, but the third is not a virtue. And while it correlates with and thus indicates likeability, it is not a likeable quality in itself.

When I judge the character of riders, I do not judge them by their intelligence just like I don't judge them by their beauty nor health.

Sure, but when you are giving interviews, featuring in long podcasts and have a YT-channel, it helps a lot that you are able to express yourself well and what you're actually saying makes sense, being able to be analytical etc. That's a pretty important trait if you're on all sorts of different medias. I enjoy listening to him, thats it.

 

[noob]

Its even worse (for both sides) that Soudal (David Geeroms) asked multiple times to the organization to make more room at the finish.
I say for both because:
- organization should have listened, see what they could do
- Remco could/should have been warned, since soudal knew there wasn't much room.

Omg 😲 😱

 

[noob]

Similar to Hinault in 1985 but not in a racing situation and a lot less cooler.

Remco blood dripping looks more beautiful, as if it was an Asian drama supposedly staged to be gory yet simultaneously forced to be ultra attractive.

(I don't like blood, nor horror movies. But the way this looked was really like they do it in movie, it looks really artsy 🫢)

 

[SHAD0W93]

Sporza wrote a whole article about what went wrong at the finish line. Apparently it was two-fold.

1. Normally only caretakers and specific members of the media can be so close after the finish line. At 16:00 the organisation decided that everyone could be there, which made it much more crowded and more difficult for people to see the riders coming.
2. Normally those people are 200m from the finish line, which gives you more time to react. Now they were at 70m.

Conspiracy theory, the organizers were hoping Roglic would win and crash. @CyclistAbi needs to look into this thickening plot.

 

[Riek s]

Conspiracy theory, the organizers were hoping Roglic would win and crash. @CyclistAbi needs to look into this thickening plot.

I thought the consensus was Roglic didn't want to win the stage. (Maybe he knew?)

 

[Elos Anjos]

I can see why the first two qualities are praise-worthy, but the third is not a virtue. And while it correlates with and thus indicates likeability, it is not a likeable quality in itself.

When I judge the character of riders, I do not judge them by their intelligence just like I don't judge them by their beauty nor health.

You need a certain amount of intelligence to have a good character. And being more intelligent does not equate with having a better character. Remco might be intelligent - the long gorilla gestures after winning stage 3 tell otherwise - but I ultimately don't like his character. Currently he's just a brat.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

The new Hinault confirmed!

 

[Netserk]

You need a certain amount of intelligence to have a good character. And being more intelligent does not equate with having a better character. Remco might be intelligent - the long gorilla gestures after winning stage 3 tell otherwise - but I ultimately don't like his character. Currently he's just a brat.

My impression is not that those with trisomy 21 are all without good character. If anything, rather the opposite.

 

[perico]

I specifically said GC favorites

$5 says at least two of those riders finish ahead of a few of the “GC riders,” and at least 1 finishes on the podium.

 

[pelotonIQ]

$5 says at least two of those riders finish ahead of a few of the “GC riders,” and at least 1 finishes on the podium.

Do you know what a 'GC favorite' means?

 

[CyclistAbi]

Conspiracy theory, the organizers were hoping Roglic would win and crash. @CyclistAbi needs to look into this thickening plot.

Nah. Strategy, on where chasing bonus seconds, that was already over after stage 1. So maybe one from camp Remco can look into it. If organizer planted the cop due to Remco complaining on stage 1 and 2. As on stage 4 the whole situation seem to settled.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Nah. Strategy, on where chasing bonus seconds, that was already over after stage 1. So maybe one from camp Remco can look into it. If organizer planted the cop due to Remco complaining on stage 1 and 2. As on stage 4 the whole situation seem to settled.

Four people arrested for foiled Vuelta stage sabotage

Four people have been arrested in the Spanish northeastern region of Catalonia for an alleged attempt to sabotage a stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race, Spanish Police said on Tuesday.

www.reuters.com

The plot thickens