Vuelta a Espana Stage 1: Benidorm TTT 13.5km

[greenedge]

I feel sorry for Wiggins but i think he needed to gain time today to have a moral advantage over the others. I also feel sorry for RS and "YAROSLAV" Brajkovic. Geox also screwed up. Surprised by some teams times and also with HTC deciding to drop Cav. Congrats to Liquigas and Leopard.

This TTT shows who is strong later for the ITT. Wiggins blew his team up ( along with the crash ) Cancellara rocketed his team to victory and Martin looked fluid.

 

[movingtarget]

The Basque Carrots did much better than I thought they would on a silly TTT course. Too tight for the team time trial. Rodriguez and Anton would be happy with the time differences. Menchov and Scarponi not so happy.

 

[AussieGoddess]

Wiggins blew his team up ( along with the crash ) Cancellara rocketed his team to victory

that about sums up the 2 riders for me.

Its one thing to be really strong - and quite another to use your strengths to help your team.

 

[Kwibus]

Man are there some bitter posters at the moment.
BMC finish mid field and yet they are picked out to bag ahead of the teams they beat. Some of the same people picked them to finish no better than mid field in the tour with a stronger team yet seem suprised when they finish in that position 4 weeks later with a weeker team.

Guess Evans win combined with recent big name signings is just too much for some to take.

I have to agree here. If were picking on teams that failed then pick on Rabobank for example. No crashes or whatever...atleast not that I know off and they still lost 30 seconds with a very decent TTT team imo.

 

[Mellow Velo]

LOL, the fact they came 11th just proves how subjective you are when judging a teams peformance.

What a bizzarre TTT. A very much unexpected result for so many teams.

I see I get singled out for the ACF special treatment again.

I follow the sport, not fan worship teams and individual riders, therefore I am far more able to remain objective than many, you certainly included.

At the time of finishing, when I posted, they were last but for Cofidis, who we all agree, are pretty hopeless team trialists. At the time, it looked very, very poor. This was the "live" race thread.
No one could predict the number of disasters still to come.
Had I your crystal balls, I would not have made my observation.

As Hrotha says, 11th out of 22 is not exactly great and worse than predicted.
Yet nothing compared to what was to befall Sky, The Shack, Lampre, Geox etc.

Now, why not simply try to stay out of my face and stick to over hyping GVA.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I have to agree here. If were picking on teams that failed then pick on Rabobank for example. No crashes or whatever...atleast not that I know off and they still lost 30 seconds with a very decent TTT team imo.

Rabo get off scott free? Now who's trolling?
Read the whole page that contains my alleged BMC hating comment:
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=14969&page=12
From post 231, if that's too much.

 

[Maxiton]

Finally watched the stage after getting home late. Definitely entertaining. The start seemed to be jinxed, with so many having problems there. Felt sorry especially for Marzano, who probably had to time trial the whole thing by himself. Rotten luck for him and Lampre. Cancellara showed once again how a strong man helps his team. Wiggins . . . never mind. Nibali must be happy, placed about as well as he could have hoped.

 

[just some guy]

hmm - so Wiggins' Vuelta is over before it began

Mind you - my boy Scarponi is all that much better off ..... but he can climb pretty well, so is still in with a chance.

Well done to Nibbles. Showing some pretty good form

And whoever said the defending champion in the jersey on day 1 is great - totally agree !!!!!

i also thought it was really cool as well

 

[Midnightfright]

Jeez Wiggins looked strong, obviously big mistake tanking his teammates, guessing he was just super keen.

 

[jens_attacks]

i was looking last night at the eurosport replay because i missed the finish of some teams.gotta say again,watch out for wiggins,his collegues were fucced,grasping for air,he was breathing up his nose,very fresh.it won't be a surprise for me if on sierra nevada,a wiggins-style climb,he will make the top3 or even win.

 

[Midnightfright]

i was looking last night at the eurosport replay because i missed the finish of some teams.gotta say again,watch out for wiggins,his collegues were fucced,grasping for air,he was breathing up his nose,very fresh.it won't be a surprise for me if on sierra nevada,a wiggins-style climb,he will make the top3 or even win.

This is his speciality with the exception of Martin and Fab hes the best in the world but he did look excellent. Still a big question mark about just how well he can climb but I expect Dauphine esque form after yesterday. That raised my confidence in his final GC position a lot, I did say before the start I felt he had no chance of getting on the podium but if hes on the top form u never know.

