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

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Matt Haymans OK, Sutton, Renshaw and one or two others but I must admit to not being a fan of Aussie riders.

J-Rod is is probably my fave rider at the moment, the guy is class.

there's too many renshaw / sutton like riders from australia, they all seem to be strong sprinter guys with a little variation. Not a fan. Cuddles is very unique in Australian cycling.

jrod is awesome. Always liked him tho, I remember bing pretty annoyed when jrod was scheduled to lead the vuelta 09' before valverde's tour denial led to plan change. Was thrilled he went to katusha and got his own chances. awesome rider.

But I like nibbles, scarponi, anton. jvdb and even menchov too. So I really don't mind who wins this one.

Even if wiggo wins this one, he would have to climb like a champ to do so.

 

[Richeypen]

Full results up anywhere yet? Couldnt see them on the official website

 

[boomcie]

Full results up anywhere yet? Couldnt see them on the official website

Look better:
http://www.lavuelta.com/11/es/resultados/index.html?e=8

 

[Tank Engine]

I love all the pro tour riders from my home country. But then I think most people like him

 

[boomcie]

I love all the pro tour riders from my home country. But then I think most people like him

You from Mongolia?

EDIT: They don't have a single rider in the world Tour, so I guess not

 

[The Hitch]

Probably cause he used to be German?

I think it was Jamsque who pointed out that deep down, Barbie was always an Australian.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/haussler-caught-drink-driving

You from Mongolia?

EDIT: They don't have a single rider in the world Tour, so I guess not

Hes irish i think. Though the statement about how everybody loves the riders from his country would work better if he were talking about the East European country where he used to live.

 

[boomcie]

Hes irish i think. Though the statement about how everybody loves the riders from his country would work better if he were talking about the East European country where he used to live.

There's more than one Irish rider in the World Tour, so the statement would be false in that case.

 

[Tank Engine]

You from Mongolia?

EDIT: They don't have a single rider in the world Tour, so I guess not

It's part of the UK, so not a state, but we certainly think of it as a nation/country.

Edit: I lived in Poland and now live in Ireland.

 

[just some guy]

Wales or the isle of Man

 

[Tank Engine]

Wales or the isle of Man

Too many Manx pro riders.

Edit: and officially the Isle of Man is not UK, but they are eligible for UK passports. Crazy state really.

 

[just some guy]

Too many Manx pro riders.

Thomas the tank Engine should have given it away aloooooooooog time ago as well

 

[dlwssonic]

Funny you should mention India - Swastika in Indian religion sacred symbol of good luck.

Maybe Hitler has some sikh blood

 

[Tank Engine]

Thomas the tank Engine should have given it away aloooooooooog time ago as well

Now that we've got that sorted out. Nice to see both Nick and Danny Boy in the top 10. Nibali seems to have suffered most from the crash and Anton has recovered which will make the GC fight interesting over the next couple of days.

 

[hrotha]

If there's three finishes tailor-made for Purito, that's 1 minute worth of bonus seconds. Let's have more stages ending after crazy descents, and two ITTs - with time bonuses.
edit: also, after watching it on TV I'm so glad I didn't embarrass myself in front of all those people by actually going there with my bike today.

 

[Nickbeam]

Good stuff from Menchov today. If he manages to stay with the favs tomorrow, taking into account his TT skills, he will le be back in action for sure. And i guess same strategy for Wiggo.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

There's more than one Irish rider in the World Tour, so the statement would be false in that case.

Depends. The number of Irish riders in the World Tour varies from person to person. I've known people who consider Deignan to be the only one (under the argument that Martin is from England, Brammeier from the Isle of Man and Roche from France).

 

[maltiv]

Really impressed by Fuglsang who seems to finally have stepped up as a genuine GC contender. Of course, the real mountains haven't started yet, but at least he shows he can be consistent. Could be a real dark horse, I think he will be in the leader's jersey after the time trial.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Really impressed by Fuglsang who seems to finally have stepped up as a genuine GC contender. Of course, the real mountains haven't started yet, but at least he shows he can be consistent. Could be a real dark horse, I think he will be in the leader's jersey after the time trial.

In a grand tour context, that means still doing it in week 3, and that's far from proven as yet.

 

[Tank Engine]

Hes irish i think. Though the statement about how everybody loves the riders from his country would work better if he were talking about the East European country where he used to live.

Oh yes, I didn't think about that. Yeah, Sylwester is cool

p.s. Thought the avatar would have given it away quicker.

 

[Lanark]

Really impressed by Fuglsang who seems to finally have stepped up as a genuine GC contender. Of course, the real mountains haven't started yet, but at least he shows he can be consistent. Could be a real dark horse, I think he will be in the leader's jersey after the time trial.

Yeah, I'm curious how he is going to perform the next couple of days. He is a great ITT'er (better than VDB and Nibali I would say, not as good as Wiggins and Menchov), if he performs good tomorrow, he could be a genuine podium-contender after the ITT. Still, before this Vuelta he never really impressed me in the high mountains in a consistent way, that's still the big question mark.

I wouldn't be suprised if we have some really surprising names in the top-5 at the end of this Vuelta. Of the GC-contenders, only Rodriguez has made a really good impression, but so far we've been on his terrain. Then again, we had Peter Velits in third place last year, it can hardly get much more surprising than that.

 

[theyoungest]

Yeah, I'm curious how he is going to perform the next couple of days. He is a great ITT'er (better than VDB and Nibali I would say, not as good as Wiggins and Menchov), if he performs good tomorrow, he could be a genuine podium-contender after the ITT. Still, before this Vuelta he never really impressed me in the high mountains in a consistent way, that's still the big question mark.

I wouldn't be suprised if we have some really surprising names in the top-5 at the end of this Vuelta. Of the GC-contenders, only Rodriguez has made a really good impression, but so far we've been on his terrain. Then again, we had Peter Velits in third place last year, it can hardly get much more surprising than that.

Fuglsang's only really good performances on long climbs were in the Dauphiné 2009. After that he seems to have become more of a time trialist who can also climb a little. Maybe he's finally found his real climbing legs again.

 

[Havetts]

I really hope JRod continues to attack on mountain stages, I'd love to see a pure climber win the Vuelta. If he continues to do this on steep parts of a climb, I dont see anyone stopping him on the Angry Lu.

 

[Parrulo]

it seems like the crash has affected nibali. a bloody shame as i really think he was on his way to winning back to back vueltas.

machado disappointing once again . . . no longer a surprise

 

[Frosty]

Havent seen much mention of the two br's* yet - Bruseghin and Brajkovic. Both can time trial well and i dont think these short steep finishes are ideal for them. Tomorrow will be a good test to see how they do on the longer climbs. Cant see them podiuming, more a test of whether they are going to compete for the lesser places.






*Maybe its too hot for them?

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Why the wink?


The ninja's have already been dispatched. Tomorrow's stage TGBM DNS.

You have done well young Padawan