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.
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.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.
Or did that already happen....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....
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!
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.
Yesterday, it looked more like AG2r were all in for Roglic.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.
Enric, Adam and Richard was on the attack so....Yesterday, it looked more like AG2r were all in for Roglic.
Nairo and Rubio have been completely useless. At least Nairo has an excuse of being hurt during Burgos.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.