Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2025, Stage 4: Susa – Voiron (206.7k)

[tobydawq]

To cap off a perfect Gran Salida, today is the day they will not show in full. Simply hilarious stuff.

 

[Red Rick]

Nah man, the hard punchy stages in week 1 of the Tour were just very, very different from the group rides we have seen this race.

Fair I guess.

Personally I don't rate these punchier finishes that more highly than the first 2 stages here. Overall I think the actual stages have been okay for a GT start, especially as yesterday overdelivered compared to expectations, but I kinda feel like the main reason it just seems off is the vibe of the Vuelta in Italy and why are we having these stages in Italy.

 

[tobydawq]

Fair I guess.

Personally I don't rate these punchier finishes that more highly than the first 2 stages here. Overall I think the actual stages have been okay for a GT start, especially as yesterday overdelivered compared to expectations, but I kinda feel like the main reason it just seems off is the vibe of the Vuelta in Italy and why are we having these stages in Italy.

I also guess that the toughness of the first week of the Tour this year was maximised considering the available geography. I feel that less so here.

And I also, like many others, have a very hard time seeing the point of the Italian start. I don't mind foreign starts to Grand Tours at all but this one is just weird.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Fair I guess.

Personally I don't rate these punchier finishes that more highly than the first 2 stages here. Overall I think the actual stages have been okay for a GT start, especially as yesterday overdelivered compared to expectations, but I kinda feel like the main reason it just seems off is the vibe of the Vuelta in Italy and why are we having these stages in Italy.

Really? The stage to Rouen was much more exciting and actually really selective and not only due to the last steep ramp. It was super hard racing. Stage to Boulougne-sur-Mer was easier, but it was a super exciting finale and was again more than just a sprint with multiple attacks after the last climb. The stage to Vire Normandie was very whatever, but at least it featured a strong break, and Mur-de-Bretagne was by far the most selective stage that we have seen recently with that climb. Again a hard stage.. I think 20-30 were left the first time they did the climb? I'd much, much watch stages like that compared to this race where literally everything is concentrated in the last few kilometres.

And yes, the vibe is also just off. The Grand Depart in Italy was great in 2024 with some exciting and hard stages (you can make these without killing the GC btw......), but this year its just very whatever. Slightly better than a start in Holland or Denmark

 

[Brullnux]

I don't actually mind a stage like this. In fact, I think it's a pretty well designed stage. It's one of six sprint opportunities and should be treated as such - and in light of that, it's clearly a much better stage than a completely flat one.

The problem is that the route in general sucks, and then this gets criticism as well. If there were some well designed mountain stages in this race, perhaps people would see this as a well designed sprint stage rather than a poorly designed mountain stage. Now, unfortunately, there's not even a single well designed mountain stage in the race. In fact, there's not even a single mountain stage in the race.

The problem is it's also in a mountainous part of Italy, and they've Vueltafied it instead of using the geography

 

[tobydawq]

Really? The stage to Rouen was much more exciting and actually really selective and not only due to the last steep ramp. It was super hard racing. Stage to Boulougne-sur-Mer was easier, but it was a super exciting finale and was again more than just a sprint with multiple attacks after the last climb. The stage to Vire Normandie was very whatever, but at least it featured a strong break, and Mur-de-Bretagne was by far the most selective stage that we have seen recently with that climb. Again a hard stage.. I think 20-30 were left the first time they did the climb? I'd much, much watch stages like that compared to this race where literally everything is concentrated in the last few kilometres.

And yes, the vibe is also just off. The Grand Depart in Italy was great in 2024 with some exciting and hard stages (you can make these without killing the GC btw......), but this year its just very whatever. Slightly better than a start in Holland or Denmark

Nah man, I had quite a bit of a greater time during the Tour start in Denmark than I had the past few days.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Nah man, I had quite a bit of a greater time during the Tour start in Denmark than I had the past few days.

Would that also have been the case if you were from Belgium or Spain? Cause objectively that was some absolute ***, lets be honest

 

[Brullnux]

Would that also have been the case if you were from Belgium or Spain? Cause objectively that was some absolute ***, lets be honest

I don't live in Denmark, but I do think it felt less weird, though, for whatever reason. The Depart in Italy last year did not feel strange or forced at all, on the other hand.

That said, crowds have turned out very nicely given it's holiday month.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I don't live in Denmark, but I do think it felt less weird, though, for whatever reason. The Depart in Italy last year did not feel strange or forced at all, on the other hand.

That said, crowds have turned out very nicely given it's holiday month.

You're probably right, but I'm from Denmark so its hard for me to tell since I really enjoyed following the race while in Denmark, but if you were not here on the route experiencing the race first hand, there really wasn't much going on was there in front of the TV screens? Prolly not.

