Vuelta a Espana Stage 9: Villacastín - Sierra de Bejar. La Covatilla 183,0 km

[dlwssonic]

wiggins took it from the last few km, evans took it from 9 or 10 km.
evans dropped everyone else except for frank schleck which included names such as(contador, basso, samu)

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

wiggins took it from the last few km, evans took it from 9 or 10 km.
evans dropped everyone else except for frank schleck which included names such as(contador, basso, samu)

Wiggins effort was actually a team effort with Froome. Froome did most of the damage while Wiggins was in his wheel. Wiggins clung on and then gave the coup de grace. I don't mean that dismissively, much more highly rated climbers than Wiggins couldn't cling on after all. It was one of the best climbing performances I've ever seen from him, but it does not compare comparison with Evans' ride. If Wiggins had really done it alone, then there might be an argument for it.

 

[auscyclefan94]

wiggins took it from the last few km, evans took it from 9 or 10 km.
evans dropped everyone else except for frank schleck which included names such as(contador, basso, samu)

on a much harder stage, higher altitude, stronger competition, from 11km to go, into a headwind, etc.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

on a much harder stage, higher altitude, stronger competition, from 11km to go, into a headwind, etc.

I agree with your general point, but I'm not sure that I agree that the competition was much stronger.

There were three GC riders in the Tour better than anyone in the Vuelta, Contador, Schleck and Evans. Evans obviously doesn't have to ride against himself. Schleck was being chased after a hugely lengthy break, and so wasn't one of the guys Evans dropped. Contador was not at his best. Once you get past those three, I don't think that the climbers and GC men at this Vuelta stack up badly against those at the Tour. There's a very strong field here.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I agree with your general point, but I'm not sure that I agree that the competition was much stronger.

There were three GC riders in the Tour better than anyone in the Vuelta, Contador, Schleck and Evans. Evans obviously doesn't have to ride against himself. Schleck was being chased after a hugely lengthy break, and so wasn't one of the guys Evans dropped. Contador was not at his best. Once you get past those three, I don't think that the climbers and GC men at this Vuelta stack up badly against those at the Tour. There's a very strong field here.

He dropped pretty much everyone including basso, samu and contador in a headwind. Contador was still pretty strong for a guy who did the giro at the tour. Obviously not at his best but he was above my expectations at the tour.

The field here is good, but JvdB and Nibali are the only really good gc riders. Anton and Rodriguez are either way too inconsistent or get dropped on stages with longer climbs. Wiggins has one decent gc result in an average tour and nothing really else. Menchov doesn't look overly great atm.
The others are all either young riders or 2nd tier stage race riders.

 

[Pharazon]

He dropped pretty much everyone including basso, samu and contador in a headwind. Contador was still pretty strong for a guy who did the giro at the tour. Obviously not at his best but he was above my expectations at the tour.

The field here is good, but JvdB and Nibali are the only really good gc riders. Anton and Rodriguez are either way too inconsistent or get dropped on stages with longer climbs. Wiggins has one decent gc result in an average tour and nothing really else. Menchov doesn't look overly great atm.
The others are all either young riders or 2nd tier stage race riders.

yes we know..

cadel is the best...

he's the greatest cyclist in the history of the universe

 

[auscyclefan94]

yes we know..

cadel is the best...

he's the greatest cyclist in the history of the universe

Thank you!!

You all know I am going to be basking in this victory until next July!

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

He dropped pretty much everyone including basso, samu and contador in a headwind. Contador was still pretty strong for a guy who did the giro at the tour. Obviously not at his best but he was above my expectations at the tour.

The field here is good, but JvdB and Nibali are the only really good gc riders.

I don't rate Samu and Basso as being significantly better than Nibali and JVDB. They are all on that second tier as guys who (a) are capable of a GT win but (b) aren't actually likely to beat a Contador who is even close to top form. In fact, I'd go further and say that while a GT win is conceivable for any of them, at this point in their careers we are more likely to see another one from the Nibali and JVDB side of the argument. And while Menchov is unpredictable, he's still a serious prospect in a GT.