 

[Duartista]

I don't know if this has been mentioned already, but it is pretty obvious who Saste blames for Geox's poor result:

“On a day like today, more than in other stages, the mission, experience, work and power of a sportive director is the most valuable thing you can have. A director with experience, who knows each of his riders, who has the ability to get the best out of them. He makes sure that everything is organized. If everything is organized, the seconds are in your favor and not against you. If the director is able to go (plan?) ahead, the truth is that everything is different. In a day like today, the figure of a director and a good team captain is really important”.

http://www.carlossastre.com/sastre_en/

Maybe a bit of payback after being publicly criticised by the team management after the Giro.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I can see his point but *****ing about it already during the race is not smart imo.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Rabo get off scott free? Now who's trolling?
Read the whole page that contains my alleged BMC hating comment:
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=14969&page=12
From post 231, if that's too much.

You can't take being called of being a hater. quite a few people called you out on it and you don't like it.

 

[Fergoose]

Cracking stage and all very bizarre. Funny to see people in the prediction thread laughing at the mere suggestion of people picking Wiggins for a possible victory and then here because he essentially had to sit up during the last 2k he is considered a credible option (I know its not the same folk suggesting it). I predict a bandwagon if he has a strong finish on Tuesday and does his predicted performance on the ITT (I still think he has little chance overall).

As for suggestions of poor tactics on his part or him burning his team. Apparently unseen by the cameras the team confirmed they had a crash that took down two of their riders (including Arvenson) and the fifth wheel failed to identify he was in fifth rather than sixth position and sat up due to "language issues". Wiggins can hardly be considered responsible for either event.

Also, I have to laugh at Sastre's remarks. Outrageous, but good on him - makes for an entertaining read! If that is the Geox team spirit and his perception of the Sporting Directors abilities then I think I'll rule out a Menchov win as of now (sadly).

 

[hrotha]

I can see his point but *****ing about it already during the race is not smart imo.

I don't think Sastre gives a damn at this point. He's going to do his thing and he doesn't care about anyone else.

 

[maltiv]

Finally watched the stage after getting home late. Definitely entertaining. The start seemed to be jinxed, with so many having problems there. Felt sorry especially for Marzano, who probably had to time trial the whole thing by himself. Rotten luck for him and Lampre. Cancellara showed once again how a strong man helps his team. Wiggins . . . never mind. Nibali must be happy, placed about as well as he could have hoped.

It's easier to stay on Cancellara's wheel I guess since he is much bigger and thus provides more slipstream for his team.

 

[Mellow Velo]

You can't take being called of being a hater. quite a few people called you out on it and you don't like it.

Wow! You sound like just a disgruntled Armstrong fan from the clinic.

Quite a few people have pointed out that I am simply calling it as it is.

Stick me on ignore, it's easier than trying to police my comments, looking to take offence. Especially when the facts speak for themselves.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Geox were miserable, but again, a simple crash cost them probably 10-15 seconds. They probably would have broken 17 minutes and been more in the "average" catagory.
Some of Sastre's comments must resonate with Sky, who are reknowned for their attention to detail. Their communication breakdown cost them around half a minute.
A lot of "well drilled" squads produced some uncharacteristic performances, yesterday.

 

[Kwibus]

Rabo get off scott free? Now who's trolling?
Read the whole page that contains my alleged BMC hating comment:
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=14969&page=12
From post 231, if that's too much.

Hey I wasn't mentioning you was I? I just read the last 2 pages of the comments and there was a lot talk of negative talk about BMC so that's why I made the comment.
I shouldn't have made it though as I didn't read much of this thread.

 

[movingtarget]

I can see his point but *****ing about it already during the race is not smart imo.

Sastre should retire and give his spot to someone competitive. His talk is much stronger than his riding at the moment and has been that way for about two years now. Give Menchov a climber that can stick with the good climbers.

 

[LandEscape]

oh santa pace!
why italian teams can't excel in a " 'teamish' psicological-focused discipline"?

Who said they can't excel? They just did it... Don't go "vittorio sgarbi mode" without having strong logical instruments.

 

[cineteq]

Sastre should retire and give his spot to someone competitive. His talk is much stronger than his riding at the moment and has been that way for about two years now.

He's been posting the same phrase, at the start of a race, all year: "I'm feeling good sensations"

 

[Maxiton]

It's easier to stay on Cancellara's wheel I guess since he is much bigger and thus provides more slipstream for his team.

I call BS. It's because Wiggins would rather express his petulance than ride smart. Cancellara doesn't have that problem.

 

[Angliru]

but very means when something is in a high degree so ultimately "very average" = well below average and for a team which doesn't really have anyone except Phinney, it was a good effort.

The quoted post would be a fine example of two your favorite words: moronic and idiotic. Please spare us with the melodramatic response, it'll only make you look worse.

BMC's TTT performance was below everyone's expectations, especially yours so to argue that it wasn't a "very average" performance is simply showing one's obvious blind bias.