Vuelta a Espana, Stage 8: Talavera de la Reina - San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 183km

[Pantani_lives]

I think Rodriguez can win another stage here, but he won't win the Vuelta because of his poor time trial.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Taaramäe blogged that he will most certainly try to get into the break tomorrow .

So could be interesting.

So we can see him park his bike completely again like on Xorret de Cati in 2009?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

+1 The stage has 1 x 1cat, 2x 2 cat, and 3x 3cat, including the last 3 uncategorized climbs. It would have to be discussed if the last would be a 2 cat, since it is almost 4 km and have stretches of pavé and a brutal last kilometer, but at least a 3 cat. Do they do that for avoiding complains on too many mountains in the Vuelta this year??

And surely, if Ancares is a 1cat, then only Angliru is an out of category climb.Ridiculous.

The Vuelta has taken over the Giro's points system. There is no "out of category". All climbs are either 1st, 2nd or 3rd category unless they are mountaintop finishes; all MTFs pay more points than 1st category climbs (15, 10, 6, 4 and 2 as opposed to 10, 6, 4, 2 and 1). The only exception is one "special" category climb, equivalent to the Cima Coppi in the Giro. Last year it was Bola del Mundo. This year I thought it would be Angliru, but they gave it out for Sierra Nevada, so I'm thinking they're going for a direct clone of the Giro's points system prior to this year, when the Giro reformed it based on the realisation that they would be paying more points for Macugnaga than Crostis.

Therefore, the reason this climb is not categorised is because any categorised climb that is the finish pays mountaintop finish points, and they probably decided they didn't want to give a puncheur 15 points in a race where they're only giving 10 for Ancares and San Lorenzo.

 

[salixcycling]

Dan Martin just lost 40 second for draughting on stage 5 after returning from a natural break - itv4 just pointed this out, and a countback on the times confirms the time loss. Could be expensive?

 

[Lance Armstrong]

This stage has written Sagan all over it.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

This stage has written Sagan all over it.

Are you sure? I've never seen him contend the win on anything as steep as this. When you have something like this and then some flat or descent into the finish, he's money. The nearest I can think of is the Giro di Sardegna stages to Monte Ortobene and Lanusei, the first where he was outsprinted by Serpa, Cunego and Sella, and the second, less steep, where he outsprinted Serpa, Cunego and Sella. This stage is about as suited to Sagan as Valdepeñas de Jaén. Where he came 135th.

That's not to say he can't do it - he's certainly proven us wrong before. But to say this stage has him written all over it is a bit of an exaggeration since he's never really performed on this kind of finish before.

 

[jsem94]

Yeah, it's more like J-Rod written all over it.

I hope he's OK from his crash though.

 

[auscyclefan94]

@Ferminal - I'm not sure sure. On the official profile of the last 3 km, it looks like the climb starts at roughly 930 m altitude, ends at 1125, so 200 m over 1 km climb

I hope the official climb is the right but I doubt it. This should be a good stage and they are televising it live in Australia so I may as well watch. Lets hope BMC does something for me.

 

[Moondance]

Wow... Nearly 200m of height-gain in a kilometer. Eye watering.

Purito to club the opposition like baby seals.



Incidentally, how long does everyone think that Sir Chris Hoy would take to finish this kilo?

 

[greatking88]

Dan Martin just lost 40 second for draughting on stage 5 after returning from a natural break - itv4 just pointed this out, and a countback on the times confirms the time loss. Could be expensive?

Yeah he's going to appeal the decision, its a bit crazy to be penalised for that when we see so many riders use the cars to get back into the peloton..

 

[Mellow Velo]

Really looking forward to the weekend stages. This should be a belter, which probably means Eurosport will find something to put on, that will overrun by an hour or more.
I'd love to know what those uncatagorized climbs/sprints are about, because they profile much like the final wall.
Serious hurt weekend, which only the strongest will survive.

 

[Fergoose]

I fear for Wiggins here if the peloton don't just let the break go (and Katusha are surely strong enough to pull any break back). If he's still on antibiotics for the throat I think his challenge might end before the Time Trial after all.

Stagewin
I don’t think Anton will have magically got back to full strength. So I’ll go for Poels. On stage 5 he was closing down Rodriguez and it looks like the gradient becomes slightly less insane just before the line here.

