Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2024: First rest day thread

[Izzyeviel]

With all these solo breakaways, the Breakaway G's must be kicking themselves for doing the Tour.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Great to see such an unpredictable race, which is reflected in the spread of votes. Rog, the best all-round rider is perhaps not at his best and Vuelta Mas may be the form climber but is flawed in other areas. UAE looked strong before the race as usual but have been all over the place at times, Bora haven't been great, Visma have some Wout stage wins and a defending champion who isn't even listed in this poll and whose best moment has come setting up a sprint finish. Loving it so far. No idea who'll win except that there will be twists to come. So voted for Felix Gall.

 

[Berniece]

Landa gets better throughout the race, I can still see him win

 

[CyclistAbi]

I voted for Primož Roglič.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

I just don't buy that Yates and Carapaz are back at their best. I can totally see why people are picking Mas now but I think this was more of a one off performance by Roglic and not too indicative of how the comparison between the two will look like for the rest of the race. I think O'Connor hanging on became more likely today though.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCALGlGuVUA

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Mas is probably the best climber in the race but this is the weakest Movistar Vuelta team I can remember. He's basically a privateer so far. They are badly missing a good climbing domestique like Pedrero. And of course the one time he shows a bit of daring is on a stage where a solo effort was doomed to glorious failure.

AG2r are like a football team that unexpectedly finds themselves leading 2-0 at half time, decides to park the bus and you just know they are inviting trouble. Gall is being completed wasted.

I think the winner will be someone who has not gained time from a break. Roglic will win if he doesn't crash. Today was probably as bad as it gets and he still gets an armchair ride to the finish.

 

[Cookster15]

Roglic might win if his back doesn’t bother him again like today and he doesn’t crash. But 4 minutes is a big gap to someone who can climb like O’Conner. Thomas Voeckler only had a 2 minute lead at the 2011 Tour but he wasn’t a climber.

 

[saunaking]

Not a fuck1ing clue should be an option in this poll

 

[Cookster15]

AG2r are like a football team that unexpectedly finds themselves leading 2-0 at half time, decides to park the bus and you just know they are inviting trouble. Gall is being completed wasted.

Felix Gall seems to be rated on a single ride he did in the 2023 Tour when Pogacar spectacularly cracked. If Gall was that good he wouldn’t be 5’30” down. Take away that one day there isn’t much to suggest Gall is superior to Ben O’Conner who has a 4th GC finish at both the Giro and Tour. Gall’s best GC finish in a grand tour was 8th at 2023 Tour.

 

[2WpK]

Ben O' Connor. The Red jersey will give him wings. Roglic is not at his best.

 

[Valv.Piti]

So Roglic doesn't have back pain and wins the two MTFs, then doesn't do well and the day after and its due to back pain? I don't really get it, to me it seems more like his level on a very hard multi mountain stage.

A lot more convinced by O'Connor today, but still don't think he will end up on the podium. I think the last spot is down to Carapaz, Yates and Landa. Still think Gall will end up being better on this parcours. Yates and Carapaz I think will benefit from a rest day and change in temperature. The last one in the podium battle will be C Rod, not convincing so far but slowly finding his feet in this race. An underrated competition is the white jersey with 10 contenders or so from the start, but half the field have already eliminated themselves and so only leaves Lipo, Carlos, Skjelmose and Lennar are left. Skjelmose and Lennart are too limited, and I think Carlos will outclimb Lipo who also will be on dom duty like today. He was very impressive today though, he actually pulled on the 2nd Hazallanas and in the valley.

Mas is extremely convincing and I can't wait for the proper hard MTFs. Chances of going on the offensive before the MTFs will be Covadonga and maybe hail mary stage 20, but I don't think he will need that. Can go early on Cuitu Negru as well, but it might be dangerous with Gall unless Ben is cracking. I still think he can just win it straight up. His team really need to step it up, cooler weather should help the Colombians get in the race. God knows Movistar has been quite horrible so far. They should control Ancares if possible and take it from there.

 

[dazaau]

Roglic got some experience in that departement too.
And maybe if UAE kidnaps Simon, and forces him to ride as Adam for the remainder of the race....

Or did that already happen....

 

[tobydawq]

Mistakenly voted for Landa, but come on, this is Enric territory. Best climber in the race, now his team just needs to set him up. First opportunity on Ancares on Friday!

Too bad he has at least two teammates who don't care about riding as helpers.

 

[tobydawq]

Mas is probably the best climber in the race but this is the weakest Movistar Vuelta team I can remember. He's basically a privateer so far. They are badly missing a good climbing domestique like Pedrero. And of course the one time he shows a bit of daring is on a stage where a solo effort was doomed to glorious failure.

AG2r are like a football team that unexpectedly finds themselves leading 2-0 at half time, decides to park the bus and you just know they are inviting trouble. Gall is being completed wasted.

I think the winner will be someone who has not gained time from a break. Roglic will win if he doesn't crash. Today was probably as bad as it gets and he still gets an armchair ride to the finish.

How in the world is Gall being wasted?

They have a serious chance for the win here, of course he should be all-in for O'Connor.

 

[Jan the Man]

Very open and difficult to call.

I voted O’Connor as he is in position A and has a couple of Top 5 in GTs so risky to give him so much time.

