Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2023, stage 9: Cartagena - Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca, 184.5k

[Devil's Elbow]

Road still looks fine here, could they really not take times closer to the finish?

 

[glassmoon]

lol wtf

 

[iBanesto]

So confusing...

 

[Didinho]

Roglic couple of seconds. Mas stopped right at the line lol.

 

[jsem94]

Lmao.. what a farce this is

 

[Samamba]

They should honestly cancel this whole Vuelta, this is actually ridiculous. WTF

They also rather show the GC riders just chilling instead of Kamna lmao

 

[DNP-Old]

I can't believe what I am seeing.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

That was pathetic.

 

[RedheadDane]

So... who took the times?

 

[iBanesto]

Roglic takes a few seconds from the looks of it as they past the 2 km to go mark.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Let another country give it a go at organizing a Grand Tour. A legitimate Tour of Scandinavia, Vuelta a Colombia, hell, Tour de Trump. None would give us the amateurism that has been on display here.

I've often wondered about how the format of GTs would go to other countries, because obviously the format that has been decided upon over the years is a product of the fact that the places that host them suit said format.

There really aren't that many places that are suited to host a genuine GT as a result, because you need the right country or countries to fit the characteristics generated by the existing races being in France, Italy and Spain.

A Tour of only a part of a country like the Tour of California just doesn't feel like a GT because it's parallel to regional tours in Europe; but to be a Tour of a country, you have to cover a reasonable enough amount of that country within the three weeks. A country has to be big enough, however, to be able to offer variety year on year. Plus it would need to have sufficient challenging mountains to be believable as an equivalent to the races we've known and treated as GTs for decades. And they need appropriate infrastructure to be able to put those mountains in positions to be decisive too.

I came to the conclusion that only a few countries would suit it. Places like the USA, Mexico, Brazil, China or Australia are too big to cover in three weeks; places like Portugal or Switzerland are too small; places like Germany and the UK are the right size but hae too many restrictions in parcours possibilities; places like Ethiopia and Morocco are good size but the lack of infrastructure or paved passes would limit variety too much. Chile and Vietnam would be possibilities but the shape of the country makes for very limited possibilities.

Turkey, Colombia, Iran, Venezuela and Japan were just about the only realistic places I thought could host a 'new' GT.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Media should be ripping into this one, it's overdue.

 

[jsem94]

Dumbest *** I've seen in a while...

 

[Miha81]

WTF... at least put some line somewhere

 

[Didinho]

Remco good for a bad gravel rider.

Good Lennard!

 

[Scarponi]

Rogl half way up climb stomp heheheh

 

[Ilmaestro99]

I'm so confused? Is there race on or they neutralised it? Why can't they do a normal stages without mickey mouse gimmick.?

 

[glassmoon]

what a bunch of amateurs... the road is perfectly fine ffs. this race is a joke.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I don't get it. The road is fine. Evans raced through far worse at the Giro.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Literally 20 metres of slight mud... absolutely stupid to neutralise so much.

 

[KOM]

Death
Taxes
Lenny Kämna getting his stage win

 

[Savant12]

Could have raced to the finish.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

Interesting whether the organizers have to ask the single spectator if she was about taking a selfie or if they can politely ask her if she recorded the race so they can verify the times of the GC riders.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Road still looks fine here, could they really not take times closer to the finish?

Classic, as soon as they announce the times will be taken earlier on the road gets cleared and is perfectly passable.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Ausgezeichnet Kamna!

Wow, what a stage...