Vuelta a Espana Stage 2: La Nucía - Playas de Orihuela 175.5 km

[Anonymous]

Sagan for the win

 

[just some guy]

Wonder hard call

Goss for the win ................ Nope Sagan..............NOPE GVA

one of those 3

 

[hrotha]

250m at 8% is nothing.

It should be enough to wreck a couple of trains.

 

[jens_attacks]

duarte to attack
sagan to win ahead of purito

 

[Tank Engine]

duarte to attack
sagan to win ahead of purito

It's only 250m at 8%. In order to win, you've got to be pretty close to the front at the bottom of the climb. It's a pretty flat run in apart from that so I can't see JRo finishing that high up. Sagan will be licking his lips at the sight of such a finish, but Leaky won't be as keen to get the jersey as Leotard are to hold it. Leotard will try to set up Bennati to protect the red jersey. Degenkold is within striking distance, but Goss should be up there if (as may well be the case) Cav is not feeling good, so it's difficult to predict how HTC will play this one. My feeling is that it will be a close sprint with Farrar coming back to pip Sagan, who takes the jersey.

 

[El Pistolero]

Cav is on a long streak of failing to win the first sprint in a GT.

Pretty impressive if you ask me actually, more impressive than his victories

Probably will continue with that streak tomorrow because he got dropped pretty soon at the TTT(and that wouldn't have happened in the Tour.).

 

[jens_attacks]

i'm very afraid that the nervosity in the peloton will be high again.all the leaders want to be at the front before that ramp.please no crashes.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Any idea what the map is like for the last 5km.

200m ramp in a straight road is not much of an issue - if it's straight after a bend it becomes a big deal.

 

[The Hitch]

It's only 250m at 8%. In order to win, you've got to be pretty close to the front at the bottom of the climb. It's a pretty flat run in apart from that so I can't see JRo finishing that high up. Sagan will be licking his lips at the sight of such a finish, but Leaky won't be as keen to get the jersey as Leotard are to hold it. Leotard will try to set up Bennati to protect the red jersey. Degenkold is within striking distance, but Goss should be up there if (as may well be the case) Cav is not feeling good, so it's difficult to predict how HTC will play this one. My feeling is that it will be a close sprint with Farrar coming back to pip Sagan, who takes the jersey.

Katusha worked their asses of last time to get Rodriguez as many bites at the cherry at getting bonus seconds in sprints so that he could get red.

If feels he has a chance for something tomorow, they could try something.

 

[Tank Engine]

Katusha worked their asses of last time to get Rodriguez as many bites at the cherry at getting bonus seconds in sprints so that he could get red.

If feels he has a chance for something tomorow, they could try something.

No harm having a bite at the cherry, but the stages JRo picked up bonuses on last year were clearly harder than tomorrow's one, e.g. Stage 3 where he finished 2nd to Gilbert had a couple of big climbs (admittedly one early on) and finished on a climb of nearly 2km av. 5%. Hope JRo is in with a shout in the GC the last week though, because that looks ideal for him and that could make it really exciting (assuming he's coming from behind after the TT).

 

[icefire]

Any idea what the map is like for the last 5km.

200m ramp in a straight road is not much of an issue - if it's straight after a bend it becomes a big deal.

Here's a pic of the last 2 km taken from the web site of a regional newspaper:

http://www.laverdad.es/alicante/v/20110807/orihuela/llegada-vuelta-costa-obliga-20110807.html

There is a nasty U-turn there. On google maps looks like that's a bit more than 1km to the finish. The description of the last km given in the Vuelta web site only mentions 2 turns to the left and one to the right, so the U-turn must be just before the 1km flag.

 

[Fetisoff]

Here's a pic of the last 2 km taken from the web site of a regional newspaper:

http://www.laverdad.es/alicante/v/20110807/orihuela/llegada-vuelta-costa-obliga-20110807.html

There is a nasty U-turn there. On google maps looks like that's a bit more than 1km to the finish. The description of the last km given in the Vuelta web site only mentions 2 turns to the left and one to the right, so the U-turn must be just before the 1km flag.

Ok, looking at that, the U-turn with the hill following almost immediately should disrupt the sprint trains. Could mean Hitch is right, and J-Rod will stick on Paolini or Kuchinsky's wheel, and launch an attack on the hill. Probably be a Sagan that takes it, but the hill is close enough J-Rod could potentially pick up a 3rd and those very valuable 6 seconds (which would probably be as valuable if not more mentally, then they would be for the final GC when this is all set and done)

 

[roundabout]

300m @ 8% on day 2 should be more for people like Bennati/Sagan/Degenkolb/Hausssler/Van Avermaet/Breschel/Freire/Gavazzi and maybe some of the "fatter" sprinters than for any GC riders

 

[icefire]

There are more than 500m from the U-turn to the ramp, but anything can happen.

 

[roundabout]

Oh, I see Petacchi is riding. Could be one for the old man.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Go Van Avermaet! He'll make his bid for the points jersey today.

 

[hrotha]

Pretty impressive if you ask me actually, more impressive than his victories

Probably will continue with that streak tomorrow because he got dropped pretty soon at the TTT(and that wouldn't have happened in the Tour.).

4 GTs in a row already.

Of course, it says a lot about how fast you are and how you win goddamned everything when people notice and talk about this kind of stuff.

 

[hfer07]

Here's a pic of the last 2 km taken from the web site of a regional newspaper:

http://www.laverdad.es/alicante/v/20110807/orihuela/llegada-vuelta-costa-obliga-20110807.html

There is a nasty U-turn there. On google maps looks like that's a bit more than 1km to the finish. The description of the last km given in the Vuelta web site only mentions 2 turns to the left and one to the right, so the U-turn must be just before the 1km flag.

Based on that-the hairpin must be at the turn-which is only in favor of the explosiveness of Purito & Sagan following behind-
perhaps Anton.....



PS. this kind of finish is when I miss Valverde the most.....

 

[Mambo95]

One word....

Boonen

 

[Geraint Too Fast]

One word....

Boonen

+1. Hopefully this is one of the stages he's targeting;

'I studied the course carefully on Thursday evening and I've picked out a couple of stages where I can do something'

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boonen-takes-aim-at-vuelta-a-espana-sprints

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Hopefully Kittel can get amongst it.

 

[Ferminal]

Here's a pic of the last 2 km taken from the web site of a regional newspaper:

http://www.laverdad.es/alicante/v/20110807/orihuela/llegada-vuelta-costa-obliga-20110807.html

There is a nasty U-turn there. On google maps looks like that's a bit more than 1km to the finish. The description of the last km given in the Vuelta web site only mentions 2 turns to the left and one to the right, so the U-turn must be just before the 1km flag.

Thanks.

I don't think it's quite as hard as the profile suggest (8-10%), the hardest section is closer to 6.5%, going by Google Earth elevation. I will post my calculations and map for the final km in a bit.

 

[Damiano Machiavelli]

Too bad this stage is not run from end to start.

 

[Markooo]

Anyone has accurate data of last km stage 2? Cause on official website of Vuelta and picture of last kilometer, it looks that this mound is something about 300 metres and more than 7% of gradient.

 

[Ferminal]

Click to enlarge.

From the flag it goes:

Flat along the beach, 240m @ 0%

Heading uphill along the beach, 220m @ 3.6%

Taking a left up the hill, 280m @ 6.8%

Right into the finish straight, 260m @ 0.4%

The uphill gradient is consistent, so the max gradient would only be 7-8%.