It would not surprise me if he was to collapse badly one day. However although Roglic looked really good saturday and he is the logical choice here on, he struggled a bit yesterday and the heat makes it a bit of a lottery.

Mas looks strong but i am not convinced he can close a GT and needs a minute coming into the last TT. Yates and Carapaz have put in impressive rides but i am not sure re consistency. Carapaz is certainly not to be written off - he’s bold and aggressive and willing to go all in at risk, where others are more conservative.

 

[Scarponi]

I don’t know I think O Connor’s bad day will be 2-4 minutes plus whereas Roglic or Mas it’s always a minute

 

[Eyeballs Out]

How in the world is Gall being wasted?

They have a serious chance for the win here, of course he should be all-in for O'Connor.

Yesterday, it looked more like AG2r were all in for Roglic.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

In an ideal world I would love to see Carapax and Landa on the final podium together again

 

[AmRacer]

Yesterday, it looked more like AG2r were all in for Roglic.

Enric, Adam and Richard was on the attack so....

 

[YavorD]

To be honest the situation in Decathlon kinda reminds of Sunweb 2020 with O'Connor having advantage and Gall being stronger.
However, you can't leave O'Connor alone (with such a gap) so you have to waste Gall.

However, on the really steep stuff this week (Ancares and Cuitu Negru Gall may be given freedom as on Saturday and if he is the strongest...well.

Gall to win the Vuelta just for the lolz.

 

[Rob5091]

Roglic should have lost to Van Eetvelt, had a tough battle with Mas for a sprint win, could not follow Mas and then lost to O'Connor in a sprint. This is not prime Roglic.

 

[perico]

So Roglic doesn't have back pain and wins the two MTFs, then doesn't do well and the day after and its due to back pain? I don't really get it, to me it seems more like his level on a very hard multi mountain stage.

A lot more convinced by O'Connor today, but still don't think he will end up on the podium. I think the last spot is down to Carapaz, Yates and Landa. Still think Gall will end up being better on this parcours. Yates and Carapaz I think will benefit from a rest day and change in temperature. The last one in the podium battle will be C Rod, not convincing so far but slowly finding his feet in this race. An underrated competition is the white jersey with 10 contenders or so from the start, but half the field have already eliminated themselves and so only leaves Lipo, Carlos, Skjelmose and Lennar are left. Skjelmose and Lennart are too limited, and I think Carlos will outclimb Lipo who also will be on dom duty like today. He was very impressive today though, he actually pulled on the 2nd Hazallanas and in the valley.

Mas is extremely convincing and I can't wait for the proper hard MTFs. Chances of going on the offensive before the MTFs will be Covadonga and maybe hail mary stage 20, but I don't think he will need that. Can go early on Cuitu Negru as well, but it might be dangerous with Gall unless Ben is cracking. I still think he can just win it straight up. His team really need to step it up, cooler weather should help the Colombians get in the race. God knows Movistar has been quite horrible so far. They should control Ancares if possible and take it from there.

Nairo and Rubio have been completely useless. At least Nairo has an excuse of being hurt during Burgos.

Lazkano was completely wasted working with O’Conner, and Sanchez the day before.

I was hyped for this team before the start, but they have been the biggest flop of the race next to Bora when it comes to expectations of strength in the mountains.

Sosa is a terrible GC rider, but he’s done a ton of decent domestique work in the buildup races this year for Mas. Pedrero’s record as a domestique speaks for itself. Where the hell is freaking Guerreiro? He is back racing earlier last month?

I have never been a huge Nairo fan, but definitely respect him and have no arguments about his inclusion. We all saw him ride himself into form at the Giro and I don’t doubt he will probably be much better the deeper we get.

Rubio however has been awful. Oscar Rodriguez is lasting longer in the main group than he is, and he was ignored at Movistar. Freaking Gaviria would probably be more of a help than this guy has been. Lazkano’s leaving so he probably just wants his stage win. They left Verona at home last year when he was leaving and Aranburu isn’t here. Those guys are great doms.

You would get a lot more help from the likes of Serrano, Pedrero, Sosa, Guerreiro, and Samitier than these clowns so far on the climbs. Oliviera has been good though as he always is.

 

[AnotherArmChair]

I voted for Roglic at the beginning because he has the experience of wining this race and he is a top rider. I voted for him again at this stage but maybe from habit as he hasn't been looking great and we cant forget the bad back or the poor team

But anyone in the top 9 could win with Kuss still a possibility to come into the top GC as the next 2 weeks go by

Carapaz is a hard man to bet against as he is such a wily fox and looked really strong yesterday , as did Adam Yates but in my original post on who will win the Vuelta I said and I stick by it that both Carapaz and Yates have the pedigree but are too inconsistent at present for me

I think O Connor who is a tough cookie will be hard to shift. The final TT works against him and he seems to waste alot of emotional energy
Gall is strong but will have to ride for O Connor but that should not stop him climbing GC but hard to see him wining it ..

The best climbers in the race are the Spanish and I would love to see a Spanish win. Landa has not enjoyed the heat , while it really suits Mas, who looks the best he ever has . Rodriquez will get better also in the cooler temps and as the race goes on.

 

[topcat]

I think Yates is going to win. I voted for Landa.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I voted for Mas. He seems the best climber so far. The problem is that he is also the worst descender.