Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2024, stage 16: Luanco - Lagos de Covadonga, 181.3k

[E_F_]

Christian van de Velde commenting that Roglic didn't have the legs, today. It didn't look that way to me. He covered everything quite calmly. Also, that was a sketchy final few kilometers with the rain. Not a day to push one's luck.

No risk, much glory...

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Soler gave an interview like a very solid old pro.

 

[ciranda]

Covadonga <3

My favourite Spanish climb, mythical!

of course, mine too

 

[Eyeballs Out]

Vine somehow ended up in 4th?

 

[Didinho]

Guillaume Martin in a good place to get 10 minutes back in the next breakaway.

 

[perico]

Tadej talking about not riding because it would make his other teammates angry because they needed the opportunities to ride for themselves. Everyone thought he was talking about Almeida, Yates, or Del Toro, but deep down Teddy was talking about Marc Soler.

That is why I am glad Teddy decided to focus on the WC. No Pogi means we get God Tier Soler in Spain.

 

[Oldermanish]

Christian van de Velde commenting that Roglic didn't have the legs, today. It didn't look that way to me. He covered everything quite calmly. Also, that was a sketchy final few kilometers with the rain. Not a day to push one's luck.

Exactly. He remained seated and spun to anyone's gap, then led on the descending portion to avoid risk. Kudos to Soler for a frothy ride!

 

[Penninepeddler]

Looks like Roglic deliberately avoided taking red today. It could have easily been a minute and a half plus. The disrespect shown to O'Connor in this race by Carapaz, Mas and Roglic has been bizarre.

I think to a degree it is understandable from Roglic and Bora... with the stages left it would be a shock if Primoz did not put 2-3 minutes into him minimum.

But for Carapaz and Mas? They likely both finish on the podium... but O'Connor is not a bad ITT'er and if I were them I would be starting to get a bit antsy.

They have basically 2 Mountain stages left and they have "only" been putting maybe ~1 minute into him on the mountain stages in the last week or so.

It would not be a total shock for O'Connor to come 3rd only because Carapaz and Mas are not respecting him enough.

Now, it shouldnt happen, but could.

 

[movingtarget]

Soler looked done three times but still won. Good win. Mas looks the strongest but Roglic continues to do enough. O'Connor gave it his all and wanted another day in Red. Paced himself well.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Guillaume Martin in a good place to get 10 minutes back in the next breakaway.

He's been in such a position for a week now, but he hasn't been able to get in the right break since.

 

[noob]

My god some people really are searching for something to get upset about. The group was just being careful making sure they didn't crash on that wet section with some downhills.

Careful Rogla good

Even a sick noob understood this 🤣 I mean there was fog and wet roads. Would be idiotic to risk anything whatsoever

 

[Valv.Piti]

I think the overall level is just so even at the moment. Don't really matter what climbs you shove in front of them. These gaps are really small in the GC top-10, this is literally one MTF at Plateau de Beille in TdF with all guns blazing Pog gaps.

 

[Tim Cahill]

I think it's Carapaz probably with the most to lose not pacing, but I think he is the type to be planning something dramatic on 20.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Adam is never around when you want him

 

[Coffeeplanter]

No more complaining about Mas being boring or never doing anything. He has been aggressive the entire race.

Yeah, to be fair, those 46 seconds of excitement on Collada Llomena were 46 more than I anticipated.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Vine looks right in the polka dots.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Yeah, to be fair, those 46 seconds of excitement on Collada Llomena were 46 more than I anticipated.

Never change, huh?

 

[Sciatic]

Shake of the head from O'Connor over the line, but he did better then a lot expected. Still in red but only 5 seconds on Roglic.

Before the stage, I didn’t think he would lose a whole minute. But when he was dropped so early on then I figured he would lose much more than that including his podium spot.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Beautiful grotto

 

[Coffeeplanter]

Never change, huh?

What do you mean? I am genuine. I did not expect him to do that, I give him props for that. He tried, it just did not last very long.

I expected nothing, I got one minute of good fun. That's a W.

 

[Sciatic]

Should be better in 2025 as his off-season preparation for 2024 was far from ideal.

His preparation for that corner was likewise far from ideal,

 

[perico]

Never change, huh?

A hater?

 

[BullsFan22]

I hope Rogla doesn’t start playing games.

 

[shalgo]

Where did this form of Gaudu come from—he hasn’t looked like this since several Tours ago.

Paris-Nice last year?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It's such a weird climb.

Gaps would literally be bigger if they put the finish lower

Problem is the only logical places would be at the Basilica, which would turn it into a puncheur 1km stomp finish, or Mirador de la Reina, which would turn it into a 2km stage with all the action coming on La Huesera.

The issue really for Los Lagos is that long stretch from Cangas de Onis to Soto de Cangas and onwards to Covadonga village, which just kills momentum from before.

You could go from Llomena over Mohandí and even Bada to toughen up that run-in, but you're always going to have to deal with the 15km or so flat between them so unless you make the race hard enough beforehand that it's worth persevering in the valley - like the Euskaltel break of doom in the 2010 Cotobello stage or the famous 2005 Heras stage to Pajáres, momentum is going to be killed in the valley.

Even going over Torno you're going to have the shorter flat from Soto de Cangas, and at the cost of not having any selective climbs close enough to Covadonga to make a difference. Fito or the Llomena-Mohandí doublette is the best you can hope for in that respect.

And unless they pave the eastern path from Següencu to Torio via San Blas, I can't see that happening. That would put a climb of just under 6km at about 9-9,5% at about 30km from the line and cut the pure flat between Soto and Covadonga village to about 6km. But it's a natural park and I don't see them wanting to do it seeing as there's already one road to access the Mirador at Següencu and limited traffic.