Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2025, Stage 17: O/El Barco de Valdeorras – Alto de El Morredero (143.2k)

[tobydawq]

I am missing Rogla too and there is the element of protests, still the field is strong and it's taking it seriously, that is something to respect.

When is a field ever not taking it seriously? My God what an argument...

 

[tobydawq]

Chumil is still hanging in there - chapeau! Came in with the big boys at 27 minutes down but still in the race.

Why is it that we should raise our pulse because Chumil is still in the race? In February, he could follow Derek Gee on the hills, one would suspect he would have the capacity to finish a Grand Tour...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Why is it that we should raise our pulse because Chumil is still in the race? In February, he could follow Derek Gee on the hills, one would suspect he would have the capacity to finish a Grand Tour...

I don't necessarily know that "we" should be raising our pulse, but Guatemala is a cycling-mad nation (just see some of the crowds that the Vuelta a Guatemala attracts) that has never had a rider get remotely to this kind of level to be able to compete at a Grand Tour, and so national news sites are covering his daily grind in the race excitably, especially after his successful early season racing. A handful of Central American prospects banded together and jumped over to the Spanish amateur scene a few years ago and Sérgio's the only one to have made it pro so far, so he's a bit of a beacon of hope for cycling in the region, at least for countries other than Costa Rica which has guys like Andrey Amador and Kévin Rivera to point to.

He's been suffering from gastroenteritis and half the Burgos team has withdrawn with sickness, so has tumbled down the order after a very solid first half of the race where he was running around the Francis de Greef spot just outside the top 20. There's a good chance that in a lot of other circumstances he'd have withdrawn at the weekend or over the rest day but it seems to be very important to him to reach Madrid.

 

[RedheadDane]

Why is it that we should raise our pulse because Chumil is still in the race? In February, he could follow Derek Gee on the hills, one would suspect he would have the capacity to finish a Grand Tour...

I kinda think of it as just a bit of a silly joke.
Bit like when the fans at TDU pick (or used to pick?) some random domestique to treat as the big star.

 

[CyclistAbi]

When is a field ever not taking it seriously? My God what an argument...

Often and please leave the God out of it.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Problem is race organisers and teams have sponsorship deals to fulfill.

Everybody goes home, sponsors pull out, or make claims, teams fold, cycling dies out.

They do but once the situations gets out of hand, safety related, then that takes priority over everything else.

 

[Potomac]

I will certainly miss @Devil's Elbow 's opinions and write ups.