Vuelta a Espana Stage 1: Benidorm TTT 13.5km

[zapata]

It's somewhat more of a spectacle to watch a TTT than an ITT in my opinion. As long as they keep them short, so noone will lose several minutes, I think they're alright. Seems to be something of a trend, though. Individual TTs I'll rarely watch, unless I have absolutely nothing better to do. I think they are an important part of a GT, and there might me more of them than the current trend, but I'm happy to just read the results afterwards.

 

[hrotha]

Yeah but I'm not talking about attracting the hardcore fans but the general public. For what it's worth, IMO short TTTs are rather pointless.

 

[roundabout]

Tell it to Menchov.

 

[Mambo95]

What I don't get is why organizers like them so much. They don't like ITTs because fewer people watch them, but surely TTTs must draw smaller audiences?

Sponsors like them a lot.

 

[dolomite]

...
It's great to see that even italian teams can excel in a "teamish" psicological-focused discipline!

?are you sure?

 

[hfer07]

Today's Winners:

*Vincenzo Nibali got the best position of the GT contenders
*J-Rod didn't lose as much time as expected
*Dan Martin started the vuelta on the right foot.
*Igor Anton VDV2 got good results but yet ended up a bit behind

Today's losers

Wiggins-WTF happened to sky today?
Menchov/Sastre-GEOX -just horrible
Scarponi-Lampre-poor TT

 

[LandEscape]

?are you sure?

About what? That it's great? Surely sure.

 

[benpounder]

Not sure where you are, but Itv4 is available on http://www.tvcatchup.com works in most countries as far as I know.

Proper good quality streams too.

Not available in the states. Best bet for Yanks (non-expat) is to go to Steephill.tv. Seems likely that I will have to watch a non-English webcast (I refuse to pay for NBC's coverage).

As for the race, the text updates I was following, and the comments here, sure read like it was a clusterfark for many teams. Anyone have any insight as to why?

 

[Michielveedeebee]

sorry to go OT, but Vino has announced his comeback

 

[benpounder]

What I don't get is why organizers like them so much. They don't like ITTs because fewer people watch them, but surely TTTs must draw smaller audiences?

Sponsors like them - great for the marketing photos...

But as I have admitted many times, I do like TTT's. Especially the shorter non-technical ones. Like them better than the long non-technical ITT's that used to be common in the Tour in fact; as a spectator that is.

 

[Bumeington]

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/529794/pro-predictions-who-will-win-the-vuelta.html

Chris Froome (Team Sky)
"My only answer can be Brad - after doing TTT training with him today and riding the whole team off his wheel. He's the strongest I've ever ridden with him, I haven't seen him in this kind of condition before."

lols

 

[Andy99]

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/529794/pro-predictions-who-will-win-the-vuelta.html

Chris Froome (Team Sky)
"My only answer can be Brad - after doing TTT training with him today and riding the whole team off his wheel. He's the strongest I've ever ridden with him, I haven't seen him in this kind of condition before."

lols

Perhaps he'll take all the time back in the ITT then.

 

[Bumeington]

Perhaps he'll take all the time back in the ITT then.

Perhaps, I just thought it was funny Froome says "Wiggins drops us all he's in really good form" and then what happens in the first stage, he drops them all (well all except 3) damaging his GC chances

 

[Nielsa]

Yes, that was funny. This from Boonen also made me laugh: "Hahah. I have no idea. I don't even know who's starting. I don't have a clue."

 

[Nielsa]

Yes, that was funny. Also this from Boonen (when asked about his prediction for the win): "Hahah. I have no idea. I don't even know who's starting. I don't have a clue." Lol.

 

[El Pistolero]

I hate GTs beginning with TTTs, it devalues the prestige of wearing a leader jersey in one's career IMO.

 

[dolomite]

About what? That it's great? Surely sure.

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

 

[JRanton]

Zandio sat up despite Sky only having four riders left? Is he ****ing blind or what. Christ.

 

[just some guy]

Do we know what happen to SKY

Crash or Brad destroyed his team or ?

 

[hatcher]

Do we know what happen to SKY

Crash or Brad destroyed his team or ?

According to the Sky site, Arvesen went down in the first few kilometres, leaving Zandio to chase back on. Not sure what happened at the end there, but it seems someone didn't realise they were 5th man.

 

[jens_attacks]

no doubt,wiggins seems in an out of this world form,purito too from what i can tell you.if we won't have crashes,this can be an amazing vuelta.

geox failed,pretty expected but hey at least i got astana doing fine.now what i await is kash doing top 5 on sierra nevada.if not him,at least kiserlovski or kessiakoff.

 

[Anonymous]

liquigas were good just as i expected.

 

[Papparrazzi]

Zandio sat up despite Sky only having four riders left? Is he ****ing blind or what. Christ.

That's what I thought. You're in a TTT ... you do your turn on the front ... drop back ... you see there's only 4 riders ... sprint back on to the back Shocking

 

[cineteq]

According to the Sky site, Arvesen went down in the first few kilometres, leaving Zandio to chase back on. Not sure what happened at the end there, but it seems someone didn't realise they were 5th man.

"We lost Kurt after a kilometre. He came down and Zandio was also held up. Xabier had to chase down the group after that and then in the final we were down with four guys. A rider sat up and didn’t really understand what was going on. It was tough to hear on the radio with the public shouting so it was a difficult situation."

http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290,22762_7114830,00.html

 

[cineteq]

That that we know what happened to Sky, what the heck happened to:
168 Tony Martin (Ger) HTC-Highroad 0:01:25 ?
Anybody's heard anything?