Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2024, stage 18: Vitoria-Gasteiz - Maeztu, 179.3k

[RedheadDane]

He's been easy to recognise the entire race.

More riders should do that.

Not wear blue shoes, hopefully. That wouldn't help with making them easier to recognise...

 

[Valv.Piti]

Hard stage, Mas looking fine, the win is still somewhat realistic. Two really hard MTFs right up his alley, although tomorrow is a very easy day.

Needs at least 2 minutes though..

 

[durtyfat7]

Landa loses 3'20", now 10th in GC (+5'38").

If he feels good the next 2 stages, he will animate it. Podium will be hard tho.

 

[solo80k]

World Tour teams getting schooled.

Give them WT licence, immediately!

 

[Netserk]

Wow, a lot of wide-eyed optimism about this stage around here! I expect nothing worth watching until inside the last 10km when what's left of the break reaches that little bump. Certainly no GC action.

Clear-eyed rather than wide-eyed.

 

[Coffeeplanter]

Now, having the stage conclude and being able to reflect on what happened and what it resulted into, I must applaud QuickStep for their dynamics and tactical decisions. Thanks to their quick reaction, Landa lost only 3:20, instead of 3:50. Cattaneo was never going to win that stage anyway, so waiting for about 35 kilometers to call him back was good as well. Brilliant stuff.

Wilfried Peeters needs to be fired, today.

 

[ppanther92]

Landa loses 3'20", now 10th in GC (+5'38").

Time loss a bit less bad than it looked at thimes according to the GPS. And good for him that 11th and 12th (Yates and Kuss) also dropped.

 

[jmdirt]

I love it when the winner comes from a break! Congrats UB! Kern has be thrilled with this VaE!

 

[movingtarget]

Great win for Berrade and his team. Disaster for Landa. Better stage than it looked on paper.

 

[Rackham]

That cat 1 was placed there precisely for someone to have a bad day & ship a bucket load of time over the final 40km's. It just happened to land... on Landa.

 

[postmanhat]

I love it when the winner comes from a break! Congrats UB! Kern has be thrilled with this VaE!

Three wins and two podiums from three different riders for a Pro team. Great anitidote to the other GTs this year.

 

[RedheadDane]

"Hey, Jay."
"Yeah, Marc?"
"I want your jersey!"

KOM:

1	2	▲1	SOLER Marc	UAE Team Emirates	57
2	1	▼1	VINE Jay	UAE Team Emirates	56

 

[tobydawq]

Not wear blue shoes, hopefully. That wouldn't help with making them easier to recognise...

Yes it would.

Up to a point.

Red shoes are also a possibility, but I think only Jonathan Lastra have that now.

Hugo Houle also has blue shoes, and I don't confuse him with Berrade.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Dang, Groves' thighs are about twice the girth of the other jersey wearers...

Soler looks right in the polka dots.

 

[Rob5091]

Chapeau Berrade & Kern - stage win number 3 for the team. Chapeau to EF too for pushing on a day when it was n't expected. Hope they did n't burn themselves out before the weekend.
Landa I would guess must be ill as this was not the toughest parcours.

 

[noob]

Dang, Groves' thighs are about twice the girth of the other jersey wearers...

Soler looks right in the polka dots.

Crap I missed that. I'm watching the darn covid test.

Poor Pedersen in that interview!

 

[AmRacer]

So they tried to win with Cattaneo

 

[SafeBet]

Casper Pedersen: "We wanted to give Catta a chance for the stage win because he always does such a good job for the team".
Spoken like a true teammate.

 

[noob]

Who has the blue shoes everyone is talking about?

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Who has the blue shoes everyone is talking about?

Berrade

 

[noob]

Berrade

the winner? Had he changed them on the podium? :O

 

[Sciatic]

It would probably not have made much difference given the descent, but they could have had a bit larger gap to OConnor at the top of the Cat 1. Carapaz, Roglic, Mas, Gaudu (and maybe 1 other) were starting to create the gap. At the moment when elastic started to stretch before briefly breaking, both Lipowitz and another FDJ rider come around The red jersey, but close enough to him to give a brief draft and then shortening the distance to the back of the GC group. I’m surprised in those situations that those chasing riders (usually the top doms) don’t swing wider around the key guy getting dropped. Or wait until the gap gets bigger then attack a bit later. I understand the intensity of the wattage they are putting out at that point might make it hard to judge what is the best tactic and the impulse would simply be try stay with the group that has their leader.
Nothing dramatic about this—just wondering.

 

[RedheadDane]

the winner? Had he changed them on the podium? :O

I think riders generally change shoes before getting onto the podium.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

the winner? Had he changed them on the podium? :O

Yes, he changed into sneakers for the podium. I think most riders do... maybe it's like when you wear high heels and you just can't wait to get into something more comfy at the end of the day.

 

[zlev11]

that was a great stage. they really aren't wasting any of the terrain in this race.