The worst foregin stage though probably goes to Herning for my money. Or Ireland

 

[tobydawq]

Would that also have been the case if you were from Belgium or Spain? Cause objectively that was some absolute horseshit, lets be honest

Of course not. That experience cannot be judged objectively by Danes. Either they joined the party and had a great time or they go to great lenghts of distancing themselves from it and pretend that it was much worse than other Grand Tour starts of the last decades which included two sprints and a TT (2009 Vuelta in the Netherlands and Belgium (actually three sprints and a TT), 2010 Giro in the Netherlands, 2012 Giro in Denmark, 2014 Giro in Ireland and Northern Ireland, 2016 Giro in the Netherlands, 2018 Giro in Israel, 2022 Giro in Hungary, 2022 Vuelta in the Netherlands, 2024 Vuelta in Portugal).

I realise you also said The Netherlands in the above post but it still annoys me a bit to see Danes slamming the Tour start in Denmark when it's really nothing out of the ordinary route wise. We can agree that the staging of the World Championships in Copenhagen is an atrocity but I definitely do not see a problem with a Grand Tour start.

 

[RedheadDane]

You're probably right, but I'm from Denmark so its hard for me to tell since I really enjoyed following the race while in Denmark, but if you were not here on the route experiencing the race first hand, there really wasn't much going on was there in front of the TV screens? Prolly not.

I'm just secretly - well, not so secretly now, I guess - happy that not much really happened on stage 2, since they couldn't get the streaming to work the place I was at, so I couldn't actually follow the race, apart from the five minutes it took the riders to get past.

 

[tobydawq]

I'm just secretly - well, not so secretly now, I guess - happy that not much really happened on stage 2, since they couldn't get the streaming to work the place I was at, so I couldn't actually follow the race, apart from the five minutes it took the riders to get past.

I thought you would say you were secretly happy that it didn't end up with any riders going over the railing and into their deaths in the Great Belt. I was secretly terrified of that happening and was quite relieved that there was no cross-winds. I thought it was irresponsible to let them ride on a bridge which tops out at 67 metres above the water surface and ask for a full crosswind battle with a Tour stage and possible yellow jersey on the line immediately after. But maybe my imagination was a bit more vivid than what could realistically happen.

 

[RedheadDane]

I thought you would say you were secretly happy that it didn't end up with any riders going over the railing and into their deaths in the Great Belt. I was secretly terrified of that happening and was quite relieved that there was no cross-winds. I thought it was irresponsible to let them ride on a bridge which tops out at 67 metres above the water surface and ask for a full crosswind battle with a Tour stage and possible yellow jersey on the line immediately after. But maybe my imagination was a bit more vivid than what could realistically happen.

I might have meant stage 3... for some reason I thought of stage 1 as a prologue...
The stage where Cort did his Cort thing.

 

[tobydawq]

I might have meant stage 3... for some reason I thought of stage 1 as a prologue...
The stage where Cort did his Cort thing.

Yes, okay, that completely voids my points...

 

[will-10]

Thread is already off the rails, wait til they realise we have no live broadcast till well after Lautaret

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Tomba la bomba - descending with style:

View: https://youtu.be/9AnRSi3Niek

Ha, what a blast from the past, I'm actually old enough to have seen la Bomba in action. Good times!

Sucks we probably won't see any of the riders' la Bomba descending skills due to coverage starting too late.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Just a reminder to everyone that we are boycotting today's stage. Let's all take a stand for the betterment of our sport.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

The 'tour of Spain' doing 200km through Eastern France, wtf is going on man. Another stage for me to boycott. I invite everyone to join me.

I didn't mind the three-day mini Giro but this is starting to drag, I think by stage 4 they really should be in Spain already.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Just a reminder to everyone that we are boycotting today's stage. Let's all take a stand for the betterment of our sport.

Maybe the mods are boycotting because this thread hasn't been pinned yet.

 

[RedheadDane]

Yes, okay, that completely voids my points...

Sorry...  numbers, man! They confuse me.

I didn't mind the three-day mini Giro but this is starting to drag, I think by stage 4 they really should be in Spain already.

Wonder what the riders prefer:
A stage finishing in France?
Or a long transfer after stage 3?

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Sorry...  numbers, man! They confuse me.



Wonder what the riders prefer:
A stage finishing in France?
Or a long transfer after stage 3?

Don't they have both now?

 

[RedheadDane]

Don't they have both now?

But wouldn't the transfer need to be longer for them to already be in Spain by now?

 

[Devil's Elbow]

But wouldn't the transfer need to be longer for them to already be in Spain by now?

Yes. Which is why they should have done this with a rest day. Or, you know, not started in Italy for no apparent reason.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Just a reminder to everyone that we are boycotting today's stage. Let's all take a stand for the betterment of our sport.

I assume your boy Fausto isn't starting the stage in respect of his biggest fan.

 

[search]

Yes. Which is why they should have done this with a rest day. Or, you know, not started in Italy for no apparent reason.

They did one in 2022, so need to wait another year to be allowed to add a travel day again.