We are talking about a Tour where Cunego finished 7th, remember. The only guy Evans dropped who was better than everyone at the Vuelta was Contador. Admittedly, dropping Contador on an MTF is the kind of thing a rider can dine out on indefinitely.

 

[movingtarget]

Sure Wiggins was good as was Froome. Hard to compare it to Evans ride though on Galibier. Different situations etc......If Wiggins and Menchov do the rides they are capable of on a favourable TT course, they will both put themselves in podium positions setting it up nicely for the expected attacks from Rodriguez, Nibali etc later in the race. Nibali sometimes makes strange statements. I did not see much energy conservation yeasterday. He was struggling. Wiggins TT may have dropped off a little. Maybe enough to not gain as much time as he used to against someone like Nibali but more then enough to put big time into the climbers. It's a critical stage for Nibali. Wiggins TT in the Dauphine showed that he still has it and on a harder course, although that was early in a one week race pre Tour when he was still fresh. It's hard to see the climbers improving all of a sudden on such a TT course. I am expecting Menchov and Wiggins to rip it up.

 

[auscyclefan94]

We'll agree to disagree

Anyway, see you all later!

 

[The Hitch]

So contador, sanchez, basso, vockler (more in particular team eurosport) werent riding for GC? they had to pull to stay in the GC race just like evans did. If Evans didnt chase it down andy would of won the tour. So i would compare it. Yes you could say wiggins didnt have to pull but he knows nibali is the main contender in this race and he could not lose more time to him. so in my opinion he had no choice. He had to do something. Cos even if he did sit there and let the other favourites do the work at the end of the day he would still be down time on nibali and the other contenders.

Amazing ride by wiggins tho, never thought he was capable of something like that. Always thought he would rely on his time trialing to win him a GT. Going to be interesting with the TT tonight. He should be able to gain some time on the favourites.

Stay in what GC race. They were way behind Schleck due to ttts and crashes. As a result Schleck and Evans were fighting the overall.

Why would they care if Andy would have won the Tour. they werent going to win it after what happened.

What were they supposed to go " Oh noes, Andys gonna win, lets help Evans so that he wins instead?" Dont be silly.

Evans pull was obviously stronger but i think Wiggins was more impressive because
1 hes not Cadel Evans - one of the greatest riders of our generation.
2 it was a much easier stage coming much earlier in the race so opponents werent already cracked
3 Some of evans opponents - Samu and Contador had spent a lot of energy trying to animinate the race on every mountain stage, so were obviously going to crack.
and most importantly
4 It was a risk. Evans was going 1 on 1 with a guy who had spent 3 hours on his own. Wiggins is going 1 on 10 against guys who can wheelsuck him.

 

[Tuarts]

What an excellent stage this was, can't wait till Angrilu.

 

[greenedge]

yes we know..

cadel is the best...

he's the greatest cyclist in the history of the universe

Thx so true.

Wiggins surprised, JROD surprised as well by failing. Mollema did a very nice ride and congrats to Dan Martin. I hope he can continue to improve in this race. How was JVDB with that front group for so long then lost around 13-20 seconds???

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Thx so true.

Wiggins surprised, JROD surprised as well by failing. Mollema did a very nice ride and congrats to Dan Martin. I hope he can continue to improve in this race. How was JVDB with that front group for so long then lost around 13-20 seconds???

JVDB said he wasn't feeling ideal yesterday, was disappointed to lose time, but not too dissatisfied that it ended up only being 15" to Wiggins.

Could well be that he was in the red trying to hold on to the Wiggins group, whereas the Taaramäe/Menchov/Kessiakoff/Zubeldia group behind were going their own pace and passed him, the same as how the Evans of old would hold on to a pace he couldn't sustain for too long, so when he was sent out the back door he'd drop like a stone, while other riders who let go as soon as they weren't following comfortably and rode their own race would resurface near the front at the end, like Sastre.

