Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2023, stage 8: Dénia - Xorret de Catí, 165.0k

[Tim Cahill]

What a privilege it must be for the young breakaway riders to get to contribute to a Bauke Mollema stage win today.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Rubio on the move.

 

[search]

all back together. Would be interesting to know who brought them back. It was a large group, but without much GC danger (only Rubio +3:22 and Rochas +4:39)

 

[gregrowlerson]

I am sure they do but not in the middle of a bike race

I'd take it whenever I could get it. Beggars can't be choosers.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Almeida crashed while on the categorised climb.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Much less exciting break than on stage 6, but Rodriguez at 4:01 being in it does mean Groupama will keep it close, hopefully setting up the GC riders for the win.

 

[Red Rick]

Much less exciting break than on stage 6, but Rodriguez at 4:01 being in it does mean Groupama will keep it close, hopefully setting up the GC riders for the win.

Groupama shouldn't control this to set GC riders up though. With Kuss only 8s behind I wouldn't be that keen to chase all day tbh.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

That lead group will most likely not cooperate well because Lotto has four riders but won‘t put someone on the front and no one else is going to control.

 

[topcat]

Groupama shouldn't control this to set GC riders up though. With Kuss only 8s behind I wouldn't be that keen to chase all day tbh.

They did not listen to you.

 

[gregrowlerson]

They did not listen to you.

Red Rick only lives rent free in Juan Ayuso's head.

 

[Panda Claws]

Exciting stage so far

 

[ice&fire]

Half the Lotto team in the break, but not Sepulveda. He sould get negative KOM points for such a fail.

 

[hayneplane]

Half the Lotto team in the break, but not Sepulveda. He sould get negative KOM points for such a fail.

He did crash hard a couple of days ago so might just be really suffering

 

[Tim Cahill]

Think De Gendt should be hitting it on the front for his teammates who stand a better chance rather than doing that.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Groupama shouldn't control this to set GC riders up though. With Kuss only 8s behind I wouldn't be that keen to chase all day tbh.

If Groupama keep it at 4 minutes, Jumbo (or another team) could easily take over somewhere in the second half of the stage.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Marie Blanque is only at 1000 metres, the effect of altitude is negligible there. Recovery also doesn't play that big a role yet in the first mountain stage of a GT. It is very much a valid comparison.

If you want the same altitude and same number of days into in a stage race, he also did 6.8 W/kg for 24 minutes on Lo Port in Catalunya this year. That is basically on par with the Marie Blanque effort, with the caveat that that was an easier stage.

Nobody is disputing that Vingegaard (and Pogacar) can put in better performances on just about any climb, but on a shorter effort that comes earlier in the race (like today's), Evenepoel can run them closer than anywhere else, and closer in this case is, in fact, pretty close. So that means that a) if Evenepoel is getting dropped here, it will likely be far worse come the Pyrenees and therefore a clear sign that he isn't going to win this thing, but also that b) Vingegaard needs to be very close to his Tour level to drop Evenepoel here assuming that Evenepoel is at 100%.

I wouldn't neglect even 1000 m of altitude as there's still considerably less oxygen there compared to near sea level. Other than that, fair enough. Evenepoel has a very high fresh w/kg (even on 30 minute climbs as Tour of Norway showed) and he is expected to be close to them especially earlier in the race and on unipuerto stages. Him being dropped on Javalambre was a bit surprising but maybe he wasn't at his best due to his crash.

 

[iBanesto]

Seeing the C. Rodriguez name listed on TV in the pursuing group is bloody confusing for me.

 

[Didinho]

De Gendt is Stelvio'ing this one.

 

[Rob5091]

De Gendt said a while ago that he does not have the legs anymore, but good to see him give it a go.

 

[Red Rick]

They did not listen to you.

Their loss

 

[RedheadDane]

De Gendt FTW!

 

[Rob5091]

If Groupama keep it at 4 minutes, Jumbo (or another team) could easily take over somewhere in the second half of the stage.

and the Killer Bees come to the front! (a killer bee)

 

[Netserk]

Bobby Gesink stringing out the peloton. It will be a hard day.

 

[Izzyeviel]

someone tell GC Kuss to take it easy

 

[Netserk]

Only 3'20" between the chase group and the peloton.