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

[Zoncolan]

igor anton to come back slowly just like santi perez in 2004 and vino in 2006.i pray for an epic battle between him and purito.

damn 2004 covatilla was just out of this world.a 2000 VAM santi perez slaughtering the invincible roberito heras,just flying on that mountain.poor valverde was pushed by vino himself up the climb but he still lost big time.and of course el gato winning the stage in virenque style.good times.

Please don't compare Igor Anton to Santi Perez. Thank you!

 

[Swede1]

1 climb, not too high altitude wise, not too hot, nothing too super steep, and relatively even within its macro sections.

If Wiggins can't look decent tomorrow he never will.

Unless he is sick right now, and he recovers on the rest day, and is better on the climbs later.

I hope tmrw is not like Sierra Nevada. I hope there is decent separation between the favorites.

 

[Nickbeam]

The only team, that is capable of competing with Katusha in the mountains is Geox. I hope they'll do smth tomorrow, ardilla, de la fuente, duarte, sastre, cobo, menchov, they really should ...

 

[roundabout]

Time bonuses are there to promote aggressive riding for the win in mass start stages avoiding things such the love scenes we saw last year on top of the Tourmalet. Promoting aggressive riding in TTs is pointless.

Discussing about whether they should be larger, smaller or not be at all is like discussing whether there should be more or less TT kms, or more or less mountains or more uphill or downhill finishes. They are at least smaller than they used to be in the 80s (30, 20, 10)

There was also a time when they were 12-8-4 and that was the 90's.

So far in this Vuelta time bonuses have only promoted aggressive sprinting and possibly a Liquigas downhill TTT that gained the team leader only time.

 

[Fetisoff]

The only team, that is capable of competing with Katusha in the mountains is Geox. I hope they'll do smth tomorrow, ardilla, de la fuente, duarte, sastre, cobo, menchov, they really should ...

I wonder if Katusha will even chase tomorrow, knowing they'll lose the jersey the next day anyway. They probably will, knowing Nibali is not a 100%....
It wouldn't surprise me if we see some carrottops helping them with the chase, if we do, then we know Anton's feeling much better

 

[Descender]

igor anton to come back slowly just like santi perez in 2004 and vino in 2006.i pray for an epic battle between him and purito.

damn 2004 covatilla was just out of this world.a 2000 VAM santi perez slaughtering the invincible roberito heras,just flying on that mountain.poor valverde was pushed by vino himself up the climb but he still lost big time.and of course el gato winning the stage in virenque style.good times.

I read those names and I feel like I´m a fan of Charles Manson or something...

 

[LukeSchmid]

The only team, that is capable of competing with Katusha in the mountains is Geox. I hope they'll do smth tomorrow, ardilla, de la fuente, duarte, sastre, cobo, menchov, they really should ...

Ardila cannot help he withdrew during stage 5 after finishing last with Tschopp by 10 minutes on stage 4.

 

[hfer07]

apart from the usual suspects-I wonder if we ever going to see someone from GEOX making a move on this stage at all.......

 

[Thomsena]

Thought I would do a sneaky bet for Igor tommorow - I decided not to..

Truly pathetic odds: 7/1 or 8.00

I mean.. Isn't that a bit optimistic since he has been looking like an old lady so far? Looked better today though but he still wasn't performing as we expected.

 

[auscyclefan94]

JRod to go apeshit on this climb, will win it too.

Yep, my pick as well. Katusha are looking super strong and Nibali was quite average yesterday especially due to the fact that Brad was badly positioned and he still beat Vincenzo.

 

[greenedge]

I think the MTF will come down to JROD and Anton who is improving ( finally ). JVDB and Fuglsang also look good.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I think the MTF will come down to JROD and Anton who is improving ( finally ). JVDB and Fuglsang also look good.

Spell it right! It's Fullsgang!

 

[cineteq]

Yep, my pick as well. Katusha are looking super strong and Nibali was quite average yesterday especially due to the fact that Brad was badly positioned and he still beat Vincenzo.

Im curious to see if Katusha can do the same drill 2 days in a row...Vincenzo is hurt, so do not pick on him

 

[halamala]

igor anton to come back slowly just like santi perez in 2004 and vino in 2006.i pray for an epic battle between him and purito.

damn 2004 covatilla was just out of this world.a 2000 VAM santi perez slaughtering the invincible roberito heras,just flying on that mountain.poor valverde was pushed by vino himself up the climb but he still lost big time.and of course el gato winning the stage in virenque style.good times.