 

[greenedge]

I agree with your general point, but I'm not sure that I agree that the competition was much stronger.

There were three GC riders in the Tour better than anyone in the Vuelta, Contador, Schleck and Evans. Evans obviously doesn't have to ride against himself. Schleck was being chased after a hugely lengthy break, and so wasn't one of the guys Evans dropped. Contador was not at his best. Once you get past those three, I don't think that the climbers and GC men at this Vuelta stack up badly against those at the Tour. There's a very strong field here.

I think D_L said Frank rather than Andy. I also think Samu based on TDF form would here win the Vuelta. Each GT race is different but if you plonked Nibali into the TDF with his Vuelta/ Giro form i am not sure whether he would finish in the top 5. The climbs/ competition are just that bit better. I think the Vueltas are challenging because of the heat and vice Versa for the Giro. Also the racing is sometimes not as epic in those 2 GT's ( take for example 2010 with CHAINGATE making it a huge part of the racing and had clearly defined favourites/ co mpetitors and unlike the Giro this year an actual challenge )

Fuglsang will rip up the ITT as well as Wiggins.

 

[The Hitch]

I think D_L said Frank rather than Andy. I also think Samu based on TDF form would here win the Vuelta. .

Of course he would. If you take away the ttt Samu would have finished 4 seconds behind Contador. And he was the only rider who attacked about as much as Contador did.

Finished ahead of Schleck on every single uphill or downhill finish apart from Galibier and Pinerolo which was very close. That includes the stage 1 finish, even though the official gc gave Schleck a 1.30 advantage.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Thx so true.

How was JVDB with that front group for so long then lost around 13-20 seconds???

JVDB said he wasn't feeling ideal yesterday, was disappointed to lose time, but not too dissatisfied that it ended up only being 15" to Wiggins.

Could well be that he was in the red trying to hold on to the Wiggins group, whereas the Taaramäe/Menchov/Kessiakoff/Zubeldia group behind were going their own pace and passed him, the same as how the Evans of old would hold on to a pace he couldn't sustain for too long, so when he was sent out the back door he'd drop like a stone, while other riders who let go as soon as they weren't following comfortably and rode their own race would resurface near the front at the end, like Sastre.

To be fair, that's not a big gap at all. (Nibali lost 30 seconds to Rodriguez on 400 meters this week.) In fact, had they not sprinted for the course, the gap would have been about 10 seconds at max. If someone goes out the back after really going in the red, they usually park. He most certainly did not park. Also keep in mind that he probably still isn't 100% (honestly, he wouldn't finish behind that grupetto in company of Seeldrayers, let's be frank) and might not have want to force himself just yet. Don't forget that he is at least a week behind in form compared to Wiggins (who fell earlier in the tour as well) mainly because of his punctured lung.

 

[maxmartin]

job very nicely done
Nibali looks good overall

if he can stay with Wiggins under 1:30 excellent
1:40 good
1:50 SOSo
2:00 Acceptable
More than two , things will get tricky

 

[richo36]

4 It was a risk. Evans was going 1 on 1 with a guy who had spent 3 hours on his own. Wiggins is going 1 on 10 against guys who can wheelsuck him.

Like i said, i feel wiggins had no choice but to take the lead just like evans had no choice. That was the link i was trying to make. When you look closer like others have above you cant compare them. So i was wrong in that regards.

The reason why i feel Wiggins had no choice but to take the lead is:
The way the vuelta course is designed this year, has the TT in the middle of the 3 Weeks. As wigins best attibute is in my opinion is his TT it means after the TT He has to be in 1st or ahead of all his main GC rivals. Obvously the more time he has the better. But with nibali already a 1min+ in front of him on GC it meant he couldnt lose anymore time to him as he needs to be in front of him after the next day. Once he caught Nibali he Knew other riders were struggling so he knew there was a fantasic chance to put more time between him and the other favourites. So there was no point sitting up then.

 

[richo36]

Also there was a strong cross wind so Wiggins was riding in the gutter so wheelsucking isnt that effective.