Prediction Score: 0 out of 7.
Stage 7 - I don’t rate Farrar despite picking him, I just thought Garmin would help him out and make it easier. Instead they chose to focus on their.. ehm, other objectives

 

[khardung la]

The Vuelta has taken over the Giro's points system. There is no "out of category". All climbs are either 1st, 2nd or 3rd category unless they are mountaintop finishes; all MTFs pay more points than 1st category climbs (15, 10, 6, 4 and 2 as opposed to 10, 6, 4, 2 and 1). The only exception is one "special" category climb, equivalent to the Cima Coppi in the Giro. Last year it was Bola del Mundo. This year I thought it would be Angliru, but they gave it out for Sierra Nevada, so I'm thinking they're going for a direct clone of the Giro's points system prior to this year, when the Giro reformed it based on the realisation that they would be paying more points for Macugnaga than Crostis.

Therefore, the reason this climb is not categorised is because any categorised climb that is the finish pays mountaintop finish points, and they probably decided they didn't want to give a puncheur 15 points in a race where they're only giving 10 for Ancares and San Lorenzo.

Thanks, gracias por la explicación

 

[Markooo]

I fear for Wiggins here if the peloton don't just let the break go (and Katusha are surely strong enough to pull any break back). If he's still on antibiotics for the throat I think his challenge might end before the Time Trial after all.

Wiggins looks so comfortable, when he dictated pace in first group on 7th stage. In my opinion, Wiggins will be able to come to the finish today with battered Nibali and Scarponi. On Purito, he will gain at least 4 minutes on time trial, don't forget about it.

 

[maltiv]

Yeah he's going to appeal the decision, its a bit crazy to be penalised for that when we see so many riders use the cars to get back into the peloton..

Unfortunately it's not rare in Vuelta Espana that non-spanish gc-threats get penalized by silly rules like this.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Unfortunately it's not rare in Vuelta Espana that non-spanish gc-threats get penalized by silly rules like this.

Here's a perfect example.

Cadel Evans has trouble in Vuelta


Those Spaniards also give Valverde a nice draft as well in the tt's.

 

[paperbackwriter]

Wiggins looks so comfortable, when he dictated pace in first group on 7th stage. In my opinion, Wiggins will be able to come to the finish today with battered Nibali and Scarponi. On Purito, he will gain at least 4 minutes on time trial, don't forget about it.

I think if he gains ~4 minutes on Purito, it won't be enough. He's a minute behind now, IMO J-Rod will have enough opportunities to outclimb him by over 3 minutes.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I think if he gains ~4 minutes on Purito, it won't be enough. He's a minute behind now, IMO J-Rod will have enough opportunities to outclimb him by over 3 minutes.

Especially when you consider it's not implausible that J-Rod could pick up another 30-40 seconds tomorrow, if you include bonuses.

 

[meandmygitane]

Not sure what you mean by 'times 2', but the final mur tomorrow is only done once. The loop around the finish town does not go twice over the same streets.

Oh, it was not what I meant.

Macerata is about 10% the last kilometre with ramps up to 18%, 3km of 5,43% where it gains 163 altitude metres.
So I was merely referring that this climb is something like double as hard, all things considered (altitude gained, average steepness, steepness of the worst ramps).

 

[Tank Engine]

This stage has written Sagan all over it.

Only because there's a large Slovakian minority in the area. JRo to take the red jersey

 

[meandmygitane]

There's already a Macerata x2. It's called Montelupone.

Or the Cima Joaquím Rodríguez, as it will probably become in latter years.

Completely forgot about that one. Good of you to find it.

Unfortunately it was a while since it was used, seems to be 2009?
Don't think we will see Löfkvist placing better than Scarponi or Nibali this time.

It will be a jawdropping finish. If J-Rod has the hunger for victory it will be his for the taking...

Late friday nights isn't my best time of posting stuff it seems..

 

[Ferminal]

Check this

At about 800 m to go there are short ramps of about 23-26%, it is not a joke finish

EDIT: The last km may have about 11-13 % of average

Looks correct, thanks.

I'm not sure they go all the way to the end of Cañada Nueva though, maybe 1-200m short.

 

[wirral]

Here's a perfect example.

Cadel Evans has trouble in Vuelta


Those Spaniards also give Valverde a nice draft as well in the tt's.

Lest we forget the stolen Vuelta with the inaccurate chalkboard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4NZg6Vx2kQ

 

[luckyboy]

Hope Rodriguez doesn't win this.

 

[hfer07]

the final K is just tailor made for him....