La Covatilla @ Vuelta a Espana 2002 , 2004 , 2006

Best times , Last 8.0 Km , Elevation 645 m , Grade 8.06 %

Roberto Heras 20:23 , 2002 [VAM 1900 m/h]
Joseba Beloki 20:35 , 2002
Felix Garcia Casas 20:53 , 2002
Oscar Sevilla 21:00 , 2002
Aitor Gonzalez 21:00 , 2002
Angel Casero 21:10 , 2002
David Plaza 21:15 , 2002
Gilberto Simoni 21:32 , 2002
Santiago Perez 21:35 , 2004 [VAM 1800 m/h]
Danilo Di Luca 21:37 , 2002
Fabian Jeker 21:54 , 2002
Manuel Beltran 22:03 , 2002
Klaus Moller 22:05 , 2002
Roberto Heras 22:07 , 2004
Francisco Mancebo 22:21 , 2004
------------------------------
Danilo Di Luca 24:12 , 2006 [stage winner]

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I would think the bad ITT'ers would try something tomorrow and the other ones just following or limiting losses with the ITT in mind.

 

[Escarabajo]

La Covatilla @ Vuelta a Espana 2002 , 2004 , 2006

Best times , Last 8.0 Km , Elevation 645 m , Grade 8.06 %

Roberto Heras 20:23 , 2002 [VAM 1900 m/h]
Joseba Beloki 20:35 , 2002
Felix Garcia Casas 20:53 , 2002
Oscar Sevilla 21:00 , 2002
Aitor Gonzalez 21:00 , 2002
Angel Casero 21:10 , 2002
David Plaza 21:15 , 2002
Gilberto Simoni 21:32 , 2002
Santiago Perez 21:35 , 2004 [VAM 1800 m/h]
Danilo Di Luca 21:37 , 2002
Fabian Jeker 21:54 , 2002
Manuel Beltran 22:03 , 2002
Klaus Moller 22:05 , 2002
Roberto Heras 22:07 , 2004
Francisco Mancebo 22:21 , 2004
------------------------------
Danilo Di Luca 24:12 , 2006 [stage winner]

All best times in 2002. LOL. I wonder why that is.

 

[LukeSchmid]

All best times in 2002. LOL. I wonder why that is.

Perfect weather??

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

In 2002 a meteor passed the planet, influencing gravitation.

 

[royalpig180]

Antón was 6th today. Given that there's no other climbs today, it could end up being rather like Alto de Aitana in the 2009 race, and given that Antón is 3 minutes down he might be able to sneak away late on.

I think his form is still hard to judge, since I think that adverse reaction to the heat has probably contributed to his poor showings in week 1...

This is true, and he may be on the rise form wise, but today's finish really suited him, as his win last year at Valapedas de Jaen showed us. I think he may be able to do something later in the race, but I just think it's too soon. He's not so far down that they'll let him go and I think the likes of Rodriguez, Nibali, and Scarponi are more likely to vie for the win tomorrow.

 

[dlwssonic]

Come on Anton its all up to you to stop katusha!!

 

[Fetisoff]

Come on Anton its all up to you to stop katusha!!

Dream on

 

[dlwssonic]

Dream on

ETA will put a stop to the tyrannical USSR

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Nicely done with the rocket launchers.

Anyone think JRod may have problems recovering after today's effort?
I'm thinking they all were a little cross-eyed at the end of stage 8.
Of those within stricking distance of the lead, who might recover best?
I'm not convinced of Anton, but JRod could do it again.

 

[Raceoftruth]

Think J-Rod, JVB and Scarponi are the ones likely to push it today. Wiggins, Brajkovic and Menchov to follow wheels to try and conserve as much energy as possible for tomorrows tt. Think Nibali struggled yesterday, not sure today is difficult enough to crack him, but will be interesting to watch.

 

[Euskaltel!]

Interested to see how the Rabo boys go. Plus, VDB has been looking pretty good. I'd like to go for Nieve but instead I'll take a wild guess and go for TGBM!!! (don't think Antón is quite there yet, but expect lots in the next two weeks!)