Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2024, stage 6: Some random Carrefour - Yunquera, 185.5k

[Rollthedice]

Okay I didn't follow the stage. WTF happened?!?!?

They all drunk except for O'Conner or what?

Same question. Did he attacked already in the supermarket?

 

[Squire]

O Connor is no pannenkoek on the climbs

Cant remember which race but he was only rider to follow Pog (well for awhile anyway)

His Icarus moment in the Giro. Blew up spectacularly when Pog dropped him. But will be exciting to see how long/if he can hold on. It's not impossible.

Also, Cristian reinforcing my hunch that he'll be the best C. Rodriguez in this race.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Anybody knows?
Because this felt like a historic effort by O'Connor and not just terrible tactics by the peloton.

Remco on Stage 18 last year, before that O‘Connor at Tignes I think

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

We'll see.

I still think Rog has his Tour legs & I still think the only threat he faces here is the tarmac.

All things being equal (like if Rog displays the same power he had in his battle versus Vinge, Pog & Evenepoel on stage 11 of the TdF last month), minutes will be handed out later all over this race.

It's not just some minutes he needs but like more than 4. Seems overall totally baffeling to me how you could give this much time to O'Connor. But it means they'll have to try something special now. which is good.

 

[Unchained]

This really only makes any sense if Roglic wasn't feeling good.

Just a Kuss inattention repeat. His team, especially director having them work on the front when it wasn't important while dangerous people got up the road..Congratulations to O'Connor and his team for a great race..
And Spanish broadcast saying Del Toro winning the field sprint is a stretch!!
Decathlon new bikes are making a difference!!

 

[tobydawq]

I'm actually inclined to think nobody is gonna try to take it from O Connor apart from Roglic, and Roglic isn't gonna fire up 1st Hazallanas come Sunday. Call me a sceptic.

I don't think AG2R are that strong though, their climbers are hyper specialist, they'll suck in a valley.

Let me introduce you to Bruno Armirail.

Otherwise, you have a point. But it kind of speaks against your initial claim.

 

[James M]

baffling what Roglic and his team is doing, even if he is strong and good etc this just make zero sense

 

[Rackham]

It's not just some minutes he needs but like more than 4. Seems overall totally baffeling to me how you could give this much time to O'Connor. But it means they'll have to try something special now. which is good.

Maybe I'm wrong. I also totally see where people are coming from.

But this is 2024. It's not the same peloton & it's not the same Rog.

He was on track to finish 10 minutes behind Pog (worst case scenario) in the TdF & finish 4th... which would have been (hilariously) enough to finish nearly 10 minutes ahead of the next rider behind him.

From what I've seen of RBH they look pretty confident in their guy.

 

[AnotherArmChair]

Frigo ???

has he been on helium

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Same question. Did he attacked already in the supermarket?

Oconnor clearly took advantage of the start location by buying plenty of carbs from the Carrefour, and stuffing them to his pockets, whilst the other riders where gossiping and waiting for the start

This meant he could consume much more carb during the stage than normal and maintain his effort.

Expert racecraft

 

[Sciatic]

Going to be like Lemond v Chiapucci. Little nibbles of time every stage, don't know if Rog is going to get 5 minutes worth of nibbles though.
Not with how strong O'Connor looked today.

Except there aren’t the stages with multiple high-mountain cols to take time back. Lemond took the final big time chunk back on stage to Luz Ardiden (won,, in a foreshadowing of what was to come, by Indurain)

 

[nightowl]

can’t believe they

Maybe I'm wrong. I also totally see where people are coming from.

But this is 2024. It's not the same peloton & it's not the same Rog.

He was on track to finish 10 minutes behind Pog (worst case scenario) in the TdF & finish 4th... which would have been (hilariously) enough to finish nearly 10 minutes ahead of the next rider behind him.

From what I've seen of RBH they look pretty confident in their guy.

That assumes Roglic has the same legs as at the Tour. That’s no guarantee plus his back injury could easily hamper him. Lending O’Connor the jersey is one thing but giving him a 5 minute lead could backfire very easily.

 

[Sciatic]

baffling what Roglic and his team is doing, even if he is strong and good etc this just make zero sense

I think it’s even more stupid by Movistar. It’s Mas’s only chance to win a GT. Yes, Roglic is better, but he also has a bad back, probably is missing some base training miles, and is crash-prone. Unique opportunity.

 

[gunara]

Missed the stage by half an hour, I swear if I knew something like this would happenned (didn't check the forum), I would have left early and not care what they said.

What happenned exactly? I mean you can say O'Connor is a top ten material on his days no matter how bad he was in some races, not just some random Caja Rural breakaway.

 

[meat puppet]

We'll see.

I still think Rog has his Tour legs & I still think the only threat he faces here is the tarmac.

All things being equal (like if Rog displays the same power he had in his battle versus Vinge, Pog & Evenepoel on stage 11 of the TdF last month), minutes will be handed out later all over this race.

That's optimistic. Can't help thinking that if that were the case, he should a) have taken more time more convincingly on Tuesday and b) also whipped his teammates to actually chase today so as to not ruin the race for him.

A deficit of 5min to an on form O'Connor is a lot. Probably it's good for the race though.

 

[Sciatic]

I actually think there are too many top riders who dont ride as they are too 'good'

Martinez and Vlasov ...where are they

Same with UAE riders ???

Was thinking that as well,

 

[Rob5091]

Chapeau Ben O'Connor - stage & leader's jersey. Super strong ride and let's hope he does not blow up soon as it makes the race more interesting.

What was going on behind him though in the peloton? Campenaerts riding up to the front and staring at the other guys said a lot. (like, what's happening here?!) Roglic said about giving the jersey away but to Ben O'Connor and nearly 5 minutes could not have been the plan. Should Lipowitz have come back? I think so, to help ride as Bora could have done with another man pulling.
UAE though? No Bjerg or Laengen to pull and Yates lost even more time so it's all on Almeida now.

 

[Samamba]

Yates, Riccitello, Uran and Kron are the ones who crashed in that last descent. Uran is sadly DNF, Kron finished but way down and wasn't looking good. Riccitello is completely out of GC, Yates looks ok, but lost 2 minutes extra.

 

[noob]

Let's just assume everyone thinks that if they disrespect Ben enough he will have a breakdown. The've watched Unchained.

 

[Sciatic]

This really only makes any sense if Roglic wasn't feeling good.

this is on Movistar as well.

 

[AnotherArmChair]

My new book is ...How to win the Vuelta on stage 6

 

[Valv.Piti]

Quintana sitting there was just iconic, for this stage IMO. Just sit there, chilling, don't help. What are they all doing?

Movistar contributed more than Bora could expect IMO. The real question is what the hell Dani Martinez was doing.

 

[RedheadDane]

With O'Connor's win, Australia becomes the first country with multiple stage wins.
Still no teams with multiple stage wins.

 

[noob]

Now I finally saw in the recap that the fire brigades literally was showering the peleton

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Quintana sitting there was just iconic, for this stage IMO. Just sit there, chilling, don't help. What are they all doing?

Quintanaing. The most confusing was Bora not even using Martinez even though he was way down on the first MTF. At least for Vlasov and Lipowitz they can pretend they‘re retaining options, but it seemed like Bora didn’t even really commit.